Siemens joins European Space Agency’s EPIC initiative

Siemens has joined the European Space Agency (ESA) Partnership Initiative for Commercialisation (EPIC) programme, which offers new opportunities for startups coming out of the ESA’s Business Incubation Centres (ESA BICs). The aim is to support the industrialisation and commercialisation of space products and services, ‘thereby enabling startups to scale up globally while strengthening Europe’s position in the international space economy and fostering sustainable growth for the sector’.

Siemens will provide industrial-grade, comprehensive digital-twin capabilities and a ‘fully digital engineering and simulation backbone’ for the European space industry, along with access to mentors and experts in the field — all through a tailored Incubator Programme Offer for the EPIC programme’s startups.

Accelerate product development
With Siemens Xcelerator, space-tech startups will be able to design, simulate and validate complex systems in a virtual environment, transforming their engineering capabilities, accelerating their product development and enabling early successes and long-term scale. The initiative also includes opportunities for joint activities to increase visibility within the European space ecosystem.

The ESA BICs operate across 37 centres in Europe and represent the largest network of incubators supporting space-related startups in Europe with the goal of supporting entrepreneurs and helping them to scale. To date, over 2,000 startups have benefitted from the programme. The Siemens offer will also be available to projects supported by the ESA Technology Brokers and ESA Phi-LabNET.

Cedrik Neike, CEO of Digital Industries and a Board member of Siemens AG, said: “As a leading provider of software for space initiatives, supporting emerging startups through our collaboration with the ESA is part of Siemens’ DNA. Europe does not lack ideas in space, but it needs runways to take off at scale. Together with ESA, we are shaping the future of spaceflight and will help startups scale faster and bring their technologies into industrial use.”