Vienna-Schwechat, April 26, 2024: A groundbreaking partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA), the Ministry of Climate Protection and the Province of Lower Austria was announced today at a press conference at Vienna International Airport Vienna-Schwechat, April 26, 2024 - A groundbreaking partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA), the Ministry of Climate Protection and the Province of Lower Austria was announced today at a press conference at Vienna International Airport Vienna-Schwechat. The first European ESA Phi-Lab was officially opened. The aim of the center of excellence is to promote the commercialization of space travel.

The Phi-Lab, named after the Greek letter Phi, which stands for the pursuit of knowledge, is designed to support new business ideas and start-ups through incubation services, intellectual property and technology transfer, and to help companies take more risks, get to market faster and attract private and institutional investors through so-called “scale-up” investments. From advanced propulsion systems and autonomous navigation to robotics and sensors, the ESA Phi Lab will support a wide range of technologies that will shape the future of space travel.

In the presence of high-ranking representatives from politics and the space industry, Johanna Mikl-Leitner emphasized the importance of this step: “The ESA-Phi-Lab marks a significant milestone in the use of industrial know-how for space and underlines the innovative strength that exists in Lower Austria.” ESA-Phi-Lab Austria will provide project teams with intensive support and funding to develop their prototypes to a near-series level. “Together, 10 million euros will be invested, with the state of Lower Austria contributing a significant share of the costs. In this way, we also want to get potential founders from Europe interested in Lower Austria as a business location,” continued Mikl-Leitner.

Federal Minister Leonore Gewessler emphasized the importance of close cooperation between research, innovation, industry and ESA: “The Climate Protection Ministry is pursuing a very clear goal with its participation in ESA programmes: Austria should further strengthen and consolidate its innovative and competitive space sector, which supports sustainability on Earth and in space. A central concern here is that new players enter the space sector, that new ideas and innovations are implemented commercially and that these start-ups also grow, thus creating added value and jobs in Austria.”

The ESA Phi Labs are a particularly Europe-wide new initiative launched directly by ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher. ESA-Phi-Lab Austria will be part of a network of 12 ESA Phi Labs in Europe that will provide innovative projects and businesses with direct access to a wide range of technology areas.

“During my time as Director of Earth Observation at ESA, I pioneered the Phi Lab concept to commercialize space by accelerating the use of Earth observation data through transformative and ground-breaking innovations,” Josef Aschbacher, General Director of ESA.ch announced at a press conference.

“With the opening of ESA-Phi-Lab Austria, we will extend this concept to all areas of space and bring together key players with different areas of expertise, backgrounds and communities. ESA wishes this new space innovation center in Austria much success, momentum and creative inspiration. We will follow it closely!”

ESA-Phi-Lab Austria is being implemented by the Lower Austrian technology incubator accent, which has already been working closely with ESA for eight years. Other partners in the implementation are tecnet equity, Brimatech and Enspace. ESA -Phi-Lab Austria's support is based on a combination of intensive support with training and coaching in the area of business model development as well as a direct financial grant for the development of prototypes to a near-series level.

“Space may seem infinitely far away, but it is closer to us every day than we think. And it is not only being researched by NASA in Cape Canaveral, but also in Lower Austria. After all, cutting-edge research is at home in Lower Austria, with blue and yellow know-how already on board numerous missions. The new ESA Phi-Lab is the next logical step on our way to exploring the limits of space. Here, the latest scientific findings from space research are translated into concrete applications for satellites, aviation and navigation. This is good for people, because we all use applications such as cell phones and navigation systems on a daily basis, good for the economy, because it creates added value and high-quality jobs, and also good for security, because sensitive technologies are not exclusively researched in the USA or China,” says Stephan Pernkopf.

Vienna Airport, which is developing into an important hub for aerospace, supports the establishment of space tech start-ups and is actively involved in the initiative. “AirportCity is becoming a space cluster: Enpulsion has around 80 employees at the site and two more companies in the space sector will soon be settling here. Vienna Airport promotes networking directly at the site and supports start-ups in its own Innovation Center. The ESA-Phi-Lab is an important new partner for AirportCity, which is the perfect operating and production location for companies thanks to its excellent accessibility, international networking and numerous service offerings”, says Günther Ofner, Member of the Management Board of Flughafen Wien AG. Around 250 companies are already located at the airport site and the number is growing all the time.

The press conference took place in the newly opened premises of the space company ENPULSION. Since its foundation seven years ago, ENPULSION has become the global market leader for propulsion systems in the small and micro-satellite sector.