Emerging indUstries new value chains boosted by small Flying Objects

Project Information

UFO

Grant agreement ID: 873411

DOI

10.3030/873411

Project closed

EC signature date 7 April 2020

Start date 1 May 2020

End date 31 January 2023

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 4 349 282,50

EU contribution

€ 4 349 282,50

Coordinated by

AEROSPACE VALLEY
France

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - UFO (Emerging indUstries new value chains boosted by small Flying Objects)

Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2023-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The project UFO, for “Emerging Industries New Value Chains Boosted by Small Flying Objects” aims at stimulating the development of new products and services for 6 emerging industries (Mobility, Environmental, Blue Growth, Digital, creative & gaming, Climate and Finance & insurance) by combining the Small Flying Objects (SFOs - Smallsats, drones, HAPS) with new embedded technologies and data exploitation solutions.

It is doing so by fostering the development of cross-sectoral value chains thanks to new solutions developed by European SMEs. It benefited from a total budget of EUR 4.3M from the European commission, including EUR 3M dedicated to the direct funding of innovation projects.

To contribute significantly to the Smallsat, drones and HAPS European growth, the project itself is based on the facts that SMEs are the backbone of Europe’s economy and we have today a great emergence of business opportunities that came up with the multitude of applications from digital, earth observation (EO) and the use of new data. In that sense, the idea is to foster and stimulate the collaboration between SMEs, corporate companies, public authorities and service providers in the emerging industries markets.

Europe is definitely a changing world and for UFO, the key success factor is therefore to create an open innovation space for the ecosystems. The objective was to offer to the SFOs, embedded KETs, data analysis and exploitation solution actors a programme where they could inform, exchange, create, develop, demonstrate, and prepare their market deployment.

During the programme, two Open Calls were launched and 25 innovative projects were selected. UFO strengthened the industrial leadership with more than 3M€ in direct funding for the creation and reconfiguration of 25 new value chains. 66 different SMEs from the UFO partner countries collaborated to deliver 21 new demonstrations and 4 feasibility studies. Among the 66 SMEs, 25 were from UK, 16 from France, 14 from Greece, 5 from Bulgaria and 5 from Romania. The funded projects covered all of the six targeted emerging industries and had the opportunity in November 2022 to foster their collaboration in a Showcase event, held at the Royal Geographical Society, in London.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

1. Emergence of project ideas and consortia building
To support the emergence of new project ideas based on identified needs from each one of the 6 emerging industries, UFO provided a unique and innovative methodology of ideation session and advanced B2B. Under 5 dedicated cross-fertilisation sessions, all participating SMEs, large corporation, public actor and end users had the opportunity to:
- Collaborate on a virtual Open-space software
- Meet other actors of the SFO ecosystems
- Exchange and consolidate a partnership to propose a solution to identified challenges of one of the emerging industries

UFO launched and closed in parallel two open call to give the opportunity to SMEs to get some direct funding for demonstration projects and feasibility studies. In total, there were 115 submitted applications from more than 200 SMEs, where 25 projects received direct funding for a total of EUR 3,04M. Twenty-one demonstration projects were awarded, with a maximum of 60K per SME, and 4 Feasibility studies were also selected, for a maximum of 30K per applicant.

2. Support to the selected SMEs through vouchers
In terms of emerging industry coverage, the 25 awarded projects were distributed as follows (more than one industry covered by the project allowed):
- Climate: 24%
- Environment; 25%
- Mobility: 13%
- Blue Growth: 15%
- Digital, creative & gaming: 5%
- Finance and insurance: 18%

3. Acceleration activities
In order to support the long-term sustainability of the funded projects and help the funded SMEs to identify and reach additional funding, two transverse strategies were elaborated within the programme UFO. A project-oriented approach for the public calls and an SME-oriented approached for the private support. In total, the consortium provided :
- Respective coaching and preparation sessions with external experts on private and public funding
- 2 matchmaking events with investors
- Collective webinars on fundraising from VC and support programmes from ESA and Climate-KIC
- Participation in international symposium (IAC 2022 | Cluj Innovation Days | Inter Drone Expo)
- A dedicated Showcase event in London for the funded projects
- A White Book on “Building a successful funding strategy for your innovation”
In total, the UFO SMEs successfully reach €16,1M in additional funding from the public and private sectors.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Following the first and second open call for UFO, 25 innovative and cross-sectoral projects were supported through direct funding vouchers, including 66 beneficiaries. For the 25 projetcts, they contribut to:
- The improvement of the value chain of at last one of the 6 targeted emerging industries.
- The development of Small flying objects (smallsat, drones or HAPS) use cases
- The elaboration of collaboration between European SMEs, large corporation, public authorities, universities and research centres

Impact on the Work Programme
UFO project acts as an accelerator for SMEs’ innovation. 66 SMEs across Europe were supported in their cross-sectoral innovative projects through the first and second open calls.
UFO aimed at strengthening the industrial leadership in the EU and associated countries by reinforcing value chains that integrate innovative solutions in SMEs, along and across existing value chains. 25 good or services from UFO beneficiaries were improved, with 21 distinct demonstration projects.
UFO stimulate the creation of new globally competitive industrial value chains across the EU and associated countries to accelerate the development of emerging industries, which boosted the industrial competitiveness and underpin future economic growth, jobs, and progress towards a resource-efficient economy with 20 projects out of the 25 involving SMEs in at least two different European countries. UFO improve the business environment of the supported SMEs by establishing open collaboration spaces that can involve innovation actors from different sectors and countries, with the organization of 5 different cross-fertilisation sessions, 2 international B2B events, direct support from each local Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) and much more. This led to the creation of further new ideas for innovation and new collaboration.

Individual Impact
Each partner already benefited from their participation and expects to continue beyond the end of UFO by reinforcing its activities towards the business development of Small Flying Objects, supporting its members and actors of the ecosystem, gain visibility and recognition at the national and European levels and continue to foster the collaboration and develop with new contacts. The members of the consortium is also open to share good practices in innovation and business support management.

UFO Supported SMEs - RGS

UFO Consortium - RGS

Logo UFO