September 2024 the European Commission signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SPACE aisbl for the co-programmed European Partnership for Globally Competitive Space Systems (“Space Partnership”) in the context of Horizon Europe.

The “Space Partnership” aims at fostering the competitiveness of the space industry. In bringing together the whole supply chain in the identification of key research priorities, it should accelerate innovation and time-to-market of EU space systems. 

The “Space Partnership” will increase the involvement of the private sector in the programming of Horizon Europe as of 2025. 100 million EUR of EU-funding will be allocated to the topics proposed by the Space Partnership in domains of satellite communication, Earth observation or space transportation. Private partners are expected to co-invest 120million EUR mainly through in-kind contributions.  

The “Space Partnership” is a pilot case – a new way of working with industry and research institutes in the field of research and innovation. The Commission has consolidated the scope and governance of the partnership with the founding members of SPACE aisbl , in close collaboration with Member States.  

The partnership association SPACE aisbl was established in 2024. Its founding members are Eurospace, SME4Space, ESRE, EASTRO and EASN – they represent a large part of the whole space supply chain. 

The signature took place in presence of the Director General of DG DEFIS, the Director General of DG RTD, the SPACE aisbl President and representatives of its founding Members. 

Through this partnership, the SME4SPACE members have a unique opportunity to define the topics of the next calls of Horizon Europe. SME4SPACE is looking for contributors to elaborate the work programmes, to define roadmaps and to provide inputs in the domains covered by the space partnership.

Please inform the partnership of your interest by sending a message to info@sme4space.org.

WHAT IS THE SPACE PARTNERSHIP

The space partnership entitled ‘Globally Competitive Space Systems’ gives SMEs the opportunity to discuss with the European Commission the priorities of Horizon Europe in 2025-2027. Through dialogue, working groups and road mapping activities, our members will be able to determine the topics for inclusion in the next calls of Horizon Europe for the domains covered by the partnership. Thanks to the space partnership, SMEs will contribute to the programming of the EU for the next years and this as of the second half of 2023.

SCOPE OF THE SPACE PARTNERSHIP : THE UPSTREAM SPACE SECTOR

We are looking for contributors and members that want to express their views and provide inputs in the following domains:

1. Foster competitiveness of end-to-end systems and associated services
   • Telecommunication systems
   • Earth Observation
   • Ground Segment aspects
   • Data Chain aspects
2. New industrial processes and product tools
   • Digitalisation and automation
   • MAIT at larger-scale
   • Lean qualification processes
3. Innovation for launchers competitiveness targeting initial operational capabilities by 2030
   • Smart technologies (higher autonomy, in-flight configurability, modular wireless avionics with smart sensors)
4. Fostering and enabling new commercial space transportation solutions
   • New space transportation services & concepts
   • Technologies to improve versatility, cost reduction & flexibility
   • New services requiring re-entry
   • Standardisation of services and actions promoting the use of COTS components

A full description of the SRIA and the above mentioned chapters, can be found on the website of the European Commission.