Resources for start-ups

In addition to the resources provided through Research and Development funds such as Horizon Europe, Fundamental elements, and other specific calls for proposals through grants and procurement, EUSPA reaches out to innovators across segments by supporting a range of dedicated activities for entrepreneus, start-ups and scale-ups.

EUSPA is leading a series of initiatives to boost the opportunities for space start-ups to succeed thanks to technical and business support, and to accelerate their growth and scale-up by attracting more private investors. These include: 

  • Prizes
    • CASSINI Challenges (former #myEUspace Competition): the objective of the competition is to support the development of innovative commercial solutions - such as mobile apps or hardware-based solutions for example wearables, asset management and tracking solutions, robotics etc. - that are leveraging EU Space data from Galileo and/or Copernicus. Find out more here.
    • Cassini Maritime Prize: to tackle the global plastic pollution crisis, the European Commission launched the EIC Horizon and CASSINI Prize for digital space applications (HORIZON-EUSPA-2022-MARITIME-PRIZE) aiming at developing space solutions to track and remove marine plastic pollution.  
  • Hackathons: EUSPA regularly organises hackathons on different topics to generate high-value actionable business ideas and product concepts. Currently EUSPA is organising the Cassini Hackathons that take place twice per year in ten different locations across Europe.
  • Space Academy: EUSPA Space Academy is an online free training programme open to entrepreneurs and start-ups seeking to unlock their business potential and commercialise their ideas. The holistic curriculum covers seven topics necessary for a start-up to succeed. These are EU space data and signals, team and resources, customer and sales, product, business, finance, and legal matters. Additionally, renowned experts from academia and business are available for office hours, workshops, and mentoring sessions.
  • Investor events & matchmaking: in recent years, EUSPA has been able to build a large network of startups and Venture Capitalists involved in the development of innovative solutions. Some of these technological startups are looking for funding to help them evolve through their lifecycle. In this regard, EUSPA organises and supports, in cooperation with CASSINI programmme, regular events to connect startups with investors willing to provide financial support. Investors interested to make part of this initiative are invited to contact us at entrepreneurship@euspa.europa.eu.

Updated: Dec 06, 2023