European Space Agency (ESA) launches space technology transfer program in Portugal

Portuguese companies working and developing technologies in the space sector now have another tool for transferring these technologies to the non-space market. The National Space Technology Transfer Initiative (PTTI), launched on October 9, is an ESA initiative in collaboration with the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the Space Office. The implementation of this program will be carried out by the Pedro Nunes Institute, an entity invited by ESA.

The PTTI will last 18 months and receive ESA funding of around €200,000. It provides Call a Call proposals to fund Proofs of Concept (business plans accompanied by technical feasibility studies for the application of space technology to a non-space sector) and Demonstrators (prototypes for testing technology applied to a non-space sector). The Call aimed at Portuguese companies that work and develop technologies in the space sector, meeting some of the funding needs identified in this type of activity, but also at universities and their research laboratories.

ESA has extensive experience in technology transfer (TT), with more than 200 space technologies transferred and the creation of several European start-ups with a presence in international markets. As part of its Technology Transfer Program, ESA supports the creation of programs to stimulate TT in member countries. The PTTI fulfills this mission: it aims to strengthen the competitiveness of the Portuguese space industry and promote technological innovation by supporting and facilitating the transfer of space technology already available to non-space sectors at the international level. In the words of Frank Salzgeber, Coordinator of ESA's Technology Transfer Program, "The entities (companies, research centers) competing for the PTTI will be Portuguese, but the ideas and technologies will have a global reach."

Portugal has been a Member State of ESA since November 2000. An impact study on Portugal's participation in ESA indicates that around 60 companies and nearly 20 Portuguese universities have already developed projects with the European Space Agency, with contracts for Portugal totaling over €90 million. Portuguese investment in ESA programs is characterized by a multiplier factor of two: for every million euros invested in these programs, a return of two million euros is generated for the Portuguese space sector. Frank Salzgeber believes that Portugal has the capacity to increase this multiplier factor to 5, placing the country between Norway and the US.

The Pedro Nunes Institute (IPN) – Association for Innovation and Development in Science and Technology is a non-profit institution and business incubator that is a leader in technology transfer in the Portuguese innovation sector: it has six technological development laboratories and its business incubator was considered the best in the world in 2011, having supported the creation and development of more than 140 technology-based companies.