Innovation | Collaborations
Collaborations
The Institute actively participates, through strategic alliances, in the established innovation and technological transfer’s ecosystem, both nationally and internationally.
The IEEC is strongly linked to the most important space agencies at Europe, including the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Union Agency for the Space Program (EUSPA) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), and in major international space agencies (NASA, JAXA).
Also, the Institute has a very close link with the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), as well as with space agencies from other European countries such as the German Aerospace Center. (DLR, for its acronym in German) in Germany or the National Center of Space Studies (CNES) in France. Also noteworthy is the excellent relationship with the Agency for Business Competitiveness of the Generalitat de Catalunya (ACCIÓ) and with the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce.
On the other hand, the IEEC works or collaborates actively with the main companies and organisations in the sector at European level, as well as with emerging companies or startups, in the framework of the main European space missions and in linked developments to NewSpace and for ground instrumentation.
Specifically, the activity in the technological field is developed mainly from joint projects with companies of the aerospace and information and communication technologies (ICT) sectors.
The space industry collaboration is carried out mainly through industrial contracts intended for the construction of large scientific missions. These industrial contributions require the active participation and leadership of IEEC researchers and engineers in the mission definition and construction phase, in order to achieve relevant responsibilities and contributions. Participation in these missions has a strong impact on the industrial network and allows the export of high value-added technologies.
State leaders in contribution by ESA and other international missions
The IEEC is especially effective in this regard and currently leads the Spanish contribution in various ESA’s missions and other international missions. The current success is based on an extensive career as a scientific reference at European level, on the technological experience acquired during the last two decades and the management capacity of large projects.
About the collaboration with the NewSpace industry, the Institute participates in the establishment of agreements and the execution of technological development projects, especially in the fields of Earth Observation, as well as Positioning, Navigation and Synchronisation (PNT).
It is necessary to emphasise the impulse that supposes the missions in the frame of the NewSpace Strategy of the Government of Catalonia and in programs of technological demonstration of the ESA and other state agencies, as well as the ground segment capacities development in the Montsec Observatory.
From the Transfer Office we are strongly committed to promote the valorization and transfer of R&D&I research lines coordinated by the IEEC within the framework of the NewSpace Strategy.
