Our Space Academies

What to expect

Over the two days prominent experts covered topics such as:
Investment readiness, Crowdfunding,
Hot trends in artificial intelligence and robotics,
Business models, European funding for young SMEs, 
​European Space ecosystem

For each Space Academy 10 selected start-ups were provided FREE personalised services from SpaceUp experts, prior to and during the event.  These included feasibility studies, one-to-one talks, travel funding and more!

How to participate

There are currently no calls for Space Academies. 

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For any specific queries please contact info@space-academy.eu

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Benefits​

All entrepreneurs are welcome to join the Space Academy workshops and get coached in small groups during the first day on six great topics by prominent experts:

• Investment readiness and relationships, how to be trusted by investors and get funded;
• Kinds of crowdfunding (reward-based, equity-based, lending), how to maximize your impact with the right campaign;
• Hot trends, artificial intelligence and robotic, how new advanced technologies can shape your business;
• Business models, how to fine tune your business and make it even more effective;
• European funds, how to find the right funding opportunity in the ocean of the European initiatives;
• Space ecosystem, how to connect with international space institutions and corporates, and apply to ESA Invitation to Tender (ESA ITT).

In addition to all applicants who attend both days and get ample chances for broad networking, 10 selected companies receive certain individual high-level services for free, including contact and advice with experts in the months prior to the Space Academy:
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• One-to-one meetings with investors and matter experts;
• Credit Passport (International creditworthiness certificate);
• Feasibility study on EU public funding;
• Business model analysis;
• Management and human resources analysis;
• Intellectual property right analysis.

Funding

10 selected companies are entitled to receive funding
​and certain individual high-level services for free. 

Who can apply for the high-level services

• Companies post seed stage looking for investment in either a pre-Series A (possibly angels/corporates), or a VC Series A round (companies must be post friends and family and have already received seed investment from accredited investors)
• Strong team and established business now scaling
• Only European companies, that were incorporated no later than 5 years ago (exceptions made for companies in certain industries)
• Companies adopting at least one space technology and/or working with Copernicus/Galileo or EGNOS data as their basis

 
What is offered to the 10 selected companies
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• Up to €400 reimbursement for eligible travel and hotel costs
• High level customized business services and one-to-one meetings with experts
• 3-minute pitching slot, in front of investors: the space-tech and downstream application communities
• Access to EEN brokerage networking (special registration and upload of profile/offers mandatory)
• Access to all other workshops and sessions of the SpaceTechExpo
• Visibility through SpaceUp newsletters, bulletins, in Space Academy programme and videos before and after the event

(Regardless of being awarded funding, all relevant start-ups are welcome to apply to participate in the event and benefit from the networking opportunities and knowledge available)

Selection Process

All applicants go through a first pre-selection process aimed at identifying a maximum total of  30 companies that also fit best the criteria used by the Evaluation Committee. In this phase four independent experts from EBAN, Hypatia and 200 Crowd and also part of the SpaceUp team
screen the companies, with particular emphasis on:

• Company’s status
• Stage of the product/service
• Market strategy

Then, the 30 pre-selected companies are evaluated by the SpaceUp Evaluation Committee, composed of six experts from:

• EBAN
• Fraunhofer
• Hypatia
• IBS
• BIC Lazio
• AviaSpace Bremen

The SpaceUp Evaluation Commitee uses the following criteria to score the applications, taking into account the use of other European data and services such as Galileo, Copernicus and EGNOS:
         1. Value proposition / Business idea
         2. Market positioning and market potential
         3. Business scalability
         4. Financial status & business planning
         5. Investment approach
         6. Strategic relationships and partnerships
         7. Team
         8. Technical expertise

Each company receives a score from 0 (low) to 10 (high) for each of the eight criteria from each expert of the SpaceUp Evaluation Committee. The final score on each criteria is thus obtained as an average of all the scores given by each one of the experts composing the Evaluation
Committee. These average scores are used to calculate the final sum of all scores.  The 10 selected companies are those with the highest score. All 30 pre-selected companies will receive the evaluation report.