The European Space Agency (ESA) invites proposals from qualified entities to lead the Business in Space Growth Network (BSGN) Agri-Food Industry Accelerator. This initiative leverages the unique microgravity environment to foster commercial innovation in the agriculture and food markets.

In light of fast-development of commercially-driven R&D projects in microgravity environment, ESA is seeking to identify and appoint an external entity as the managing partner which will be responsible for operating the BSGN Agri-Food Industry Accelerator. The selected entity (or consortium) will support commercial R&D projects in accessing space microgravity environment to develop, test and commercialise their solutions.

The agriculture and food sectors can explore microgravity as a unique R&D environment to accelerate innovation in several high-impact areas. These include plant resilience and seed germination under stress conditions, microbial fermentation and the production of nutrient-rich or functional ingredients, cellular agriculture for cultivated meat and dairy analogues, and food packaging and preservation technologies.

The BSGN Accelerators are strategically relevant for the advancement of ESA’s Human and Robotic Exploration strategy (Explore2040) as they support demand generation in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) market and thereby facilitate the transition from the ISS to the commercially-driven post-ISS era.