The results of the first dedicated Polish call to ESA were announced. Out of 73 projects, which were submitted, 31 have been selected for funding.
Until the end of 2017 Poland will undergo a “transition period”, during which part of the Polish mandatory contribution to the European Space Agency (ESA) will be dedicated to space-related call for proposals. This programme is called Polish Industry Incentive Scheme and is managed jointly by ESA experts and the Polish “Task Force”.
The first Polish Industry Incentive Scheme call was announced at the end of February. The deadline for proposals came in early May. The aim of this call was to provide funding to the best Polish concepts and proposals related to ESA’s activities and to begin the integration of the Polish industry with the European space sector and market. This call was mostly dedicated to the industry, however national R&D entities could also participate, either as a partner or as a “prime” at a lower Technological Readiness Level.
After the documents submission deadline, there was a technical review as well as a meeting with the Polish “task force”. Later the projects were selected, and early September entities were informed about the negative or positive result of the call.
In total, 73 valid proposals were submitted, of which 31 were selected. The value of all submitted proposals was over 17 M EUR, whereas the value of selected proposals exceeded 5,3 M EUR. Among those selected, 25 are going to be led by the industry and the remaining 6 will be managed by national R&D institutes. On the 24th of October, at the Ministry of Economy in Warsaw, the first agreements for accepted projects were signed between ESA and project representatives.
The projects selected for funding by the first Polish Industry Incentive Scheme are very diverse and range from Earth Observation and Sciences, through the development of Generic Technologies, Navigation up to Telecommunications and Space Situational Awareness. The range of submitted proposals was even broader, including Education and Human Spaceflight.
It is also interesting to notice that some foreign companies are participating as partners (not “primes”) to selected activities. This means that there is a serious interest in the integration of Polish industry with the European space sector.
The next Polish Industry Incentive Scheme call should be announced sometime at the end of this year or early 2014. It is quite probable that the second call will be even more popular than the first one.
(JJ)
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