First open call of ESA BIC Estonia had five applications to join the incubation programme – four of them were from Estonia and one from abroad. Four teams had a chance to present their space related ideas to a jury of ESA and Local partners, who chose three ideas to join programme
Andrus Kurvits, manager of ESA BIC Estonia said that incubator’s main priority is to motivate and support companies to create and develop novel space related products and services that can be use both on ground and in Newspace. “In that notion our first open call was a success since two incubatees are related to Newspace and one with ground applications, “explained Kurvits.
Crystalspace is a spin-off company of University of Tartu and ESTcube-1, which main area is developing hardware for satellites. During the incubation period they will fully develop and market miniature portable vacuum chamber camera, that handles gasless environment and has low energy consumption
Spaceit main area is developing software for satellites. During the incubation period they develop universal cloud based Mission Control System for satellites, that runs as a service and uses worldwide network of ground stations. Spaceit competitive advantage is its security, quality and better cost-efficiency
Golbriak Space is a start-up company that develops optical communication for satellites and have cloes ties to FSSCat team, who won Copernicus Masters ESA main award. During the incubation period the hope to perfect their technology and product to get step closer market-readiness.
ESA BIC Estonia launched on 7th of November during the European Space Week. It’s a European wide space network that has 18 business incubators. ESA BIC Estonia’s goal is to help 20 companies during five years to reach international market, providing them 50 000 € start-up money and area specific mentorship. ESA BIC Estonia Consortium consists of eight partners: Tartu Science Park, Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol, City of Tartu, City of Tallinn, University of Tartu, Tallinn University of Technology, Tartu Observatory, and Kredex.