A newly-designed space within the SBIC Noordwijk building – the Spark Hub: Centre for Space Entrepreneurship and Commercialisation – will be opened on 12 December 2023 by Niels Eldering, head of Entrepreneurship and Business Incubation in the Commercialisation Services Department of the European Space Agency (ESA). It will be a destination for anyone interested in the business of space and entrepreneurship to meet with the ESA team and its partners.
New Centre for Space Entrepreneurship & Commercialisation
The Space Business Innovation Centre (SBIC) Noordwijk is a state-of-the-art coworking space for space related companies. The building houses offices ranging from individual flex desks to open-plan workplaces with a mix of startups and established companies, all sitting alongside the incubatees of ESA’s Dutch business incubation centre (ESA BIC Noordwijk).
It is an impressive location to work from, allowing entrepreneurs to grow their businesses within a lively environment where there is access to skills, knowledge, equipment, a community of like-minded individuals and regular events and networking opportunities. The various meeting spaces range from small zones to the central atrium by the satellite, which is a perfect spot for serendipitous encounters.
Up on the first floor, within the SBIC co-working space, there are exciting design plans being implemented and soon we will be revealing a new destination for meetings with the ESA commercialisation team. This will be in the newly-reenvisioned space overlooking the atrium, which will be opened on 12 December.
Introducing the Spark Hub
The new Spark Hub: Centre for Space Entrepreneurship and Commercialisation is set to be unveiled by ESA’s Niels Eldering, who comments: “If you’re interested in doing business relating to space, here’s where you start. We cover all aspects and can give you the right introduction. It is your gateway to the ESA BIC Noordwijk incubator, to the wider ESA BIC network, to the ESA Technology Broker for the Netherlands, to the partners of ESA, to those renting offices here and to everyone in SBIC’s space business community.”
ESA BIC Noordwijk was the first ever location of ESA’s business incubation programme – which now has 29 centres in the network – and it is an ideal spot for the ESA team to have a base. After all, this ESA BIC began its life at ESA’s nearby European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) under Niels’ management in 2004, before moving to its current home at SBIC Noordwijk in 2010.
Niels continues, “The new centre is ideally situated with close proximity to ESTEC and located on the NL Space Campus – which is in a huge growth phase with lot of opportunities. For sure, this is the place to come if you want to talk about space related entrepreneurship and business.”
Access to partners and the wider network
A key goal for the Spark Hub is for it to be a destination for partners and network members of the ESA Commercialisation Gateway to come and have a base while visiting ESA, NL Space Campus and SBIC Noordwijk. Representatives of all the ESA BICs and brokers around Europe are welcome to visit the space, as are the companies in the ESA Partnership Initiative for Commercialisation (ESA EPIC) – and indeed each of these will have a presence within the space. (We can’t share too much about the design of the Spark Hub yet as we don’t wish to spoil the surprise.)
The importance of the Dutch space ecosystem maintaining links to the next generations of space entrepreneurs via the local educational establishments is also emphasised by Niels and the Spark Hub will play an important role in the upcoming years. SBIC is a regular destination for pitches and presentations to inspire innovation and in 2023 alone hosted visits with students from: RSM Erasmus University on the MSc International Management/CEMS programme; the Space for Business participants; the LDE Summer School; the entrepreneurs tour with students from TU Delft; and numerous visits from students at the Leidse Instrumentmakers School. “In 2024, it will be the 20th edition of the collaboration between ESA and CEMS (Community of European Management Schools) and this centre will be available to students when they visit ESA and SBIC during the week-long challenge,” says Niels. “We will also be celebrating 20 years of ESA BIC Noordwijk in 2024, along with a number of other significant anniversaries.”
Spark Hub to be opened in December 2023
Martijn Leinweber, COO of SBIC Noordwijk and programme manager of ESA BIC Noordwijk, comments: “We are looking forward to seeing the Spark Hub being revealed. Its addition at the heart of the co-working space with its outlook onto the atrium will be beneficial for the entire space business community at SBIC, as it will attract new visitors and team members of ESA to spend time here. It will no doubt facilitate opportunities for creating new connections within the wider space business and entrepreneurial network.”
We will soon be unveiling this newest destination at SBIC, which will play host to inspiring discussions all about entrepreneurship in the realms of space commercialisation – where new ideas are bound to be ignited. Looking forward to many inspiring and illuminated discussions in the Spark Hub!
If you wish to find out more about the Spark Hub: Centre for Space Entrepreneurship and Commercialisation and are interested to join the launch event, let us know.
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