ESA title

Space and Biotechnology

The European Space Agency’s “Space and Biotechnology” opportunity offers support and funding to companies looking to develop biotechnology services that can benefit from using space-based data or capabilities. This opportunity enables companies to carry out in-depth analyses on the technical feasibility and economic viability of applications across a range of themes, as set out below:

Key Focus Areas

ESA's 2nd Investor Forum takes place in Milan

Nick Appleyard, Head of ESA Business Applications with a panel of Investors
 
The European Space Agency’s commercial arm, ESA Business Applications, and ELITE,  business support and capital raising programme of the London Stock Exchange Group, have joined forces again for our 2nd Investor forum. This time we held the event in Milan at the historic location of Palazzo Mezzanotte - Borsa Italiana on October 5th 2018.
 
For this event, we selected ten of the most promising businesses within our portfolio to pitch to our group of fifteen investors. It is our aim to help these companies skyrocket their growth both during and after their mentoring by ESA Business Applications.
 
Nick Appleyard, Head of ESA Business Applications said: “A digital transformation is underway across the whole of society - and space based systems have become an integral part of this revolution. New commercial businesses are using these systems in an amazing variety of ways, creating a multitude of  opportunities for private investment growth. The European Space Agency supports the best of these businesses at an early stage and we welcome the opportunity to partner with ELITE, to help them reach their full potential in the market.”
 
Luca Peyrano, CEO, ELITE said: "We are proud to partner with ESA to support dynamic, highly innovative companies to accelerate their growth and to access capital. We were delighted to host the second Investor Forum in Milan with an impressive line-up of ambitious entrepreneurs presenting cutting edge solutions with limitless potential to scale. With interest in space exploration reaching new heights, it has never been more important for these companies to have access to appropriate funding. Today ELITE is proud to support over 900 companies from across 32 countries and 34 sectors."

About ESA Business Applications

At ESA Business Applications our mission is to prove that space is open for business and has the power to improve everyday life.
 
We aim to empower new commercial service developments. To do this we offer zero-equity funding and support to businesses, in the areas of technology, project management,  partnership building and investment readiness. Often businesses also benefit from the credibility of being associated with ESA, which can help to reassure investors and customers that their technology is sound and that their solutions have been tested in the field.  Our supported services target any sector where space delivers value (satellite navigation , earth observation imagery, satellite telecommunication, space weather, space technologies and other tools). Businesses can either apply to our periodically announced thematic opportunities, or submit a speculative application to develop a new solution for any market they are interested in.      
 
Since our programme’s inception in 2008, ESA Business Applications has invested more than €200M in over 500 business ideas, addressing markets in industries worldwide. Funding typically ranges from 60kEuro to 2MEuro and supports everything from early stage feasibility studies to large-scale demonstration projects.

Get in touch with us via email at business@esa.int

About the European Space Agency

ESA is an Inter-governmental organisation with 22 member states. Canada is an associate member and several other European countries have cooperation agreements. Whilst ESA only funds industry from member states, players from other countries can participate in projects at their own expense; and as boosting exports is a prime goal, many of the projects serve user communities in non-ESA countries.

About ELITE

ELITE offers businesses a full programme to help them grow, including education, business support and direct contact with Europe’s financial and advisory community. In the UK, Imperial College Business School helps deliver the programme. Management teams are guided on how best to fast-track their development and capital raising processes, how to access the most suitable funding for their needs, whether private equity, venture capital or the bond or equity markets, and given advice on building their profile and reach.
 
ELITE also allows its vibrant international advisor and investor community the opportunity to engage with a pool of high quality, dynamic companies and entrepreneurs, all of whom are open to the advice, opportunities and connections that the programme offers.
 
There are over 800 businesses from across 34 countries in the ELITE community. They are generating over €61 billion in combined revenues and employ over 290,000 across Europe and internationally.
 
For further information on the programme, companies and the full list of partners, please go to: www.elite-growth.com
 
 
Nick Appleyard, Head of ESA Business Applications

Alexandru Gliga, CEO of Box2M
 
Steve Bennour, Co- Founder & COO of eOdyn
 
 
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ESA Business Applications 2nd Investor forum was a great success held in Milan at the historic location of Borsa Italiana on October 5th 2018.

Grant Helps European Enterprise Tackle Global Pests

Belgian company Avia-GIS NV, is about to scale up its commercial activities and introduce its award-winning VECMAP® pest control software to the European market.

A Public Health entomologist checks for Aedes mosquito breeding sites in an urban area in Guadeloupe; part of a dengue prevention program coordinated using VECMAP. Photograph: Aiva-GIS NV

The success of VECMAP®, developed with the support of ESA’s Business Applications programme, has now secured the company an ‘SME Instrument’ grant. The 1.6 million grant represents a real boost for the business, based near Antwerp, which looks set to become a global commercial market leader.

Vector-borne diseases account for more than 17 per cent of all diseases, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The VECMAP® software suite, winner of three innovation awards, is radically changing the way in which this problem is tackled. Vectors are the factors that transmit the infectious disease from one organism to another. In humans typical vectors are mosquitoes or ticks; resulting in malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever and even plague. 

Vector-borne plant and animal diseases can devastate agricultural productivity and compromise ecosystems globally. As a public health issue they cause more than one million deaths annually of which over 600,000 are due to malaria (WHO). 

What’s worse is that vector-borne diseases are on the increase, now appearing in countries which were previously unaffected. This trend is a result of globalisation, increased interconnectivity and growing transport networks – with pests travelling the world in containers and aeroplanes providing the perfect way of carrying pathogens from place to place. As the risks spread, so do the substantial economic, ecological and public health implications. 

Traditional methods to monitor/control are resource-intensive, often using harsh chemicals in  ‘carpet bombing’ scenarios.  In 2014, however, the EU stipulated that member states should use proactive prevention, applying Integrated Pest Management (IPM) principles that combine a variety of methods to attack the entire lifecycle of the pests. 

State-of-the-art proactive prevention

VECMAP® software is a ‘one-stop-shop’ enabling state-of-the-art proactive prevention. Earth Observation imagery is combined through statistical models to provide vector disease risk maps and other value added services which help to identify the main habitat of the pests. GNSS enabled smartphones provide geo-localised data to the VECMAP system – which can be used to position traps and other IoT devices as required. ‘Smart’ data-driven control measures then dramatically reduce the use of insecticides. 

Left image: A smartphone app used by field teams pinpoints pests and transfers data to a central database. Right image: Maps show the presence of pests; tracking them and the risks they pose. Photograph: Aiva-GIS NV

“ESA Business Applications offered us the unique opportunity necessary to reach our goal which is to develop and commercialise tools that bridge the gap between research and decision-making, ” says CEO of Avia-GIS, Guy Hendrickx.

The software is available for researchers and decision makers and the grant enables the development of a version for pest-control operators. It is aimed at 3,200 SME pest controllers in Europe, and will help them make the shift to IPM strategies.

Davide Coppola, European Space Agency says: “ESA Business Applications help stakeholders to address commercial and technical risks throughout the application development lifecycle. This  transforms promising concepts into applications that are ready to go to market. VECMAP® is an excellent example of how ESA can help businesses to develop innovative and profitable space-based services, that are ready for commercialisation at scale.”

About Avia-GIS

Avia-GIS was established in 2001 and as an SME (small or medium-sized enterprise) has grown 17 per cent per year, steadily  building public authority trust. Avia-GIS employs 13 highly-specialised staff and has an annual turnover of 2M€. 

 

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Belgian company Avia-GIS NV, is about to scale up its commercial activities and introduce its award-winning VECMAP® pest control software to the European market. 

Ascend XYZ flying high

Ascend XYZ completed AMMO Project in May 2017 as part of ESA Business Applications programme, since then Ascend XYZ has grown its customer base and revenue by 200%. Ascend XYZ provides innovative software solutions for airport safety management around the globe and it is powered by Space.

 

  

Aalborg Airport is the third largest airport in Denmark and managed lower bird strikes by 50% while gainfully protecting wildlife (Wildlife Recording App). They have been the first customer of Ascend XYZ during AMMO Project with. Airport Quality Manager Thomas Hugo Møller says in his blogpost: "By using data to understand wildlife behaviour and implementing new active measures Aalborg Airport (Denmark) has reduced bird strikes by one half in one year. Aalborg Airport is a growing civil and military airport in the northern part of Denmark. Situated close to the water, with large meadows and huge areas with flooded pastures in the immediate surroundings managing wildlife is a challenge. Add a rapidly growing Barnacle goose population and you have a problem.

So, what were we to do? 

We started by implementing a strict digital recording of all wildlife movements in the area. This lead to a better understanding of the bird behaviour. Due to the digital recording, we were able to map where and when our high-risk species were present, and to track their local migration patterns."

 
 
 
 
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It’s only been 1 year and Ascend XYZ has increased their revenue by over 200%!

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