“Invention means you’ve invented something – it doesn’t mean you’ve been successful”

As head of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) technology transfer programme, Frank Salzgeber’s job is to ensure that money that goes up to space in research and development costs, comes back down in the form of potentially high-yield breakthrough technologies.

Light-weight materials for cars, dust collectors for vacuums, cooling suits worn by Formula 1 race teams, insulin pump wristwatches for diabetics – these and scores of other everyday technologies were advanced by testing in space, and by funding from ESA over the years.

From the laboratory or launch pad to the marketplace, good ideas usually first take a trip through one of the eleven ESA incubators dotted around Europe. These Business Incubation Centres support between 80 and 90 startups a year.  Next year Salzgeber hopes to reach 100. “For Europe, that’s quite a big number,” he said.

Salzgeber claims ESA’s take on incubating startups closes the gap between invention and innovation. The approach has been adopted by both CERN and the Fraunhofer Institute. “Invention means you’ve invented something – it doesn’t mean you’ve been successful,” he told Science|Business.

To take one example:  Fraunhofer invented the MP3 format for compressing audio files but did not reap the commercial benefits. It was Apple - Salzgeber’s employer from 1993 to 2000 – that adopted the MP3 algorithm as the basis of its hugely successful iPod and iTunes.

Salzgeber likens ESA’s role to acting as architect while start-ups do the building. “We don’t tell companies what to do. We give €50,000 in cash and our logo to help them with marketing and technical support which are provided by the European Space Agency.

“We are the friendly uncle to the successful starters: we don’t want to have a share, we leave that to the venture community.”

Depending on the type of technology and the team behind it, the participation of Salzgeber’s team can vary greatly. “The best transfer is the one that does not need our help, where industry are doing it themselves,” said Salzgeber.

Space for sale

The amount of public money that is invested in ESA frequently prompts the question: Are space missions worthwhile? What is the value to the public of landing on a comet or roaming around Mars?

Spin-off success stories are one answer. In the past few years, a number of products developed for use in space have begun paying their way back on terra firma.

The science of spacecraft docking can be applied to regulate the speed and position of cars on an assembly line. Sensors that calculate the re-entry angle of spacecraft are used by the German railway company Deutsche Bahn to check brakes. Cameras mounted on vehicles for planetary exploration today create 3D videos for medical purposes.

“There’s no crazy transfer,” said Salzgeber. “We have transferred some of our software to the Vatican library and to the food industry. We have open eyes; an open mind.”

Salzgeber believes the ESA has a big advantage over other funding bodies when it comes to getting a return on investment for society. “Take the European Commission. It’s an administrative agency [meaning it has] to take the cheapest proposal, whereas we take the best.”

“The research programmes run by the European Commission are funding research, not entrepreneurship,” Salzgeber said.

Country club

ESA spends around €4.4 billion a year, of which nearly 90 per cent goes to industry. “It’s like a country club with 20 members; you need to pay a certain membership fee based on GDP,” Salzgeber said. Inclusion in the ESA science programme is paid by the entrance ticket. In addition, there are optional programmes, such as human space flights and earth observation.

“We’re good at managing complex programmes,” said Salzgeber. “Whether it’s building a satellite or building a successful business module – both have to survive in harsh environments.”

When it comes to technology transfer of space research, NASA’s work is surely the gold standard. NASA and ESA differ in substantial ways, according to Salzgeber. NASA does in-house research, whereas ESA does not. Unlike NASA, ESA is involved in earth observation, navigation and weather forecasting.

ESA’s been having a busy year. After a ten year chase, its Rosetta probe caught up with its comet in August, and will soon carry out the delicate manoeuvre of landing on its surface. And in April, ESA began rolling out the largest Earth-observation programme ever with the launch of the Sentinel 1-A satellite.