FUNDING OPPORTUNITY
The unprecedented situation caused by the characteristics of the COVID-19 pandemic has created enormous challenges to society. Besides the specific issues related to the COVID-19 outbreak, all remaining parts of the “traditional” healthcare ecosystems have been also heavily affected. As a consequence, many European countries have taken extreme measures to limit the propagation of the virus, to treat affected people while maintaining, to the possible extent, the normal operations of their healthcare systems. A number of preventive measures have also been implemented (e.g. schools closure and remote schooling, social distancing, remote working) to slow down the virus propagation. Such measures have had however a massive impact on Europe’s economy and the daily life of European citizens. In some cases, they can even generate dramatic social fractures and inequalities, such as education dropout and job loss.
ESA is therefore calling for actions in order to facilitate the quick integration and deployment of concrete and sustainable solutions, which shall make use of the different advantages provided by space-based products and services. These solutions shall contribute to alleviate the negative impacts caused by the COVID-19 and associated measures of containment but also help improving preparedness for future outbreaks. Proposed solutions shall consider the evolution of the crisis situation and therefore address relevant user needs.
KEY FOCUS AREAS
Tenderers responding to the Call for Proposals are invited to propose Demonstration Projects dedicated to the deployment and demonstration of pre-operational services, addressing the topics of Healthcare or Education.
Examples of application areas for the theme Healthcare:
- Tele-homecare and support to patients at home
- Support to medical operations and resource planning
- Logistics within the health delivery system
- Population health and wellbeing
- Social care
- Awareness and support to decision making for managing outbreaks
- Support to security and safety measures
- Recovering health system function and handling post-crisis backlogs
- Preparedness for future epidemics
Examples of application areas for the theme Education:
- Digital learning platforms and e-learning solutions
- Remote provision of training and education
- Social “Virtual” Interaction to engage pupils
VALUE OF SPACE
This call for proposals being supported by the European Space Agency, is mandatory to develop solutions for which at least one space asset plays a meaningful role.
Satellite Navigation (SatNav) can for instance:
- Provide location data for epidemiological analysis
- Support cross-certification of patient data
- Track and route emergency vehicles/ambulances
- Enable applications in the VR/AR environment
Satellite Communications (SatCom) can for instance:
- Provide connectivity where terrestrial communications is insufficient
- Enable remote monitoring through transmission of sensor data
Satellite Earth Observation (SatEO) can for instance:
- Provide contextual situational awareness
- Provide collection of data for production of images and maps environment
Technologies and solutions spun-off from Human Spaceflight can for instance:
- Provide support to sanification/decontamination
- Support monitoring of COVID-19 patients
The proposed solutions proposed can rely on new developments or on the integration of existing products or both. Such solutions shall be GDPR compliant.
WHAT WE OFFER
ESA will bear up to 50% of the acceptable cost. The remainder has to be financed by the Tenderer through private sector directly and/or indirectly via co-funding and/or by the users based on terms and conditions to be agreed upon.
To the extent that activities are performed by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as Universities and Research Institutes, said activities are funded up to 80 % by the Agency, depending on the funding level authorised by the related National Delegation(s).
WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
Motivation, business experience and domain expertise are all important features. ESA would like to hear about your ideas that involve utilisation of either space technology or space data.
For this call, companies residing in the following Member States will be eligible to apply: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Please note that a specific Open Call for Proposals AO10336 "Space helping UK on COVID-19 and other pandemics" has been issued to address the Healthcare sector in UK. UK organisations intending to apply for the Healthcare sector are therefore invited to apply to the UK call AO10336.
Economic Operators (both Prime and Subcontractor(s)), intending to respond to this Call for Proposals are requested to send to their National Delegation(s) their Outline Proposal, prior to the submission to ESA, as soon as possible.
ESA TENDER INFORMATION
For information on how to apply, please visit this web page.
WEBINAR
- 28/05/2020, 15:00 CEST - Space Based Services-Applications Addressing COVID-19 Outbreak
