ESA announces winners of the Global Space Markets Challenge

German SME DcubeD and Spanish SME Detektia Earth Surface Monitoring are the winners of ESA’s Global Space Markets Challenge. During the final round of the competition both companies delivered pitches which secured them the first place in the upstream and downstream categories.

After having passed the pre-selection and selection phases, 12 finalists – six from each category – were invited to give a five-minute pitch on their internationalisation plans to delegates in the Agency’s online Industrial Policy Evolution Working Group meeting on 28 September.

The top three companies in the upstream and downstream categories identified by the delegates have now been granted the competition’s awards by ESA’s Director General Josef Aschbacher.

Winners

Upstream category

1st place: DcubeD (Deployables Cubed GmbH), Germany

2nd place: Lios, Ireland

3rd place: Lens Research & Development, The Netherlands

Downstream category

1st place: Detektia Earth Surface Monitoring S.L., Spain

2nd place: SatADSL, Belgium

3rd place: A.U.G Signals Ltd, Canada

ESA offers all six winners the chance to showcase their business at the 72nd International Astronautical Congress (IAC), in Dubai from 25–29 October 2021 and to connect with the investor community, in particular with Seraphim and Primo Space who supported the competition.

The first, second and third place winners in each category will also receive mentoring prizes of €15 000, €10 000 and €5 000 respectively to advance their internationalisation plans.

In addition, the upstream winners be able to attend and present their products and services on a company booth at the next on-site ESA Industry Space Days. This will allow them to network, create partnerships and introduce their business to a wider community of space-based companies and potential customers.

For the downstream winners, Eurisy, a European non-profit association of more than 15 national space agencies and other organisations involved in space activities, which partnered with ESA in this competition, will offer the companies the opportunity to showcase their products or services in a virtual reality environment. This environment will be available online as well as through a virtual reality headset which will be used by Eurisy and ESA at international events and fairs.

ESA, in line with its Agenda 2025, set up this competition to grow and support European space-based businesses by improving their visibility and worldwide competitiveness to help them be part of opportunities in the global space market.

The competition was open to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises specialised in upstream and downstream activities in ESA Member States, Associate States and Canada wishing to extend their reach into international markets.