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Unclaimed
Discovery tool, not advice. Every figure is the published rule, not a decision on your case.
Grants

ESA BIC (European Space Agency Business Incubation Centres)

ESA Business Incubation Centres

Status

Status not published

Each ESA BIC runs its own call, most with two to four cut-offs per year (commonly spring and autumn). There is almost always an open ESA BIC call somewhere in Europe.

Open now
Amount
Not published

Two-year incubation. The headline package usually combines an equity-free incentive for technical development (commonly around EUR 50,000 per company, but set by each national BIC and its co-funders), free or subsidised office space, technical support hours from ESA experts and business coaching. Amounts and co-funding requirements differ materially between the 25+ ESA BICs across Europe, so check the specific BIC's call.

Funder

European Space Agency with national and regional co-funding partners

ppp · supranational

Deadline: Fixed cut-off dates — Each ESA BIC runs its own call, most with two to four cut-offs per year (commonly spring and autumn). There is almost always an open ESA BIC call somewhere in Europe.

Your odds
Not published

This funder does not publish a success rate. We rank it using the rate observed across similar programmes and label it as an estimate rather than implying we know.

Effort
major

Major bid — written case, budget, possibly partners.

Who can apply

Start-ups typically less than five years old with a space-related product, either space upstream or space-enabled downstream. Company must be (or become) established in the BIC's country. Many BICs restrict entry to companies not previously incubated elsewhere.

How to apply

  1. Choose the ESA BIC in the country/region where you will be based
  2. Check that your product has a genuine space link (space technology used on Earth, or a downstream service using satellite data/navigation/communications)
  3. Submit the BIC application form and business plan by the local cut-off
  4. Technical and business review, then jury interview
  5. Incubation agreement and start of the two-year programme

What you will need

Related reading: How grant deadlines actually work · The EU SME definition (Recommendation 2003/361) · Co-funding and match funding, explained

Apply on the funder's site

Source. https://commercialisation.esa.int/business-incubation/ · not human-checked

Verified on 14 August 2026

Source: commercialisation.esa.int

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Paid, separate from Unclaimed

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