ESA BIC Poland Business Incubation Centre
ESA BIC Poland Business Incubation Centre
2024-01-18

1 YEAR of ESA BIC Poland

ESA BIC Poland marked its first year of operation in 2023, following the launch of the programme in January after several years of preparation. During its first year, the incubator built a network of over 30 supporting partners, organised pre-incubation and outreach activities, assessed nearly 30 applications, and selected nine startups for incubation, awarding the first tranche of funding and establishing the foundations of the Polish space startup ecosystem.

ESA BIC Poland celebrates one year of operation!

After almost 5 years of efforts and failed attempts, on January 18, 2023, we lunched the ESA BIC program in Poland. On the occasion of the anniversary, here is a summary of our first year of operation:

  • We have gathered around us 30 great entities with very different competences and resources that have declared free support for incubated start-ups. These include financial institutions, experienced incubators, research institutes, technology or consulting companies together provide the support that is necessary for the rapid development of a product or service as part of the incubation process.
  • We promoted ESA BIC Poland at 19 events during which we had countless conversation about the program and the benefits that can be obtained during incubation.
    We organized 5 of these events, among others pre-incubation program – ESA BIC Poland Bootcamp. The program included a total of 4 days of workshops and one day in the form of a demo day. ESA BIC Poland Bootcamp was dedicated to teams that plan to apply to ESA BIC Poland and need support in developing assumptions for their project and business plan. The program was implemented thanks to the cooperation and strategic partnership of the Polish Space Agency (POLSA). 50% of teams participating in the bootcamp qualified for incubation!
  • ESA BIC Poland team held over 40 meetings during which we helped determine whether the business idea was suitable for incubation and explained what is needed from the applicant.
  • We assessed 29 high-quality applications in two selection campaign.
  • We organised 2 Tender Evaluation Boards during which we selected 9 start-ups for incubation at ESA BIC Poland. Seven to them applied to Mazovia Consortium and two to Podkarpackie Consortium.
  • The 6 start-ups selected in the first call have so far received a total of €120,000 funding in the first tranche.
  • The total value of all contracts signed so far is €300,000.

We look forward to another year of operation with great excitement – we hope for more interesting applications and more successes for our incubated STARt-ups!