This Campaign is a means for Greek organizations interested in submitting an Idea Pitch to InCubed.

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.

The focus of Greece within the InCubed is to develop national end-to-end spaceborne capabilities aiming to contribute to a dedicated satellite constellation to provide commercial Earth Observation products and services, through international cooperation, and focused on addressing national needs. Activities submitted will have to comply with the guidelines (attached below) .

What are 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 which can be shown to be commercially viable without any further public funding. Developments are typically more mature

During this first Greek InCubed Campaign, the Greek General Secretary of Communications and Post and InCubed are only accepting idea pitches for activities to be performed within a combination of the De-risking Cycle (up to 150k Eur) followed by a Product Development Cycle (up to 1,400 kEur).

The aim of this De-risking studies is to engage commercial customers and national stakeholders, and identify both up/down stream and end-to-end spaceborne capabilities to be developed in Greece, up to the preliminary design of the mission. The follow-on product development cycle shall aim at delivering the IOD of the proposed mission.

Objectives/tasks eligible for this call are specified in the guidelines (attached below)

Application Process & Timescale

First step: Pitch your Idea

Greek organisations interested in submitting a proposal to InCubed must complete and submit the Greek InCubed Idea Pitch form available to registered users on this campaign by 23:59 CET  24th December 2020 in order to be considered in this round of evaluations; applications received after this time will not be considered.

Following a preliminary evaluation, those proposals deemed to have met the basic criteria for consideration under the InCubed programme – that is, proposals on developing a commercially-focused, space-related Earth Observation product/service capable of reaching a sustainable position in the marketplace without further public funding, seeking a level of support within the available funding envelope and which follows the guidelines on co-funding levels – will be invited to give a short pitch via videoconference to representatives of ESA to outline the proposed development and providing the opportunity to answer any questions posed by the Agency. It is anticipated pitches will be invited within 1-2 weeks following the submission deadline. N.B. proposals for activities that are considered to fall outside the scope of the InCubed programme will not be invited to the pitch session.

Applications must use only the form of this campaign dedicated to Greek campaign; proposers using the generic form on the InCubed Channel will NOT be considered.

Organisations can expect to be contacted within a few weeks regarding whether they have been successful at the pitch stage and that they may proceed with submission of Proposal Part 1[Outline] to ESA;

Second Step: Submit Proposal Part 1 [Outline] 

The selected Pitch must submit the Proposal Part 1[Outline] to ESA within 4 weeks of this notification; ESA will provide comments directly onto your proposal following Part 1 [Outline] assessment criteria. If the assessment is positive then you will be  will be invited to submit Proposal Part 2 [Full]; submissions must be completed within a further 8 weeks;

Third 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 Part 2 [Full] assessment criteria. Successful proposals will be invited to a negotiation meeting and possibly to the contract kick-off within 6 weeks after submission of the Proposal Part 2 [Full].

The overview of the process is presented for information and completeness below:

All Ideas will be strictly confidential, only the InCubed team will have access to them.

What are the funding options and conditions?

ESA usually 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);