In the presence of high-ranking representatives from politics and the space industry, Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner emphasised 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." The ESA Phi-Lab Austria will support project teams and provide financial support to develop their prototypes to a near-series production 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 inspire potential founders from Europe for Lower Austria as a business location," Mikl-Leitner continued.
Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler emphasised the importance of close cooperation between research, innovation, industry, and ESA: "The Climate Protection Ministry is pursuing a very clear goal in 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 generating value creation and jobs in Austria."
(Johanna Mikl-Leitner - Governor of the State of Lower Austria)
(Leonore Gewessler - Climate Protection Minister)
(Josef Aschbacher - Director General ESA)
The ESA Phi-Labs are a Europe-wide new initiative, which was 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, which will provide innovative projects and businesses with direct access to a wide range of technology areas. "During my time as ESA's Director of Earth Observation, I introduced the Phi-Lab concept to commercialize space by accelerating the use of Earth observation data through transformative and groundbreaking innovations," explained Aschbacher, Director General of ESA. "With the opening of ESA Phi-Lab Austria, we will extend this concept to all areas of space, bringing together key players with different disciplines, backgrounds, and communities. ESA wishes this new space innovation centre in Austria every success, momentum, and creative inspiration. We will follow it closely!"
(Stephan Pernkopf - Deputy of the State of Lower Austria)
The ESA Phi-Lab Austria is implemented by the Lower Austrian technology incubator accent, which has been working closely with ESA for eight years. Other partners in the implementation are tecnet equity, Brimatech, and ENSPACE. In its support, ESA Phi-Lab Austria relies on a combination of intensive support with training and coaching in the field of business model development, as well as a direct financial subsidy for the development of the prototypes to a near-series production level.
"Space may seem infinitely far away, but it is closer to us every day than we thought. 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, and blue and yellow know-how is already on board for 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 mobile phones and navigation systems every day, good for the economy, because value creation and high-quality jobs are created, and also good for safety, because sensitive technologies are not exclusively researched in the USA or China," says Stephan Pernkopf, Deputy Governor responsible for science.
Vienna Airport, which is developing into an important hub for aerospace, supports the settlement of space tech start-ups and actively participates in the initiative. "AirportCity is becoming a space cluster: ENPULSION is present at the site with around 80 employees, and two more companies in the space sector will soon be settling. Vienna Airport promotes networking directly at the location 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 with 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 constantly growing.”
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 world market leader for propulsion systems in the small and micro satellite sector.
