Science Park Graz and ESA BIC Austria can proudly announce that they are official partners in the consortium that implements the European project Space hUb Network (SUN). SUN was funded under the “H2020-SPACE-2020” call, now part of CASSINI, the new European Commission’s space entrepreneurship initiative for the period 2021-2027.

Over the course of 2 years, SUN will increase the commercialization of space-enabled solutions and growth of European start-ups and scale-ups in space downstream and upstream sectors by implementing a multi-dimensional concept. 

SUN is looking for top-notch entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs and aims to facilitate their active engagement in the project initiatives. 6 Hackathons and 12 Roadshow events for SMEs will be organised, involving stakeholders of specific industries that can mostly benefit from space technologies - such as telecom, mobility, and agriculture. In addition, space entrepreneurs, start-ups and scale-ups will have the opportunity to participate in mentorship programmes. 

SUN will be implementing 3 mentorship programmes based on the IRL & TRL level of each participant, supporting start-ups to advance their IRL and get access to finance. Science Park Graz will lead a pre-incubation mentorship programme aiming to help entrepreneurs to become start-up founders and go forward in terms of their IRL. Furthermore, top-grade mentors will support them to analyse their competitive landscape, identify their unique value proposition and increase the skills of their teams. Newly established start-ups will also be matched with other support initiatives and incubation opportunities to encourage further growth. 

SUN will also conduct an extensive ecosystem mapping and will build bridges among current local and regional initiatives supporting space start-ups and scale-ups, as well as with other European projects. Through the creation and engagement of interest groups, Science Park Graz will foster interactions between key innovation multipliers and ecosystem builders.

“Regardless of the stage of the business idea, SUN leverages the current space support ecosystem and adds a layer of tailored mentoring to support space-enabled businesses to establish themselves and grow. The pre-incubation mentorship programme implemented by Science Park Graz is just one of the great entry points for a space journey with SUN.” Inês Plácido, Space Team Lead and ESA Space Solutions Austria Manager at Science Park Graz.

A strong consortium has been formed to involve organizations specializing in space technologies and applications, incubation and business support, technical support, start-ups, and community building. The project is coordinated by Civitta Strategy & Consulting (Romania), in partnership with Startup Division (Lithuania), Axsysnav (France), F6S Network (Ireland), Polish Space Agency (Poland), Brimatech and Science Park Graz (Austria).