From 13 to 14 February, the European Space Agency – ESA celebrated 20 years of fostering space innovation through its ESA Business Incubation Centres (BICs) network. The event in Munich, Germany, brought together entrepreneurs, space companies, investors and policymakers. 

The opening celebration featured Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General, and Markus Blume, State Minister for Science and Arts of Bavaria, who highlighted the pivotal role of ESA BICs in generating socio-economic benefits across Europe. 

During the celebrations, ESA BIC UK alumni, Open Cosmos, received the Senior Startup Award. 

This milestone celebrates Open Cosmos’ longstanding partnership with ESA and the dedication of their 130-strong team across the UK, Spain, Portugal, and Greece.  

Open Cosmos was founded in 2015 with the vision of simplifying access to space using small satellites, to ensure that a greater number of organisations all over the world could benefit from the richness of satellite data to address their challenges. 

Open Cosmos joined the ESA BIC UK in June 2016 with a proposal to develop nanosats for the education market. During their time with the ESA BIC UK, they pivoted away from the education market, launched their first satellite, won an ESA contract, closed a $7m funding round and grew from 5 to 30 people and have subsequently continued their growth at the Harwell Campus.  

“The ESA BIC programme has supported over 1800 startups across Europe during its 20 years and to be judged the best alumni is another fantastic achievement for Open Cosmos.”

– Carl Savage, ESA BIC UK Programme Manager.