The European Commission launches the Copernicus Incubation Programme
After a year 2016 rich of concrete actions aiming at supporting the uptake of Copernicus and the growth of the downstream sector, the European Commission intensifies its support to start-ups and entrepreneurs by launching its "Copernicus Incubation Programme".
Thanks to a total budget of EUR 3.000.000 (+ EUR 450.000 for organisation costs), the programme will financially support the incubation of 20 start-ups every year for the next 3 years (60 start-ups in total).
In this context, the European Commission has issued a call for proposals aiming at selecting the entity that will be tasked with the organisation of the “Copernicus Incubation Programme”. This entity will be responsible for promoting the programme, developing the application procedure and organising the open selection of the best European start-ups which will benefit from the incubation programme.
Applicants must submit their proposals by 19 April 2017 (17:00 Brussels local time).
Context
In 2016, the European Commission completed a large-scale study which examined the overall impact of the Copernicus programme on the European economy and its benefits for the space industry, the downstream sector and end-users.
This study, which led to the publication in December 2016 of the first Copernicus Market Report, demonstrates that Copernicus is boosting the European Space sector and that the availability of free Copernicus data and services enables the development of many commercial applications.
Fully convinced that the socio-economic benefits brought by Copernicus will be maximised only with a strong involvement of the downstream companies, in particular with the implication of start-ups and entrepreneurs, the European Commission is developing a “Copernicus Start-up Programme”.
Designed to support the creation of start-ups and to foster growth in the downstream sector, the “Copernicus Start-up Programme” has four components:
- The Copernicus Prizes. The first prizes will be awarded in 2017 in the context of the Copernicus Masters competition;
- The Copernicus AppCamps/hackathons. The first AppCamps will be developed later in 2017;
- The Copernicus Accelerator. Launched in June 2016, it provides customised coaching to a selection of start-ups and entrepreneurs;
- The Copernicus Incubation Programme. Launched through the above-mentioned call for proposal, it will finance the incubation of the most promising European start-ups in order to help them commercialising their first products.
(Source European Commission)