Few days ago InnORBIT has launched its open call for the 2nd pilot round that is expected to start over the next couple months. This article contains all there is to know about the pilot activities the exact steps of this journey.
During this pilot round we engage innovation intermediaries across Eastern Europe, such as clusters, incubators, accelerators and other organisations supporting space entrepreneurship or willing to enter this domain. Innovation intermediaries will first try our Capacity Building Programme and receive online training on key aspects of NewSpace, in a collection of topics such as:
- the basics of NewSpace and the space market,
- the flagship programmes and instruments supporting space innovation (GALILEO, EGNOS, GNSS, Copernicus, Space Situational Awareness and GOVSATCOM)
- the current status and needs of the space sector in Eastern Europe region.
At the same through our Capacity Building Pragramme we train the teams of innovation intermediaries to learn how to set up networks, activities and initiatives (InnORBIT's local space initiatives) to support their members, start-ups and SMEs to enter this market which is full with opportunities and help them develop ideas for new services and products making use of space technologies, applications and data and bring them to the market - in space and non-space industries - including agriculture, energy, mobility, materials and so on! InnORBIT's experts will train the intermediaries to set up Space cafes, Hackathons, info days or even fully fledged incubators and accelerators.
Innovation intermediaries are free to adjust the content of the training to their own needs, skills, resources, interests, strategic plan as well as the maturity of the space ecosystem in their country or region. InnORBIT's experts will provide support in the design of the training curriculum and guide innovation intermediaries through the next steps.
Following our training, innovation intermediaries will enter the second phase of the pilot round, the Business Support Programme. The Business Support Programme on one side contains training material and courses for space start-ups, innovators and their teams. The skills building material is focused on business aspects, intellectual property issues, finding and reaching out to customers, all related to the NewSpace. Innovation intermediaries have full control over the training space innovators receive. At the same time, innovation intermediaries will start designing their own InnORBIT space initiatives (cafes, hackathons, info days, incubators, accelerators) based on the path they have chosen and start bringing their members on board. InnORBIT's experts will provide support during the design and deployment phase, through advisory, tips on organisation and material, indicate speakers and experts, helping innovation intermediaries to deploy successful initiatives with lesser effort.
During the pilot round, innovation intermediaries retain free and full access to our material and support and after the end of the pilot, they maintain the ownership of the networks and initiatives they created and are welcomed to continue creating strong networks for space innovation.
Our programmes are flexible and customisable to innovation intermediaries with diverse background and so we welcome those organisations to join InnORBIT, regardless of their prior relationship with the space sector - we support both entry-level and advanced players. Other criteria matter more to us, such as motivation to support and advance their local space ecosystems and ability to devote time and resources to follow our programmes.
The expected duration of our pilot is approximately 10 months (3 months for the train-the-trainers programme and 7 months for the deployment of local space initiatives) starting in Spring 2022. No full-time commitment is expected during the pilot - they will carry on their day-to-day activities - and the planning is flexible according to participants' needs, with us providing continuous support at every step.
Innovation intermediaries will be called to express their interest through our registration form and will be invited to one of our three info days - on March 10th, April 12th, and May 12th to learn more about the process from our consortium experts. After our info days, follow-up discussions will take place to make sure that the process and all terms are clear. Then, you will be ready to start your InnORBIT journey!