Space technologies for European non-dependence and competitiveness -

Expected Outcome

Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

• To reduce the dependence on critical technologies and capabilities from outside Europe for future space applications;
• To develop or regain in the mid-term the European capacity to operate independently in space;
• To enhance the technical capabilities and overall competitiveness of European space industry vendors on the worldwide market;
• To open new competition opportunities for European manufacturers by reducing dependency on export restricted technologies that are of strategic importance to future European space efforts;
• To improve the overall European space technology landscape and complement and/or create synergy with activities of European and national programmes either in the space or non-space fields.

Scope

Research and innovation to mature critical space technologies selected from the European Commission-ESA-EDA Joint Task Force (JTF) List of Actions 2021-2023 shall be implemented in 2021 for the following technology areas.

• [JTF-2021/23-10] - RF components
• [JTF-2021/23-13] - Passive & RF Passive components
• [JTF-2021/23-14] - A - Discrete power devices
• [JTF-2021/23-17] - Very high energy ion accelerators for component, shielding and radiobiology characterization
• [JTF-2021/23-22] - D - Replacement solutions for metallic lead (Pb)

Context information and high-level requirements, including description of scope, initial and target TRLs, and, where applicable, references and information of related activities, are provided in the JTF List of Actions 2021-2023. Accordingly, a technical guidance document, based on the JTF List of Actions 2021-2023, is published on the Funding & Tenders Portal outlining all relevant information to the selected actions.

Proposals should address only one area. To ensure a balanced portfolio covering the areas described above, grants will be awarded to applications not only in order of ranking but at least also to one proposal that is the highest ranked within each area, provided that the applications attain all thresholds.

Activities should be complementary and create synergies with other European activities in the same domain either in the space or non-space fields. Technological spin in and/or bilateral collaborations should be enhanced between European non-space and space industries, including technology research institutes and academia. An assessment of commercial viability of the supply chain should be done. Identification of critical dependencies and, if applicable, a business plan for commercialization, including time to market indication, of the developed product and/or full range of recurring products should be included.

To achieve the non-dependence objective, applicants must

• Describe the technologies and/or technology processes to be used and show that they are free of any legal export restrictions or limitations, such as those established in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Export Administration regulation (EAR) such as EAR99 or equivalent instruments applicable in other jurisdictions;
• Set up a suitable technology development process aiming at avoiding export restrictions of non-EU states and assess vulnerabilities of the supply chain.

In this topic the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content is not a mandatory requirement.

Unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority, beneficiaries must ensure that none of the entities that participate as affiliated entities, associated partners or subcontractors are established in countries which are not eligible countries or target countries set out in the call conditions.

Activities are expected to achieve TRL7 (areas 10, 13, 14A, 22D) and TRL6-7 (area 17) by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

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