GUIDELINES
On this page you will find details on who is eligible to participate, project requirements, competition timeline, and specifics on the deliverables that must be submitted.
Who can participate?
All participants must meet the following criteria:
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Individual candidates and small teams of up to four members (Please note that in case of a team winning the first Prize, only one person at a time can be visiting researcher at ESPI)
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People aged 18 to 30 years old
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Reside, study, or work in a European or ESA member state (EU + Switzerland, Norway, and the UK)
Project Requirements
The competition has two tracks and the candidates will identify their project-idea into the Research & Development track or into the Business Development track.
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The R&D track: Projects focus on scientific research, technical innovation, or new methodologies that contribute to the development of sustainable solution for and/or by space.
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The Business Development track: Projects focus on entrepreunarial solutions, such as business models or product development, with a focus on scalability, feasibility and market relevance.
IMPORTANT: the two tracks will be evaluated together and only 1 winner and 1 special mention of the jury will be selected.
What do winning projects look like?
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They are innovative and creative
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They have not been developed yet.
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There must be a clear and accurate link to space and sustainability
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They have a vision that offers forward-thinking solutions
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They demonstrate a development roadmap with research based or business feasibility
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BONUS: It is preferred for Europe to be the focus of the project idea (though it is not necessary)
Timeline
The competition has two rounds:
Poster submission: project ideas must be submitted before midnight CST on May the 4th of 2025 via our submission platform. This first deliverable is a poster, which must follow the European Space for Sustainability Award poster template. These submissions will be evaluated by a committee of ESA experts who will shortlist a maximum of 15 projects for the second round.
Paper submission: candidates that are shortlisted for round two will be asked to submit a paper with a more detailed approach to their project idea. The report will be evaluated by a high-level jury. Winners and the special mention of the jury will be notified via e-mail during the summer.
The winner and special mention of the jury will be asked to prepare a presentation for the EISC 2025, in September.
Relevant dates:
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Registration opening: 10th of March 2024
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Poster submission deadline: 4th of May 2024 (23.59 CST)
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Announcement of the pre-selected projects: 26th of May 2025
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Paper submission deadline: 22nd of June 2025 (23.59 CST)
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Winner and jury special mention are notified: July 2025
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EISC Plenary and Award Ceremony: September 2025
How to apply
Visit ESA's Open space Innovation Platform and login with your ESA employee access or register a new account if you do not work at ESA. Submit your project in a PDF file.
File name: Poster_ES4S_2025_project_LastName_FirstName.pdf
Deliverables
Round one: poster
For the first stage of the competition, participating teams are asked to submit a poster in a PDF format. The template contains four sections:
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Title + author information.
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Self evaluation
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Project summary + key words.
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Body.
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R&D track: problem statement, proposed methodology and expected outcomes
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Business track: problem, proposed solution, value proposition and preliminary business model
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Conclusion.
Round two: paper
Candidates selected by the jury to move on to round two will be asked to submit a paper via ESA's OSIP webpage. This paper should be five to seven pages long (without counting the cover).
Candidates are asked to use the cover template for the first page of the document, however, there is no template for the rest of the paper. Participants are free to present their project in any way they deem fit. We do encourage the use of graphics, tables, and subtitles to make the texts engaging and easy to understand.
The winning entry will be coherent, have a structured approach, have a clear link to space and sustainability, and it will include at least one ESA sustainability pillar.
Evaluation criteria for the paper:
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There is a clear link to space and sustainability.
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Sustainable development and ESA's sustainability pillars are taken into account.
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The project idea has a general applicability in a well known context.
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It considers European interests.
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There is a clear structure that includes relevant sections such as:
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Background.
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Project idea description.
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Implementation.
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Expected results.
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Potential risks.
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Sources (this section is not considered in the page count).
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A multidisciplinary approach is always encouraged.
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Please submit the paper in PDF format.
