REVIEW - ESA Phi-Lab Austria Open Call Event 2025

25 June 2025 | Vienna AirportCity, Austria

26 June 2025, Vienna, Austria - Yesterday we celebrated 1 year ESA Phi-Lab Austria and held our 3rd Open Call Event. It was a year filled with ground-breaking ideas, collaboration with visionary founders, and exciting progress in the Austrian space innovation ecosystem.

To mark this milestone and to announce our 3rd Open Call for Proposals, we held our Anniversary & Open Call Event, where we looked back on our first year and launch the next Open Call for Proposals to shape the future of space technology.

Attendees and speakers explored ESA’s strategic vision for innovation and disruption in the space sector, gained valuable insights into our newly launched Open Call and how to participate, heard inspiring stories from some of our first-year incubated projects (R-Space, PEAK Technology, Quantum Technology Laboratories, and COBOT Dynamics), expanded their network of peers and pioneers from across the Austrian and European space-tech community, and met hidden champions in the space industry, innovation experts, potential partners, and many more.

Andreas Geisler, Head of Aeronautics and Space Agency, Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and Michael Moll, Head of ESA Phi-Lab Austria, accent, welcomed our guests and looked back at the beginnings and the first year of ESA Phi-Lab Austria and where Europe’s first ESA Phi-Lab stands in ESA’s broader commercialisation strategy.

Margit Mischkulnig, Head of Department for Space Affairs, Federal Ministry Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure Republic of Austria (BMIMI), gave an outlook and overview over the broader Austrian and European strategy as well es global developments in the space industry.

Some of our first-year incubated projects represented by Manuel Erhard, Team Head QKD Applications and Security, Quantum Technology Laboratories, Christian Lang, Key Account Manager - Space Agency, Peak Technology, Gregor Puchhammer, CEO, COBOT Dynamics, and Carsten Scharlemann, CEO, R-Space discussed about their projects, their visions and their experiences and learnings from working with ESA Phi-Lab Austria and its support partners.

They shared their personal experiences, lessons learned, and their view on what it means to grow a space innovation within our ecosystem. Their openness and insights brought incredible value to the session and truly inspired the next generation of applicants.

Susanne Katzler-Fuchs, CEO, Brimatech Services, presented our 3rd ESA Phi-Lab Austria Open Call for Proposals, gave insights and answered questions from the audience.

We want to thank everyone who joined us for our Open Call Event, asked questions, pitched ideas, and made this day a true milestone in our journey – it was the best kick-off for our Open Call for Proposals, we could have wished for.

We are looking forward to receiving your ideas and proposals and to co-creating the future of upstream space innovation, with industrialization, scalability, and impact at its core.

Reminder: Our 3rd Call for Proposals is open until 8 October 2025 – apply now for our FREE Pre-Proposal Support!

(📸photos: Ben Leitner)

CALL FOR PROPOSALS DETAILS

ESA Phi-Lab Austria is a centre of excellence dedicated to accelerating the industrialization of innovative upstream hardware and software with the focus on: “Industrialization by Design”

Submission Deadline: 8 October 2025

Tender Evaluation Board: 13 November 2025

For further questions, visit our application page and contact us for our FREE Pre-Proposal Support via the contact form, ideally no later than 6 weeks before the submission deadline.