Asia-Pacific Kick-Start

OPPORTUNITY

The Asia-Pacific Region is a dynamic region which presents excellent growth opportunities for international cooperation that have been already explored and proven to be fruitful for European companies operating in different market segments (e.g. automotive, insurance, ICT, healthcare, oil & gas). Notwithstanding these initiatives, a lot of opportunities appear yet to be seized.

The development of more advanced operational and technology capabilities such as big data solutions, cloud platform and more powerful data access/management make the integration process easier and easier thereby facilitating penetration of services and applications developed by European companies.

The use and integration of space technologies and services is considered especially suitable and relevant in this region due to its geographical characteristics, being vast with large areas of difficult accessibility.  

Many examples can be provided as reliance on Satellite Earth Observation data for monitoring applications or on Satellite Communications assets for providing connectivity to remote regions. The positioning and navigation capabilities of Satellite Navigation signals are useful ubiquitously in many applications and services.

HOW TO APPLY

1. Register by completing online questionnaire on ESA-STAR Registration (minimum ‘light registration’)
2. Download the official tender documentation (Invitation to Tender) and create ‘Bidder Restricted Area’ via EMITS Reference AO8872 from November 14th 2018.
3. Write your proposal and obtain Letter of Support from National Delegation, if needed (see Authorisation of Funding section below).
4. Submit your proposal via ESA-STAR Tendering by the 14th January 2019.

VALUE OF SPACE TO ASIA-PACIFIC 

Space can add value to the Asia-Pacific Region and increase its capabilities. A selection of value adding examples is listed below:

The Kick-start Activity proposed must demonstrate the application of space-based data and technology:

1. Satellite Earth Observation (SatEO): enables global collection of data for production of images, maps, information e.g. for crop monitoring, change detection, weather forecasting, environmental monitoring.
2. Satellite Navigation (SatNav): enables precise positioning, navigation and guidance to support local information collection, track and trace applications.
3. Satellite communication (SatCom): provides connectivity for any data and information services whenever the terrestrial communications is not reliable enough or absent at all.

TOPICS OF RELEVENCE

Targeted topics benefiting from space assets and services include for example:

• Urbanization: by 2018, more than half of Asia-Pacific’s population is expected to live in urban areas, making it the biggest challenge for the region’s governments and cities. Urbanization brings opportunities for the population move from the rural area (e.g. easier access to job opportunity, improve access to wealth creation, less isolation). On the other side it also severely impacts the environment: there are less natural resources available, more waste produced, more congestion and more pollution, etc.
• Pollution: One of the most negative aspect associated to urbanisation is pollution of air, land and water. The World Health Organization reported e.g. in 2012, that 70% of the deaths caused by air pollution occurred in the Asia and Pacific region. Therefore services capable of monitoring and improving air, land and water quality are urgently needed.
• Renewable Energy: To reduce pollution, several countries in Asia, with China in the lead, are adopting global energy transformation to promote renewable energies (mainly wind and solar energy) and to reduce the dependency on coal. As the operation and the maintenance of renewable energy sites is complex, services which make the management of the site more efficient and reduce maintenance/operation costs are of interest.
• Food security: Rice is the major food staple in ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) countries and thus plays a significant role for the food security in the region. Beside rice also other crops are of relevance, e.g. grain legumes produced in Australia. Food suppliers, processors and distributors are all concerned that their food is processed, transported, and stored safely and that hygiene and other specific requirements (e.g. for organic certification) are met.

WHAT WE LOOK FOR

Kick-start Activities elaborate the business opportunity and the technical viability of new applications and services exploiting one or more space assets (e.g. Satellite Communications, Satellite Navigation, Earth Observation, Human Space Flight Technology). This call for Kick-start Activities is dedicated to the theme "Asia Pacific region", which means that the call is open to companies which intend to expand their currently available offers in this region by integration of space assets, export their solutions through adaptations to the needs of the local user communities, develop new applications and services.

AUTHORISATION OF FUNDING

Currently only Germany and Norway have pre-approved funding for this Kick-start activity. Applications from any other Member State will require a letter of approval from their national delegation.