Join 5 days of immersive Innovation Sprint at ESA ESEC in Redu!

ESA invites your team to a 5-day innovation sprint at the ESA ESEC site in Redu, where multidisciplinary teams will collaborate to create bold solutions that enhance crowd management and mass evacuation in case of emergency or crisis.

Essential info:

• Dates: 20-24 October 2025.
• Location: ESA ESEC, Redu, Belgium.
• Applications: deadline for first step is on 7 August 2025, 23:59 CEST.
• Eligibility: Open to all organisations, including industry, SMEs, startups, research centres, and academia from any ESA Member States and Associate Member States.

Please note that applying for ESA Acceleration Days does not confirm your participation. Once the application period closes, selected participants will receive a confirmation of their participation.

The context

This innovation sprint is a fast-paced, collaborative process where teams compete for prizes by co-creating practical prototypes with end users to solve real-world challenges. The sprint is supported by national civil security and crisis stakeholders, whose involvement ensures that the solutions are grounded in real operational needs and safety priorities. Together, participants will tackle critical challenges to enhance European resilience.

Acceleration challenge

In moments of crisis, every second counts. Whether it is a natural disaster, large-scale accident, or sudden emergency, the ability to plan and execute mass evacuations efficiently can reduce physical and psychosocial harm as well as save lives. We are calling on innovators to harness the power of space – from satellite navigation and communications to geospatial intelligence – for mass evacuation preparedness, starting from a concrete use case: the mass evacuation of a stadium affected by a crisis.

What is at stake? ESA, Safe.Brussels, and the Police of Brussels South, are co-designing this challenge based on a real operational scenario. This is not a theoretical challenge: it is about anticipating real crowd dynamics, understanding existing infrastructure and its limits, and exploring how space capabilities can be integrated into crisis planning and execution from the start.

We are calling on innovators to design smart, AI-powered solutions that integrate space to support the preparedness and execution of mass evacuations. Your solution should not only harness data from space but also leverage artificial intelligence to support responding authorities and personnel to assess risk, anticipate threats, predict and monitor crowd movements, make quick and effective decisions, and automate key aspects of emergency response.

This sprint is about designing with intent, for a specific environment and end-users at the table. We are inviting multidisciplinary teams to work hand-in-hand with local authorities and safety operators to co-create what mass evacuation preparedness can look like.

You bring the project concept; we guide you towards a prototype in co-design with end-users.

Who can participate?

This innovation sprint is open to all organisations, including industry, SMEs, startups, research centres, and academia from any ESA Member States and Associate Member States, ready to explore how space capabilities can enhance mass evacuation preparedness. Participants can apply as teams (3 members minimum, up to 6), with hybrid participation options available. Teams should be multidisciplinary, bringing together diverse expertise – from space technologies and AI to emergency planning, urban planning, and beyond. All participants must be 18 or above. Gender-balanced teams and inclusive collaboration are strongly encouraged. Whether you are part of a consortium, a startup team, or forming a new alliance – if you’re ready to co-create the future of emergency preparedness, this is your mission. The event will be held in English.

Selection process

Modelled after fast-paced competition formats such as hackathons and innovation sprints, the ESA Acceleration Days are in-person events where top teams compete to take forward their innovation ideas to help tackle Europe’s most pressing issues.

Selected ideas and teams will be invited to a five-day innovation sprint to develop a prototype and a plan to bring their solution to end users. The competition entails the participation of selected teams (minimum 3 members) to the in-person event in Redu, Belgium, where they will be guided and supported to develop their idea and pitch it to a jury.  The winning team(s) will be invited to apply for a Cooperative Agreement with ESA (up to 100.000€) to take forward this plan.

Applications close 7 August 2025, 23:59 CEST.

Costs, accommodation and travel

• There are no application or participation fees for this event.
• Participants are kindly requested to arrange and cover the costs of their own travel.
• Accommodation and catering will be provided to the selected team at the Euro Space Centre, free of charge. If you wish to take advantage of this accommodation, you will be able to indicate your interest in the application form. Once selected, participants will receive further information and guidance for the event.

Prizes

Participating to this new format is a unique chance to work on a real-world use case together with ESA, Safe.Brussels and the Police of Brussels South. The winning team(s) will be invited to apply for a Cooperative Agreement with ESA (up to 100.000€) to take forward this plan.