ESA title

Space Moves! Business Idea Competition

Satellites provide us with information which impacts our daily lives.

A wide range of sustainable commercial services are enabled by or benefit from capabilities like remote or global interconnectivity, robust communication, positioning, precision timing, geo-information, remote control, or technology for harsh environments. Space assets, such as satellite communication, satellite navigation, Earth observation or others, can enable these capabilities.

ESA Business Applications is constantly looking for service concepts which have the potential to become commercial in the short to medium term and are enabled by space, i.e., make use of data, information and/or capabilities provided by existing space-assets. Examples of such services can be found at https://business.esa.int/projects.

Within this context, the Space Administration of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and the European Space Agency (ESA), in partnership with the P3 Group, are calling individuals as well as micro and small companies for ideas for innovative space-enabled services. The proponents of the most promising ideas will be invited for pitching and awarded at the Space Moves! event in Berlin on 18-19 September 2017.

Need some inspirations? Check out our ESA Business Applications projects and start thinking about how your idea can become a commercial success.

Note: Despite the Space Moves! event having a major focus on Transport and Mobility, the submitted business ideas can target any domain.

Judging Criteria and Voting

Your business idea will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • clarity of the problem to be tackled and of the value proposition to the customer;
  • added-value of using space asset(s) for the envisaged service;
  • novelty in the market of the proposed idea;
  • technically feasibility;
  • potential to become commercial;
  • maturity of the idea, which shall allow service operations within 3 years (no focus on R&D).

The most promising ideas will be selected to pitch at the Space Moves! event in Berlin. The workshop attendees and the judge panel will vote for their preferred ideas. The winners will be announced during the second day of the event.

Voting for your favourite pitch: In which business idea would you invest?

Prize

This prize includes:

  • European Space Agency cash prizes:
    • 1st prize: €3,000
    • 2nd prize: €1,500
    • 3rd prize: €500
  • Eligible travel expenses to the Space Moves! event in Berlin, Germany, covered by the Space Administration of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR)
  • Coaching by representatives of the P3 Group during the Space Moves! event
  • Access to ESA Business Applications to develop the idea further and explore funding

Eligibility

This competition is open to:

  • Individuals, and teams of individuals, who have reached the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence at the time of entry, as well as Micro and Small Companies (50 employees or less).
  • Submitters have to reside in one of ESA’s member states (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and Canada).
  • Employees of ESA, DLR, and contractors currently under contract work for ESA or DLR are not eligible.

How to enter the Competition

  1. Download the Space Moves! Business Idea Pitch Form
  2. Fill the form answering the questions
  3. Submit the completed form to business@esa.int with subject "2017 Space Moves! Business Idea Competition" before the deadline: 3 September 2017, 23:59 CEST

Finalists will be notified by 8 September 2017.

In case of questions, contact the Space Moves! event team at space-applications-event@esa.int.

The Winners

And the winners of the Space Moves! Business Idea Competition are:

1st place: Blubel

Blubell is a smart bicycle bell powered by community wisdom.

Blubel

2nd place: Stroom Energy

Stroom Energy proposes analyses of small scale hydropower opportunities for large land owners.

Stroom Energy

3rd place: All In Surf

All In Surf envisages performance monitoring and analysis for water sliding sports.

All In Surf

Congratulations to the winners and the finalists of the Space Moves! Business Idea Competition!

Related Pages

18 July 2017
Last updated at 21 September 2017 - 16:33