Competitiveness in Space Safety to enable European industry

The competitiveness segment of the Space Safety Programme speeds up the process by which innovative European ideas in its domain go from new technologies to full-fledged products and services. In the segment, ESA acts as a trial user, evaluator and early adopter of the space safety industry’s new products, applications or services. This reduces the risk to businesses and supports the establishment of European leadership in space safety commercial markets.

Ensuring Europe is ready

The strong societal push for greater environmental commitments worldwide is permeating the space sector, leading to a global tightening of regulations – existing or planned. This  brings new opportunities related to the use of chemical pollutants, debris mitigation and remediation, safe in-orbit servicing, and more. It is important to ensure that the right technologies and services are mature, affordable and ready to be taken on commercially in Europe.

Various activities of the Space Safety Programme expressly aim to establish a European presence in new and emerging commercial markets. The Competitiveness segment of the Space Safety Programme in particular aims to speed up the process by which innovative ideas go from technologies to full-fledged products, applications and services.

Since the call for proposals was permanently opened in 2023, the popular initiative has already led to more than 15 project proposals of various sizes with continued demand for more, of which 10 have already been implemented.

Industry-driven proposals

The industry-driven procurement kicks off via the permanently open Call for Proposals on ESA’s Open Space Innovation Platform, complementing initiatives in other ESA programmes. The segment has developed a successful fast-track procurement process to shorten the time to market as speed is key in developing markets.

First, a new outline proposal is quickly evaluated by ESA and then, after successful selection, a full proposal can be submitted and negotiated directly. Key selection factors are appropriate technology maturity and closeness to market. Proposals by industry should also include a co-funding scheme, that also requires explicit support by relevant Member States.

The economic operators, which can be any size business or research institution, will be the owners of all hardware and software deliverables and intellectual property by default.

In the future, the Competitiveness segment might also include an open call for Opportunities Development. The addition would help close the gap between existing solutions and customers’ demand for new capabilities, enabling business opportunity development and market gains.

ESA adds value

ESA can play a key role in mitigating part of the  risks that come with the delivery of new products and services. ESA’s role as a value-adding enabler of industry innovation can take many forms: as the anchor customer, by forward buying, or by demonstrations of proofs of concept on ESA’s state-of-the-art operations infrastructure.

Additionally, the Competitiveness segment aims to provide access to the Agency’s expertise, data, software licences as well as access to cross-validation of commercial offerings for industry.

Keeping Europe, its people and its assets safe from asteroids, space weather and space debris is simultaneously an opportunity to flourish in the growing markets of a sustainable future in space.