Aerospace spin-offs attract interest
A programme which aims to identify space and aeronautical technological innovations that could be adapted to wider interest (dubbed 'leveraging space technologies to enhance small and medium sized enterprise (SME) competitiveness, or 'LOSTESC'), has attracted unprecedented interest in European industry, reports the European Space Agency (ESA). The programme is led by the LOSTESC consortium of six consulting companies in Austria, Belgium, France, Italy Portugal and Spain. and is co-funded by ESA and the European Commission's programme to promote competitive and sustainable growth, through the Fifth framework programme. LOSTESC organised open meetings with companies between December 2000 and March 2001 to identify some 45 potential projects in this field. By the end of March it had drawn up a preliminary list of 23 promising projects with a reserve list of 18 more. 'The selection follows a technology identification and assessment process performed by the LOSTESC consortium,' explains ESA. 'This consists of assessing and evaluating whether the SME possesses the necessary capability to lead or participate in the proposed research and technology development project. Based on this assessment the consortium will decide whether the proposed project should proceed. The selected projects will now prepare proposals for funding from the European Commission's CRAFT programme in time for the 19 September 2001 call deadline.
Kraje
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