Simplified access to Laboratories
ESA has the mandate to maintain unique facilities and expertise
when not commercially viable and needed for ESA Missions.
To that extent, ESA has world class laboratories available for the benefit of Member States which were developed over the years to support ESA missions. The work and applications of the various laboratories cover a wide range of technical areas related to spacecraft activities.
The simplified access to Laboratories allows SME’s, Start-ups, Mid-Caps, ResearchInstitutes, Universities, etc. to have quick, secure and affordable access to ESA laboratories when client organisations are able to perform their own tests using TEC facilities.
What is its role?
This initiative is a project primarily aimed at raising competitiveness of SME’s, start-ups, and mid-Caps without competing with existing market.
Why it is needed?
There are several reasons why ESA intends to make the laboratories available, among others, the setup and maintenance of such Laboratories is not commercially viable for the targeted industry size or research institutions.
The request for TEC competence provision is far in excess of the available engineering capacity. The current usage of the technical facilities to benefit external entities is limited by the availability of staff.
Through the simplified access to the lab TEC promotes a more open to TEC laboratories using the Third Party services framework.