IPN - Instituto Pedro Nunes - ESA Space Solutions Centre Portugal celebrated eight years

The ESA Space Solutions Centre Portugal (ESA SSCP) celebrated its 8th anniversary on 12 January. The anniversary featured a series of activities that lasted throughout the afternoon, including a presentation of the results achieved in recent years, as well as the companies supported.


The opening session included interventions from João Gabriel Silva, President of Instituto Pedro Nunes, Fernando Guerra, Head of Space Mission Unit Principal Consultant of ANACOM - National Communications Authority, Ricardo Conde, President of the Portuguese Space Agency, and Jorge Pimenta, Director of ESA Space Solutions Portugal.


This was followed by a Microsoft workshop with Inês Marques and an intervention by Roberto Cossu from ESA.


Alumni were present at the celebration to share their experience as incubates of ESA Space Solutions Portugal, including Localista, Eptune, GAS EXPRESS, OWL Our Watch Leads, VIBO, Neuraspace, Forja, Activepoin and allbesmart. The winner of the ESA Challenge Patent, allbesmart, was also presented.


Founded in 2014, the ESA SSCP is a centre of excellence that promotes innovation and technology transfer in the space area, through collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Portuguese business, academic and government community, allowing Portuguese companies to receive technical and financial support to create their businesses using space technology. Over the last eight years, the centre has worked on research and development projects that have contributed to the advancement of technology in Portugal and Europe.


The ESA SSCP was the first Space Solutions Centre of the European Space Agency to bring together the three technology transfer programmes promoted by ESA the ESA Business Incubation Centre (ESA BIC), an incubation centre that supports Portuguese companies using space technology in terrestrial applications or wishing to enter the commercial space market; the ESA Technology Broker, an ESA technology transfer network that provides support in commercialising space technologies in non-space markets; and the ESA Business Application Ambassador Platform, a network of ambassadors that publicises programmes and supports national projects that aim to improve the lives of people on Earth through the transfer of space technology. In total, in the last 8 years, the ESA BIC has supported 45 national startups, the ESA Technology Broker has registered 10 successful business support cases and the ESA Business Application Ambassador Platform has supported 26 small projects.