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Copernicus for Competitiveness

Point of contact
Robin  Faivre
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales
18, avenue Edoaurd BELIN
31400 Toulouse
Phone: +33 5 61 28 22 54
URL: cnes.fr


The objective of this action is to introduce more Copernicus data/services in industry. This action will be declined at national level towards the two French ESA BICs. Three types of candidates in these BICs for this action are foreseen:

  • The pre-incubates, i.e. people who have a project but not yet accepted by the ESA BIC Tender Evaluation board;
  • The incubates, i.e. those who beneficiate of the ESA BIC accompaniment for their project;
  • The alumni, i.e. those who leave/have left the incubation phase.

For each of these types, a questionnaire will be defined to understand if their project (short, mid or long term) can benefit of Copernicus data or services. On the basis of this short document, we will analyse if an added value can be found. If so, we will propose a dedicated program to the candidates with the help of Copernicus relays and academies or CNES (e.g. training on how to use Copernicus data/services, integration in a Copernicus incubator, provide processed data or tools to test use cases to make a proof of concept, create networks between an (pre)-incubate and an alumni to develop a product using Copernicus data/services, …).   

With the first results obtained for this action, the methodology (questionnaire and accompaniment) will be tested in the incubators who are partners of the French ESA BICs.

Hypotheses:

  • The two French ESA BICs do not have the same level of maturity, but the estimation is based on the fact that the ESA BIC Sud France has around 60 incubatees and alumni already and with the objectives of 20 new incubatees per year for the Sud France and 15 per year for the new ESA BIC Nord France
  • Consider 20% of losses (some do not respond, some start-ups of alumni may not exist anymore, the objectives of each ESA BIC can be overestimated by 1 or 2 start-ups)
  • # of questionnaires fulfilled by start-ups of the incubators partners of the French ESA BICs: 10
  • The incubators will make a first screening of potential candidates with the help of Seine Espace and CNES
  • The incubatees of this incubator will be oriented toward the ESA BIC as pre-incubatees if their project already includes some space data/services towards other applicative domains.
  • # of specific programs: 5
    • Number of start-ups and companies actively exploiting Copernicus data and applications: N.A.
    • Number of start-ups and companies entering the EO market and new products available: 5
    • Number of new products or services available: 3

So far, the questionnaire has been established and distributed using different channels. A reminder was sent in September 2021.

Outputs and Results

  • Questionnaires, feedback and success stories will be available at the end of the action
  • Regarding the results in the end, we will investigate how to make a global questionnaire which can be a first tool to help Copernicus relays to identify potential candidates to use Copernicus data/services.