AscendXYZ, a Danish company focused on modernising airport operations, recently celebrated a new milestone: after eight years, the company is now fully profitable. They joined ESA’s Business Applications and Space Solutions (BASS) programme in 2016, which assisted in the development of their space-based software for airport management. With ESA’s backing, Ascend have turned their new ideas into services now used by airports across Europe.

Ascend entered the aviation market with a clear goal: to modernise the management of airport surroundings. Using data from bird detection and tracking radar and Earth observation satellites, the AscendXYZ service helps airport safety teams monitor surrounding areas for potential wildlife hazards, such as bird strikes. The data in the app is easily accessible to airport teams such as airport operators, workers on the ground and civil aviation authorities, allowing for real-time monitoring. This approach significantly reduces bird strikes while streamlining a previously resource-intensive and expensive process, making it easier for airports to comply with flight safety regulations.

Despite their clear mission, the road to success was not straightforward. Acquiring new customers proved to be more difficult than anticipated causing uptake of the service to fall below Ascend’s expectations. “Even though the market feedback was positive, the reality was that our customers weren’t quite ready to make the leap. It was a matter of timing, and we had to remain patient and adaptable”, said Peter Hemmingsen, CEO of Ascend.

The BASS programme guided Ascend in refining and structuring their approach. The company shifted its focus from a broad global market to airports within the European Union to build stronger, more valuable partnerships with a smaller number of clients. The company originally envisioned a low-cost service with a wide customer base, and evolved into a more tailored, high-value service.

Throughout this journey, ESA’s BASS programme helped Ascend refine their product: as a result, most of the users from their demonstration project have become paying customers.

“ESA’s support allowed us to take risks and refine our products in ways we couldn’t have done alone. Their involvement helped turn ideas into something airports rely on every day”, said Hemmingsen.

Although Ascend’s original vision changed, the company was able to be flexible to adapt to market realities, identify its core market and steadily build a sustainable business. AscendXYZ is used regularly in 30 airports across Europe, with their reach continuing to expand.

For Ascend, success has come from timing, adaptability, and the ability to refine a business model in response to the market’s needs. The company’s journey from early-stage ideation to profitability shows the critical role that programmes like ESA’s BASS play in turning ideas into commercial success.

“We are very happy to see the great positive impacts that the BASS programme can have on companies’ businesses,” said Arnaud Runge, Technical Officer who followed several activities with AscendXYZ. “BASS had already supported many companies in creating amazing products and services. Now we see clear evidence that the programme can help companies get off the ground with our support - and then fly solo".

Looking back, Hemmingsen emphasised the factors that shaped their journey: “There’s no straight line to success, but with grit and the right support, we are on the right path. AscendXYZ is now profitable, and we owe much of our success to ESA’s support, to our commitment to turning challenges into opportunities and to our willingness to adapt until we succeed”.

Supply chain logistics play a vital role in our healthcare services, from the ordering and delivery of medication to transporting samples for analysis at laboratories.  Small-scale drones have the potential to transform the efficiency of these processes, improving outcomes for patients, reducing costs and cutting CO2 emissions. UK company Apian has become the first to trial drone services in London airspace for the National Health Service (NHS), supported by  ESA’s Business Applications and Space Solutions (BASS) Programme and the UK Space Agency, with the aim of providing faster, smarter and greener healthcare logistics.     

The NHS is Europe’s largest employer and the supply chain which underpins their services can be problematic and costly.  Currently, the NHS is responsible for 4% of all UK road travel, contributing to traffic congestion which causes delivery delays, reduces road safety  and increases CO2 emissions. Adopting drones to deliver medical supplies, pathology samples, and equipment instead of vans offers a fast, cost-effective and sustainable alternative.  Over 300,000 patients have at least one test each day in England and Wales, providing immense scope for the adoption of drone technology in healthcare. Drone logistics dramatically increase the turnaround of laboratory results, supporting patient care as well as  inventory optimisation by reducing overstocking and waste. 

The Apian team spent considerable time gathering information in the hospital environment, including Blackrock Clinic and St Vincent’s Private Hospital in Dublin and at Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, in order to seamlessly integrate their platform into existing workflows and processes. The platform, which has been developed with support from Project Dreadnought, enables health professionals to schedule, order and track deliveries in real-time with an unprecedented level of traceability. Apian have worked closely with healthcare providers, regulators and drone operators to ensure effective functionality and regulatory compliance.               

Arnaud Runge, Technical Officer for ESA on the project, said “we are excited to be working with Apian in the development of Apian’s platform through Project Dreadnought and supporting their groundbreaking use of drones in the health service.  Their revolutionary service not only increases efficiency for both patient and NHS staff but also reduces costs and the environmental impact of the NHS supply chain.”

Apian has conducted operations in rural and urban areas with pilots in Northumbria, the Isle of Wight, Dublin and London, increasing efficiency and receiving positive feedback from users. In Dublin, where Apian’s trial is now complete, flights took an average of 4 minutes 12 seconds and drones saved more than 118kg of CO₂.          

Amy Labrum, Director of Operations at Apian, said: “Apian is bringing on-demand drone delivery to healthcare, helping to solve the productivity problem with automated, more efficient and resilient logistics. We are grateful for the support of the ESA through Project Dreadnought, which has helped us to improve healthcare logistics for the benefit of staff and patients.”

The service integrates satellite navigation, communication and imagery to streamline medical supply chains, reduce carbon emissions, and enhance patient outcomes. The potential for drones to transform healthcare delivery is considerable – not only in accelerating and facilitating emergency responses, telemedicine and remote care, but also in improving health service logistics and supply chains.

In 2023, the global healthcare logistics market was valued at $92B, and the success of Project Dreadnought helps place Apian at the forefront of transforming the industry as they scale their service commercially. They are already in discussions to expand the service with the NHS as well as working with leading industry stakeholders across the world.