This year marks the 20th anniversary of the partnership between ESA (European Space Agency), CEMS (Community of European Management Schools) and RSM (the Rotterdam School of Management/Erasmus University) to foster innovation and collaboration between business and space. As part of collective efforts, business talents connect with entrepreneurs to refine their consultancy skills and get unequivocal access to one of the most dynamic and high-tech industries. Last month, the exceptional students of the 2024 ESA–CEMS block seminar were given a warm welcome by the SBIC Noordwijk community and the ESA BIC Noordwijk startups. Alongside getting their heads around the space business challenges that awaited them, the students also had chance to partake in a celebratory podcast.
SBIC Noordwijk and its space business community played host to 60 students from the MSc International Management/CEMS programme this summer for the annual ESA–CEMS block seminar study project. On the last day of presentation pitches, the winning team was announced on 30 August. It’s a yearly tradition that we have come to love and look forward to: welcoming the CEMS students as part of the opening of their academic year. The cohort gets split into two groups, each dealing with a different area. In “Turning Technology into Business,” the group is shown an asset from space technology that ESA has developed for space missions. Their challenge is to make this asset work for terrestrial life. The other group focuses on challenges set by space business startups incubated at ESA BIC Noordwijk, as well as the wider community at SBIC Noordwijk. It is the latter stream that is covered in this report under the banner of “New Venture Consulting.”
Celebrating 20 years of cosmic collaboration
This year’s organising team for this ESA–CEMS project included Prof. Yu Liu, René Olie and Graham Cross (RSM), along with Niels Eldering (ESA). The 20 years celebration of the alliance of ESA, CEMS and RSM was at the forefront of proceedings, which follows on from an anniversary symposium earlier this summer at RSM. This event was the first occasion for all parties to reflect on the success of the collaboration so far, explore the multitude of possibilities ahead, and discuss how business schools can shape the future of the space economy and commercialisation.
“These block seminars are a great way for CEMS management education students to see space technologies through the lens of business administration and make connections to and from completely new markets down on Earth,” comments Niels, who leads the network of 30 ESA Business Incubation Centres. “Joining together to develop the students’ curiosity and creativity to find solutions using space tech, data and infrastructure has led to numerous innovations – the applications of space technology are vast.”
Space business cases
For the 2024 ESA–CEMS collaboration after the initial kick-off at ESTEC – with a welcome from RSM’s Prof. Yu Liu (pictured) – groups of students were then teamed with different entrepreneurs at SBIC, which provided the opportunity to gain real world insights from these incubated space business companies and for the startups to get input from the talented students.
On the first day, challenges were set by the current ESA BIC incubatees 2C Degrees, Aardvark Sensing and Terraprisma, as well companies located at the SBIC hub: Clemessy (with Rocket Group NL) and Solidflow (spin-off of ESA BIC alumnus HDES). Over the next three days, the students worked in their individual groups, deliberated with “their” startups, and attended workshops and presentations about pitching, entrepreneurship and consultancy – both at SBIC Noordwijk and on the campus of ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC). The challenges were varied, including market entry for a startup that’s reshaping the future of mining through advanced geospatial analytics (Terraprisma) and applications/markets for new hydrogen cool gas generator technology (HDES).
Sharing strategic solutions
Final presentations of the business cases covering the future of #NewSpace markets were made in front of a jury. Inputting with expert analysis across the week for the teams in this NVC stream were Marc Sandelowsky (NL Space Campus) and Mercedes Sanchez Alvares (ESA), along with two ESA BIC coaches Roeland Mackloet and Marc Vloemans.
The overall winners were selected to be the students that worked on the Clemessy challenge. Team MARS (Manh Doan, Aashna Esther Francis, Ruben Bruin and Sofia Timpani) had been tasked to explore the possibilities of establishing a small sounding rocket test and launch facility in the Caribbean. Of the experience, Sofia stated: “Our project focused on the design and cost estimation of a rocket launching site, which was a challenging yet rewarding undertaking that truly tested our skills and teamwork.” On completing the consultancy report, the team also won the panel vote for best presentation.
“The space industry is truly a frontier for innovation, yet not that ‘distant.’ Through this course, our students see their crucial value as business consultants in getting space technology ‘closer to Earth,’ Prof. Yu Liu commented. “I’m incredibly proud of their hard work, creativity and dedication throughout the week. They dived deep into each venture’s challenges, delivering strategic solutions under intense pressure and presenting the case as professionals before the juries.”
Perspectives and podcasts
During the course of the week as the students tackled real-world strategic challenges from the startups, the entrepreneurial atmosphere was infectious. After the award presentations on the last day, the scene was set to pose some questions. A selection of the students and collaborators in this 20 year alliance met with Niels Eldering in the Spark Hub (aka impromptu podcast studio!) at SBIC to engage in a fruitful discussion.
The CEMS students represent the future decision-makers, investors and policy makers
Niels eldering
As Niels stated: “Durability is now synonymous with sustainability, but it still has to be paid for, and this is where new business modelling comes in. This is why I’m so passionate to bring modern business talents into our ESA BIC programme” – which is itself celebrating 20 years in 2024 (#20yearsESABIC). He concluded: “I am so proud of RSM and CEMS students. I see their potential when working with them and I see my colleagues recognising this as well. They represent the future decision-makers, investors and policy makers. They represent the force for positive change in a growing space economy.”
Thanks to everyone involved for the enthusiastic participation and we are already looking forward to welcoming the cohort of CEMS students next year!
Related links:
Exploring the cosmos of ideas: A conversation with Niels Eldering about leadership
Celebrating 20 years of cosmic collaboration
ABOUT ESA BIC NOORDWIJK:
In this programme, startups working with space tech or space data can get up to €60,000 zero-equity funding for the development of their business idea. They also receive technical support by ESA or partners and get extensive business support by SBIC. Selections are made twice a year, with the next deadline being on 16 October. Full details at: esa-bic.nl.
