140 million euros – this is how much Polish companies obtained from contracts with the European Space Agency. The space sector summed up 10 years of Poland’s membership in ESA during a special jubilee conference organized in Warsaw. Among the institutions that have benefited from cooperation with the agency is Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation, which, as one of 150 Polish entities, participates in European space projects. The Institute will now share its knowledge and technological support with Polish start-ups as part of the newly established ESA BIC Poland incubator.
The goal of ESA BIC Poland will be to support the idea of entrepreneurship and the use of space technologies in various sectors of the economy, as part of the incubation program.
Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation, as a member of the regional partnership, will support the implementation of the ESA BIC Poland goal through technical and technological support for startups subject to incubation.
The tasks of ESA BIC Poland will include: promoting entrepreneurship, supporting science-business-administration cooperation and strengthening international cooperation.
ESA BIC’s offer is addressed to start-ups that have been operating for less than 5 years and want to provide products, processes or services using new technologies or existing technologies in an innovative way.
Incubation of start-ups in Poland will be carried out in two cities, Warsaw and Rzeszów.
10 years of Poland in ESA
Cooperation with the European Space Agency is currently carried out by over 300 Polish entities, and 150 of them are directly involved in space projects.
Polish membership brings many benefits: access to terrestrial and space infrastructure, cooperation with national space agencies and the largest companies in the space sector, the possibility of developing domestic technologies, significant participation in the supply chain of space projects as well as human resources development and numerous educational programs.
ESA, on the other hand, praises Polish competences in the field of space technologies, pointing to specializations in the field of rocket and satellite propulsion as well as deorbit systems.
Polish technologies in ESA missions
Specialized space components draw attention of ESA experts. An example is the valve developed at the Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation, enabling the regulation of thrust of rocket engines for future rockets and lunar landers, which is being developed as part of the ESA Future Launchers Preparatory Programme. The solution was presented to the ESA Director General, Dr. Josef Aschbacher during the jubilee conference in Warsaw.
– ESA points out that the focus on market niches, such as valves, ecological propulsion or satellite deorbitation is the right approach by the Institute. It is also the best way to implement Polish components as a European standard in the upcoming ESA missions, in close cooperation with domestic and foreign space system integrators – says Adam Okniński, director of the Space Technologies Center at Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation.
The presentation of products and technologies developed at the Institute will take place at Space Tech Expo Europe in Bremen, to start on November 15.
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The Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation is one of the most modern research facilities in Europe, with traditions dating back to 1926. The Institute closely cooperates with global tycoons of the aviation industry, such as: GE, Airbus, Pratt & Whitney, and institutions from the space industry, including the European Space Agency. Strategic research areas of the Institute are aviation, space and unmanned technologies. It also provides research and services for domestic and foreign industries in the field of materials, composite, additive, remote sensing, energy and oil&gas technologies.
The Łukasiewicz Research Network provides attractive, complete and competitive technological solutions. It offers a unique system of “challenging” to business, thanks to which a group of 4,500 scientists in no more than 15 working days accepts the business challenge and proposes the entrepreneur to develop an effective implementation solution. At the same time, it involves the highest competences of scientists in Poland and a scientific apparatus unique in Poland. What is most important – the entrepreneur does not bear any costs related to the development of an idea for research work. Łukasiewicz meets the expectations of business in a convenient way. The entrepreneur may decide to contact us not only through the form at https://lukasiewicz.gov.pl/biznes/ but also in more than 50 locations: the Łukasiewicz Institutes and their branches throughout Poland. They will receive the same – high quality – product or service everywhere. The Łukasiewicz potential is focused around such research areas as: health, intelligent mobility, digital transformation and sustainable economy and energy.
