ESA BIC in Austria

The interesting part of this huge investment from ESA Member States is that the life of these assets does not end but starts in space! In fact, behind these developments lies an enormous “reuse” potential which is accessible to entrepreneurs, researchers, students or companies. So most of the start-ups we support indeed use space as a starting point to develop a business on non-space markets (so-called “downstream” markets), such as mobility, agriculture, environment or health.

Also to be noted, the ESA BICs also welcome entrepreneurs looking to contribute to the increasingly growing commercial space market! In this “upstream” approach, alongside large institutional organisations and incumbent companies, start-ups and entrepreneurs get involved in launching rockets and satellites and work intensely to achieve technological breakthroughs for instance with advanced materials and using emerging technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, blockchain or robotics.

Opened in 2016 as part of the Europe-wide BIC network, managed and coordinated by Science Park Graz in close partnership with accent Inkubator, ESA BIC Austria draws on both organisation’s outstanding track record in high-tech business incubation – providing a unique environment geared exclusively to accelerating innovation and unlocking your commercial potential. With more than 18 years’ experience in business incubation, Science Park Graz and accent have so far supported more than 300 technology and innovation projects.

ESA BIC Austria provides to 10 companies per year a package of impactful business and technical support, the integration in the European-wide space start-up network built by all ESA BICs, zero-equity funding of Eur 50.000, international visibility and the credibility of the ESA brand.

In addition, the companies benefit from the powerful and prosperous Austrian ecosystem, strongly connected to our partners:

• Main partners are the Aeronautics and Space Agency (ALR) of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), the Styrian Business Promotion Agency (SFG), the City of Graz, Brimatech Services GmbH, Steiermärkische Sparkasse, accent Inkubator as well as the Federal State of Lower Austria.
• Local partners include Graz University of Technology, Medical University of Graz, University of Graz, FH Joanneum – University of Applied Sciences, CAMPUS 02 University of Applied Sciences, Human.technology Styria (HTS), Green Tech Cluster Styria, AC Styria Autocluster, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Joanneum Research, St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) and CERN Technology.