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    Mar 27

    Spanish InCubed National Call - Wildfire Lifecycle Downstream Applications

    Investing in Industrial Innovation – InCubed – is a co-funded programme focused on developing innovative and commercially viable products and services using space borne earth observation. This is a dedicated national call for the Spanish companies dedicated to Wildfire Lifecycle Applications open from September 29th 2025 at 14:00 CEST to November 10th 2025 at 23:59 CET.

    Michele Castorina

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      In light of the dramatic situation Spain is facing as a result of the devastating wildfires that in recent weeks have severely impacted our territory, communities, and ecosystems, the need to strengthen our capacities for prevention, detection, and response to such emergencies has become more evident than ever. Aware of this urgency, the Spanish Space Agency (AEE), in collaboration with the European Space Agency through the InCubed programme, is launching this national call focused on applications covering the entire wildfire management cycle.

      The aim is to foster the development of innovative Earth observation solutions that enable risk anticipation, enhance early detection, and optimize action in critical situations, thereby contributing to saving lives, protecting infrastructure, and preserving our natural heritage. This initiative seeks not only to provide an immediate response to the current emergency, but also to lay the foundations for a safer and more sustainable future, equipping Spain with advanced tools that strengthen its resilience against the growing threat of wildfires and other phenomena associated with climate change.

      This Call, open only to Spanish entities, is organised at the request of the Spanish Space Agency (AEE) with the purpose of evaluating proposals that are eligible for receiving a AEE’s Letter of Support, which will enable the start of the procurement process of the activity by the Φ-Lab Invest Office of ESA, in accordance with the ESA procurement rules. The activities will be funded via the Spanish subscription to the InCubed Programme.

      This Channel is a mean for the Tenderer to provide an initial iteration on the content and justification of the planned InCubed activity; it is meant to facilitate the submission of the Proposal Part 1 [Outline].

      All Ideas will be strictly confidential and not shared within ESA, only the InCubed team and AEE team will have access to them. 

      The overview of the process is presented for information and completeness below. Please, also refer to the Frequently Asked Questions page on the InCubed website.

       

      First Step: Submit Proposal Part 1 [Outline] 

      • Fill in the InCubed Proposal Part 1 [Outline] through this tool for assessment. 
      • ESA / AEE agree on the final list of eligible proposals according to the Special Conditions of the call (see below in the corresponding section). The AEE holds the right to request further information during the process of eligibility assessment; the deadline the bidder will have for answering the request is 10 working days.
      • AEE will select the proposals for implementation based on the ESA / AEE assessment according to the criteria listed in this call (at the bottom of the page) and AEE strategic objectives.
      • On completion of a successful evaluation, AEE will send a letter of support to the InCubed Programme Manager, authorizing to proceed with the procurement and contractual implementation of the activity, subject to successful procurement process and contractual negotiations by ESA. In parallel, the list of bidders awarded with a letter of support will be published in the AEE website within 8 weeks of the campaign closure.
      • Selected Bidders will receive individual feedback about their proposal following InCubed assessment criteria. Non-selected bidders will have 15 days to appeal, after which the final list with the consolidated awarded bidders will be re-published.
      • If the assessment is positive, then you will be invited through this (OSIP) platform to submit Proposal Part 2 [Full]; the submission shall not exceed 4 weeks after such communications from ESA. 

      Second Step: Submit Proposal Part 2 [Full] 

      • Fill in the InCubed Proposal Part 2 [Full] and submit it through esa-star.
      • ESA will evaluate your proposal following InCubed assessment criteria.
      • Successful proposals will be invited to a negotiation meeting and possibly to the contract kick-off.

      What is InCubed? 

      InCubed stands for “Investing in Industrial Innovation" and its focus is on developing innovative and commercially viable products and services using space borne earth observation. The programme has a very wide scope and can co-fund anything from building satellites to on ground data platforms and everything in between. 

      If you have an existing activity in mind, e.g. , a constellation, a satellite, an instrument, a technology, software, a service, or an application related to the earth observation sector, and you want to develop it with ESA's help and then roll it out commercially, InCubed could be the programme for you. 

      A product is defined as any hardware, software, techniques, technology, system (or subsystem), or service that will be ready for commercialisation

       

      What are the InCubed domains? 

       Activities within InCubed fall in the following categories:

      1. Space Segment: activities related to any earth observation related product to be used in the spacecraft (platform, payload) 
      2. Ground Segment: activities related to the ground segment of an earth observation satellite system (ground stations and mission management, ground networks, and data distributions)
      3. Data Segment: activities related to the processing and the use of the earth observation data (Data Processing/ Visualization, Data Analytics/ Insights /Applications) 

      Or any combination of the above to deliver an end-to-end system.  

       

      What are InCubed cycles?

      lnCubed is driven by submitted industrial proposals, which must demonstrate that the product or service to be developed is commercially viable by the end of the lnCubed activity (or at least include a very robust roadmap to commercialisation).

      There are two development cycles available within InCubed, and entry depends on the maturity of the of the development being proposed:

      1. De-risking Cycle: This cycle results in a credible technical concept with identified commercial customers who show tangible interest and a robust product development roadmap. Developments are typically less mature and require support to reach a credible commercial product/service. 
      2. Product Development Cycle: This cycle results in a credible product or service that can be shown to be commercially viable without any further public funding. Developments are typically more mature.

      It is possible to move from one cycle to another as the development matures, or if the development is mature enough it can enter the product development cycle directly.

       

      You may apply for either one or both cycles. Each cycle may have different levels of co-funding, depending on the supporting member state or target readiness level (e.g. TRL/ASRL, refer to this table for their definition). You can potentially apply for both cycles, and activities can overlap as long as they are clearly shown. National delegations may, however, only decide to support one cycle at a time.

      The required objectives per development cycle and segments shall be respected.

       

      The aim is to reach a minimal viable product by the end of the Product development cycle.

      InCubed can also support further roll out if it is foreseen. Additional funding/financing outside of the InCubed programme may also be sought to scale the concept internationally or roll out additional elements e.g. constellations, networks, architectures (as far as it does not include further public funding)  

       

      What are the co-funding options and conditions?

      ESA can co-fund a fraction of the total allowable costs: up to 50% for the Product development cycle, up to 75% for the De-risking cycle.

      For complete information relate to the Call For Proposals (CFP) published on esa-star publication under TAN 4-40010 in the "ESA tender Actions". To access registration on esa-star is required. The documents on esa-star take precedence in case of any discrepancies. The consultation of the official documentation on esa-star related to the Call For Proposals (CFP) is only possible for duly registered users.

       

      What are Wildfire Lifecycle downstream applications?

      Wildfire lifecycle downstream applications refer to the full spectrum of services that can be enabled by Earth Observation technologies to address different phases of wildfire management — from prevention and preparedness, through detection and emergency response, to recovery, long-term impact assessment, and financial risk modelling. Proposals are encouraged in (but not limited to):

      • Prevention & Preparedness: fuel-load monitoring, vegetation moisture indices, invasive species tracking, WUI (Wildland-Urban Interface) risk scoring, critical infrastructure corridor monitoring, climate-linked fire-risk forecasting.
      • Detection & Response: near real-time hotspot detection, SAR/optical/thermal fusion for perimeter mapping, fire spread and smoke plume models, asset-specific alerts.
      • Recovery & Impact: burn severity and extent mapping, CO₂/PM emissions accounting, post-fire erosion and watershed modelling, reforestation prioritisation.
      • Finance & Insurance: parametric wildfire insurance triggers, portfolio exposure analytics, real-estate fire-risk scoring, risk-based OPEX/CapEx planning for utilities.
      • Cross-Sector Externalities: health and air-quality alerts, solar yield loss monitoring under smoke, impacts on agriculture (smoke taint in vineyards), tourism and park recovery monitoring.
       

      Please note that as the call is open from September 29th at 14:00 CEST to November 10th at 23:59 CET. 

      The Tenderer is reminded that the InCubed programme is an optional programme of the European Space Agency, and as such every activity of this call has to explicitly receive the financial authorisation by the Spanish Space Agency (AEE) before contract signature.

      Please review the ESA guidance on eligibility criteria for the InCubed-2 programme. In addition, the AEE will review the adherence to the following rules:

      1. Earth Observation focus on Wildfire Lifecycle downstream applications: InCubed-2 is an Earth Observation programme. While projects may support other activities, they should be within the context of Earth Observation, specifically for this call, only Wildfire Lifecycle downstream applications are eligible. Projects primarily focused on any other purposes will not be considered eligible.
      2. Exclusive Submission: To be considered for InCubed-2 support, proposals must be submitted solely to this programme. Proposals currently being assessed under other AEE/ESA programmes are not eligible for InCubed-2 funding. This does not apply to proposals that have already been formally rejected in this or other ESA programmes; those are eligible for re-submission under this new campaign.
      3. Non-Spanish Suppliers: Proposals may include products and services from non-Spanish suppliers if they are essential for project success, they can be considered commercial off-the-shelf (COTS – without modifications), and they do not have a substitute produced in the Spanish national territory. However, all proposals must demonstrate their value to Spain, and non-Spanish spending requests are unlikely to score as highly as Spanish-based activities. Any non-Spanish spending requests should be clearly stated in the initial application. Late requests will not be considered if not declared and approved at the application stage.
      4. Match Funding Eligibility: ESA eligibility on match funding states that companies can apply for up to 50% funding for Product Development Cycle, and up to 75% for De-Risking Cycle, independently of their size. 

      Please ensure all criteria are met and clearly articulated in your proposal.

      The budget for this call is €3,000,000. Up to 30% of the budget may be allocated for de-risking activities if they are presented alongside a product development cycle.

      CCNs (Contract Change Notices) for ongoing ESA InCubed contracts may be submitted. In these cases, the CCN template (available here) must be used. The same criteria will be applied as for the evaluation of outline proposals. Therefore, it is recommended to include the same information in the annex as those in the outline proposal. Additionally, attach or reference relevant documents already available, such as the business plan and technical architecture, where necessary.

      Criteria Used for Part 1 (subset of Part 2 evaluation criteria which available on esa-star in the SPECIAL CONDITIONS OF TENDER) 

      1. Understanding of the Programme Objectives:

      • improvement of global competitiveness of Europe in EO commercial markets;
      • substantial degree of innovation (new or improved competencies for Economic Operator(s));
      • tangible results within the timespan of InCubed,
      • credibility of the business opportunity in the market context including sustainability in the commercial market without further institutional support,
      • proposals should clearly demonstrate how EO technologies will deliver innovative, commercially viable downstream solutions across the wildfire lifecycle — from prevention and preparedness to detection, response, recovery, and risk finance — with measurable impact for end-users and markets.

      2. Quality and completeness of the technical proposal:

      • key requirements and proposed architectures and concepts versus activity objectives;
      • evaluation of technical risks and credibility of the risk mitigation actions.
      3. Adequacy of the management approach, planning and co-funding
      • adequacy of the work packages
      • meeting plan, deliverables and schedule.
      • completeness of the costing, value for money, assessment of financial risk versus company resources,
      • credibility of proposed co-funding scheme.
      4. Experience
      • company/ies technical and commercial experience in all areas of the proposed activities,
      • completeness of the team with respect to the value chain,
      • relevant experience
      5. Spanish National Call specific criteria:
      • Return of investment for Spain: it should be strongly demonstrated financial return to the Spanish space sector, including the lead applicant, their partners and supply chains, and the overall Spanish Space Ecosystem.
      • Applicability of the proposed solution it the Wildfire Lifecycle downstream EO segment.
      • Potential leadership role in mission or instruments.
      • Leverage the Spanish industry competitiveness, increase market options, improve positions in international arena.
      • Feasibility of the proposal and programmatic risk.
      • Consistency of the proposal with the strategic plan or goals of the company.
      • Mission context and relevance for the Spanish Space policy objectives: programme context, international partners, Atlantic Constellation synergies, etc.
      • Continuity from previously funded activities (if applicable).  
       

      Projects that receive an assessment lower than  40/100 in any of the criteria above, will NOT be considered by the national delegation for a letter of support.

       
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      Campaign Manager - MSc Telecommunications - Embedded Systems and Computer Architecture Carlos Urbina Ortega, End-to-end System Engineer

      Background Information

      Innovation Area

      Earth Observation

      The ability to fly satellites into space has changed all our lives in many ways, but the single greatest innovation has been the availability of new ways of seeing the world that satellites leave behind.

      Learn More