European Commission Launched Open Call for the Copernicus Accelerator

Brussels, 26 June 2018 – The European Commission launched a new Open Call for the Copernicus Accelerator. The goal of the Copernicus Accelerator is to provide tailored business development support to start-ups, SMEs, research institutes and universities who have innovative ideas using Earth observation (EO) data, specifically Copernicus data. The new Open Call particularly targets start-ups younger than three years and entrepreneurs planning to be incorporated within one year, to gain direct access to the programme. The Open Call establishes a new entry point for the Copernicus Accelerator which enables access to about half of the fifty mentees. The remaining spots of the programme will be allocated to the winners of the Copernicus Masters and Copernicus Hackathons.

Until 15 September 2018, 23:59 CEST, start-ups, are able to submit their applications at accelerator.copernicus.eu. The easy Open Call submission process provides for the upload of a pitch deck, a video of maximum two minutes as well as a recommendation letter by a company or organisation or any entity with experience or an interest in EO.

Interested start-ups must be either citizens of one of the Copernicus Participating Countries (EU Member States, Norway and Iceland) or have established their company in the territory of one of the Participating Countries. The selection of the participants for the programme will be made by an international panel of experts in early October 2018.

“We are proud that, that the Copernicus Accelerator - as part of the Copernicus Start-up Programme - has enabled 90 participants to benefit from a one-year tailored business coaching service since its start in 2016. With the new Open Call, we are again looking forward to numerous applications from Europe enriching the programme’s diversity,” says Philippe Brunet, Director for Space Policy, Copernicus and Defence at the European Commission, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW).

The Commission has set up the wide-ranging Copernicus Start-up Programme based on important pillars. It consists of four elements that pursue the goal of increasing the number of users of Copernicus data and services: Copernicus Prizes as part of the established Copernicus Masters innovation competition, Copernicus Hackathons (open on 11 June 2018), Copernicus Incubation Programme and Copernicus Accelerator. The comprehensive programme accompanies young companies from the generation of a business idea to its full commercialisation.

Through the Copernicus Accelerator, start-ups will receive support from experienced mentors and work with them on advancing their innovations over a period of several months. They will be able to determine the focus of this coaching, such as creating a business plan, acquiring their first customers, raising capital, etc. Scheduled to last ten months, the Copernicus Accelerator will kick off with a boot camp that will invite all of its participants to Marseille, France, on 3 and 4 December 2018 as part of the EU Space Week 2018.

In Marseille, the winners of the Copernicus Masters will also be honoured and will receive access to the Copernicus Accelerator. The international competition awards prizes to innovative solutions for business and society based on EO data and is open for submissions until 30 June 2018.
The Copernicus Accelerator is a programme of the European Commission, implemented by SpaceTec Partners and AZO Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen.