ESA appoints STAM as Managing Partner of the ESA BSGN Agri-Food Industry Accelerator, in partnership with SCM Europe

ESA BSGN Agri-Food Industry Accelerator aims to strengthen the connection between the European agri-food ecosystem and the emerging commercial space economy, supporting companies, startups, research organisations and industrial players in developing commercially viable projects leveraging Low Earth Orbit (LEO), microgravity research and space-enabled technologies.

The accelerator builds upon the experience and lessons learned from the first phase of the BSGN Agri-Food activities, which demonstrated the growing interest of terrestrial industries in applications ranging from sustainable agriculture and crop resilience to alternative proteins, fermentation processes, vertical farming and advanced food systems.

About the managing partners

STAM brings to the initiative more than 25 years of experience in advanced engineering, innovation management and commercialization support across sectors including space, defense, circular bio-economy and agri-food. Through its roles as ESA Technology Broker and ESA InCubed Ambassador in Italy, STAM has developed extensive experience in orchestrating innovation ecosystems, supporting venture creation and connecting public and private stakeholders around high-impact technology programmes.

SCM Europe contributes internationally recognised expertise in space commercialization and in-space business development. The company has extensive experience in microgravity applications, commercial low-Earth-orbit activities, customer interface development and the creation of acceleration and market stimulation initiatives dedicated to emerging in-space markets. SCM has also played a key role in previous BSGN activities and in supporting commercial projects involving research and manufacturing in orbit.

The partnership between STAM and SCM Europe originates from the joint work carried out by the two organisations on the commercialisation framework for ESA’s reusable space transportation system Space Rider. Through this collaboration, the teams contributed to the development of customer engagement models, commercialization pathways, and approaches aimed at enabling broader non-space participation in future in-orbit activities. The collaboration also builds upon the experience gained by STAM on enabling technologies for sustainable life-support systems and future off-Earth food production capabilities, in synergy with initiatives such as ESA’s MELiSSA programme, which has pioneered research on regenerative life-support systems, circular resource management and sustainable food production for long-duration space exploration missions.

Vision and Goals

Together, STAM and SCM Europe will implement an acceleration approach designed to bridge terrestrial market needs with space capabilities. The programme will combine ecosystem aggregation, targeted scouting, one-to-one acceleration support, technical mentoring and business coaching, matchmaking with Commercial Service Providers (CSPs), and support in accessing both ESA and non-ESA funding opportunities, including private funds. In addition, the accelerator may introduce challenge-driven activities aimed at engaging larger industrial players, corporates, investors and non-space stakeholders around concrete market needs and operational use cases.

This approach is intended to stimulate commercially-oriented innovation pathways, facilitate the creation of new partnerships and co-investment opportunities, and generate complementary pipelines of high-potential commercially-oriented projects.

The accelerator will focus on supporting projects across several strategic domains including crop management and monitoring, plant science, alternative proteins, food processing, sustainable production, packaging, fermentation technologies and advanced agri-food systems. These application areas have been identified as some of the most promising intersections between terrestrial agri-food challenges and space-enabled research and innovation.

By combining ESA’s strategic vision with the complementary expertise of STAM and SCM Europe, the ESA BSGN Agri-Food Industry Accelerator aims to contribute to the emergence of a new generation of commercially driven, space-enabled agri-food ventures capable of generating both terrestrial and in-space value.

Meet STAM and SCM Europe in person

The ESA BSGN Agri-food Industry Accelerator will officially be presented during the “Space for Inspiration” conference taking place in Copenhagen in September 2026, where STAM and SCM Europe will lead a dedicated session focused on the commercialization opportunities emerging at the intersection of space and the agri-food sector. The session will showcase the services offered by the accelerator, present upcoming open calls and illustrate how companies and innovators can access the programme to explore and develop space-enabled commercial projects, while highlighting success stories and emerging commercial opportunities enabled by microgravity research.

Upcoming activities will include stakeholder engagement actions, thematic webinars, targeted outreach to industrial and agri-food communities, matchmaking activities with investors and service providers, and the launch of new open calls aimed at identifying high-potential projects capable of progressing toward future implementation opportunities. The programme will also place strong emphasis on attracting terrestrial industrial actors and private co-funding, building upon the lessons learned regarding commercialization readiness and ecosystem engagement.