ESA Earth Observation Industry Day Event Page

09 July 2026 | 10:00 AM – 3:30 PM
Venue: Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, Prinzregentenstraße 28, 80538 Munich

The event is aimed at companies, research institutions, and other interested organizations from Bavaria and across Germany that would like to learn more about ESA’s Earth Observation (EO) programmes and explore concrete opportunities for collaboration.

As part of the ESA Ministerial Council Meeting at the end of 2025, a significant increase in Germany’s contributions to the Earth Observation sector was approved. This creates new opportunities for German industry to actively contribute to and commercially benefit from European EO programmes.

The Industry Day on 9 July 2026 will provide a comprehensive overview of current and future business opportunities within the ESA Earth Observation programmes. Topics include:

• Data management and IT services for EO missions
• Development of innovative applications and services
• Technology topics and industrial development
• Funding opportunities, also for start-ups

Agenda

• 09:30: Registration and Coffee
• 10:00 – 10:20: Welcome and Keynotes
• 10:20 – 12:30: ESA EO Programme Overview and Business Opportunities (including short Q&A)
• 12:30 – 13:30: Networking Lunch
• 13:30 – 15:30: ESA One-on-One Sessions
• from 14:00: ESA Business Applications Space Solutions Programme – Information and Exchange with German ESA Business Applications Ambassador Team / bavAIRia e.V. (parallel event to ESA One-on-One Sessions)

Following the welcome and an introduction to working with ESA, the Earth Observation programmes and their focus areas will be presented, including:

• FutureEO – “The European Space Agency’s core research and development programme for Earth observation, serving as the backbone for new satellite missions, technologies, and applications.”
• Copernicus – “Europe’s flagship Earth observation programme, aimed at monitoring the planet, its environment, and civil security to provide free, accurate, and timely data to users.”
• InCubed – “Designed to support the development of innovative, commercially viable Earth Observation (EO) systems, products and services.”
• ERS – “European Resilience from Space aiming to align space assets with security needs.”
• DestinE / Digital Twin Earth – “Aiming to create accurate, dynamic digital replicas of the Earth system to support policy-making, sustainability, and industrial innovation.”
• Earthnet – “Ensuring access to non-ESA satellite data and facilitating long-term data preservation.”
• Heritage – “Long-term preservation, curation, and exploitation of data from non-operational Earth observation missions.”

Please note that collaboration opportunities in the field of satellite and instrument development are addressed in separate ESA Industry Days. The focus of this event is on data, applications, services, programmes, and new business opportunities in the Earth Observation sector.

In the afternoon,  confidential one-on-one discussions (20-minute time slot) with ESA experts on-site, particularly on the following topics:

• Payload data management services for Copernicus and ESA Earth observation missions
• Calibration and validation and commercial satellite data and services
• Earth observation applications development
• Earth observation disruptive technologies and ideas commercialisation – InCubed and Φ-lab
• European Resilience from Space Programme – Earth observation component (ERS-EO)

Due to the very high level of demand, all personal time slots have already been fully allocated.

Additional Information

• The event will be conducted predominantly in English.
• Please note that parking spaces are limited. We recommend travelling by public transport.
• Once you arrive at the site, please follow the signs to the north-eastern entrance (“Arkadeneingang”) and enter the building there.