Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), announced the creation of the Space Business Catalyst, a unique industry accelerator dedicated to the space sector.
The Space Business Catalyst is a first and is designed to explore, create and secure the conditions needed for the emergence of new players in the space sector by supporting the development of disruptive projects. As an industry accelerator, the Space Business Catalyst supports entrepreneurs and start-ups during their early growth phase and helps them define and implement their industrial scale-up strategies. This agile structure facilitates the emergence of solutions likely to generate a genuine market dynamic, technological breakthroughs and new avenues of development for existing solutions.
Since 2014, Thales Alenia Space has pursued a pioneering strategy focused on New Space within its Innovation Cluster. This approach has led to the launch of disruptive intrapreneurship projects, such as Space Edge Computing in collaboration with Microsoft, as well as open collaborations with over 700 start-ups. Moreover, since 2021 Thales Alenia Space has been one of the main corporate partners of the ESA BIC Turin incubation program, managed by I3P with the technological support of Politecnico di Torino and LINKS Foundation. The Space Business Catalyst accelerator was then launched in 2023 to strengthen and develop Thales Alenia Space’s strategy, focused on providing selective, qualitative support for innovative projects that will nurture future markets.
Based in Toulouse, France, and Turin, Italy, the Space Business Catalyst’s 400 square-meter (4,300 sq.ft) facilities are already hosting some 10 start-ups and entrepreneurs from all over the world. Working with entrepreneurship experts, Thales Alenia Space has designed a support program that offers technical, commercial, relational and financial support for project leaders, giving them an exceptional opportunity to build strategic collaborations with a major player in the space industry. The Space Business Catalyst is in line with Thales Alenia Space’s Space For Life vision to integrate projects that are especially conducive to the development of responsible space, such as modular space infrastructure and space’s contribution to sustainable finance.
“The Space Business Catalyst promises much more than a traditional accelerator,” said Vincent Clot, Business and Open Innovation Director at Thales Alenia Space. “Having established strategic partnerships with Axiom, BlackSky, Space Cargo, Omnispace, Kinéis, Anywaves, Geoflex and SpaceLocker, Thales Alenia Space has become the go-to partner for strategic long-term alliances and shaping the future of space. We’re committed to attracting top talent by offering opportunities to innovate within an ecosystem at the forefront of the sector.”
The Space Business Catalyst is fully in line with the ethos of the Assises du New Space forum in Paris, which took place on July 5th and 6th. This event has been a chance for French space organizations to discuss and build around the challenges and opportunities ahead in space. The strategic, high-impact space sector is now more accessible, offering a host of technological and business opportunities for all stakeholders.
