Business Applications are activities that help businesses and academia use space data and technologies to develop innovative products and services, with a strong focus on sustainability and socio-economic impact.
Entrepreneurs are supported to overcome significant barriers – regulatory, cost, infrastructure, maturity, institutional frameworks – that may impede short-term access to market when it comes to engaging with space technologies.
Business Applications have five broad objectives:
- Achieving sustainable commercial exploitation of space assets, data and capabilities for the benefit of industries and communities here on Earth
- Fostering the competitiveness of European businesses by developing, piloting and expanding space services and application to deliver socio-economic benefits
- Attracting a wider range of actors, including research institutes, start-ups, SMEs and established businesses, into the end-to-end space value chain, and sustaining their innovative services and products through private investment and other funding sources
- Collaborating with representatives of non-space market sectors to maximise the impact of using space assets
- Contributing and demonstrating the value of space in addressing societal challenges, including meeting Sustainable Development Goals and evolving through the Green Transition
These are achieved through a programme of funding opportunities available for businesses located in participating ESA Member States.
Funding opportunities at a glance
Support activities from Business Applications fall into two broad categories, tailored to meet the needs of companies at different levels of maturity and commercial readiness, and offering different levels of co-funding.
De-risking Stage: Feasibility Studies
These activities are to explore the viability of new space-based applications and service concepts, consolidate the user requirements and evaluate both their commercial sustainability and their technical feasibility.
There are three types of activities designed for this stage:
- Kick-starts
- Proof-of-concept
- Enabling Studies
Implementation and Business Validation Stage: Demonstration Project
These activities are to develop and validate the solution and its business model, pilot it, support its commercial growth, and enable their expansion into secondary markets.
There are two types of activities designed for this stage:
- Pilots
- Growth Projects
Visit the full BASS website to find out more about current funding opportunities and the application process:
Please note that all funding calls are closed for new applications as of 25 November as we regroup our offering under the new ACCESS programme. New open calls will be launched from December 2025 – watch this space!