ARTES - Practical and technical information

The Advanced Research in Telecommunication Systems program - ARTES , which aims to maintain and increase the industrial competitiveness of European States in the field of SatComs, is composed of different programmatic elements, as shown in the figure "ARTES 4.0 a matrix structure", with their own co-financing rules. The scope of each of the different ARTES programmatic elements is briefly described here-under with links to the appropriate useful ESA webpages.

The Future Preparations - FP - program element, not accounted for in the figure "ARTES 4.0 a matrix structure", is the mandatory entry ticket for Member States to ARTES. Without guaranteed return, but requiring a minimum participation of each participant in ARTES according to its GDP, FP is dedicated to studies in Space Telecommunications more or less distant from the market and covers 4 categories of activities: support for strategy and preparation of new programmatic lines, new generation systems, integration of space / terrestrial systems, and support for standardization or specific groups. The results of FP studies are made available to all participants (and industrial or academic players from all ARTES member countries). Likewise, monitoring of developments in the global SatCom market is presented to delegates at JCB (Joint Telecommunication Board) meetings.

The other elements of ARTES (and corresponding budget lines), as shown in the figure "ARTES 4.0 a matrix structure", are organized in a matrix structure of 3 Generic Programmatic Lines (GPL, Generic Programmatic Line), playing the role of a toolbox, and 3 Strategic Programmatic Lines (SPL, Strategic Programmatic Line) (see figure). The GPLs constitute the pillars of ARTES built on 25 years of experience, while the SPLs constitute thematic transverse lines, depending on current Telecom trends. The SPLs aim to stimulate synergies between projects within the same SPL. To do this, the SPLs can draw on the various tools (roadmap initiated by ESA, open calls for proposals, (co-)funding, selections, evaluations, projects support process) existing in ARTES GPLs depending on the type project concerned (a response to a specific ESA call for tenders, a technological development / à la carte product, an application from the space sector to the non-space sector in response to an ESA call for tenders or à la carte, a public-private partnership initiated by ESA or by the private sector).
The different program lines and components are explained below, while the specific public-private partnerships of the different GPLs / SPLs in which Belgium participates are mentioned in the table at the bottom of the page.

The GPL Core Competitiveness - CC - was born at the 2016 ESA Ministerial Council by the merger into a single budget envelope of the program component Advance Technology - AT - (2013-2016) with the Competitiveness and Growth component - C&G - (2013-2016).

AT component of CC

In the AT component of CC, the initiative for the call is left to ESA to mark out a solid long-term sectorial plan in Telecommunications via funding up to 100%. AT, based on an annual work plan whose calls for tenders are published on ESA's Invitation to Tender System - EMITS - , allows the development of equipment from the early stages of systems development to the mock-up or engineering model stage. This program does not support the qualification of space equipment and the industrialization of ground and user equipment.

CC's C&G component

CC's C&G component, in an ESA-industry collaboration, targets tailor-made R&D activities close to the commercial market in all areas of telecommunications application and in the different segments: space, ground, services, etc. Objective is to ensure the short-term ability of the industry to respond to business opportunities, by focusing on activities to develop products for the commercial or the institutional market. C&G allows manufacturers, who have the initiative, to introduce projects very much in line with their own R&D needs. The co-financing offered depends on the status of the actor (institute-university, SME, non-SME) and depends on the TRL (Technology Readiness Level) of the various components of the activity.

The GPL Business Applications and Space Solutions - BASS -  was born at the 2019 ESA Ministerial Council through the merger into a single budget envelope of the Integrated Applications Promotion program component - IAP -, later renamed ESA Business Applications - BA - (2008-2019), with the Space Solutions component which brings together the ESA Business Incubation Center - BIC - (2003-2019), the ESA Technology broker network and the ESA Business Ambassadors from the ESA Basic Activities program.

BA component of BASS

The BA component of BASS aims to promote the services and products provided by space technologies beyond the fields explored so far and to attract new user communities. BA favours the use of existing space technologies/equipment (from SatCom, navigation, Earth observation, human space flights and microgravity) by requiring only a limited part of technological adaptations. BA, via response to thematic calls for tenders initiated by ESA or à la carte projects, now covers not only applications of space technologies from telecoms or earth observation, but also, since the Council ministerial of ESA 2016, in a transversal manner applications coming from all ESA departments. The activities are either feasibility studies with a maximum co-financing of 75% (except if it is a competitive ESA call for tenders, in which case the financing may be up to a maximum of 100%), or projects demonstration with 50% co-financing.

Space solution component of BASS

The Space solution component of BASS aims to bring together, via a single portal, for each country (i.e. for Belgium ), several services for entrepreneurs.
Via the ESA Business Ambassadors Platform , each participating country has its own ESA ambassador as a point of contact (for Belgium ) which guides entrepreneurs in the corresponding country to the ESA support that is most appropriate for them: towards the ESA incubation service, ESA BICs (for Belgium ) which aims to inspire, supervise and co-finance entrepreneurs who wish to transform ideas, linked to space, into business start-ups; towards the various space applications co-financing opportunities (in particular within the ARTES\BASS\BA program) for an already existing company; towards the ESA Technology Brokers network (ESA Technology Transfer Network - ESA TTN - ) for the transfer of space technologies in/out and for the use of co-financing and support opportunities in this area.

The main purpose of the GPL Partnership Projects - PP -  is to develop "end-to-end" innovative satellite telecommunications systems and equipment that meet the strategic objectives of ESA. Each Partner project corresponds to a specific independent budget line to which a Member State can choose to subscribe in order to participate. The co-financing rate depends on the type of Industry- or ESA-lead partnership. The old pre-CMIN19 partnerships have been reclassified more or less according to this industry- / ESA-lead dichotomy:

PP Industry-lead project

The usual type of PP Industry-lead project (50% cofinancing practiced by ESA for Belgian players), with private primes, is based on the so-called Public Private Partnership model.
Each PP Industry-lead project must include an innovative contribution (in terms of technology, system concepts and/or service) constituting a functional element of a satellite system and playing a decisive role in the achievement of the private partner's business case. Each project can cover the design of a satellite system, phase B / C / D / E1 development activities, as well as the testing and validation phase.

PP ESA-lead projects

The new modality, since the 2019 Ministerial and the overhaul of the ARTES program into ARTES 4.0, are the so-called PP ESA-lead projects which are themselves very upstream of the market, either because there is no existing commercial market or because the projects are related to a new institutional initiative. Accordingly, the level of co-financing can be possibly higher than 50%, and this the more the activity is upstream of the commercial market.

The SPL Space Systems for Safety and Security - 4S - aims to support European satellite operators and the manufacturing industry, to ensure new levels of security, robustness and resilience, which will become the standard for space communication solutions in the world. Depending on the type of project concerned in SPL 4S, the programmatic rules and co-financing rate of the GPL type CC\AT or CC\C&G, BASS\BA, PP\ ESA-lead or PP\industry-lead will be applied to it.

The SPL Optical and Quantum Communications is a strategic programmatic line dedicated to optical communications, photonics and quantum communication, called ScyLight (SeCure and Laser communication Technology). Depending on the type of project concerned in the SPL Scylight, the programmatic rules and co-financing rate of the GPL type CC\AT or CC\C&G, BASS\BA, PP\ESA-lead or PP\industry-lead will be applied.

The SPL Space for 5G and 6G - 5G & 6G - aims to support European satellite operators and the manufacturing industry in the field of 5th generation of communication networks (5G ), given the unique opportunities of orchestration and seamless integration of satellite with terrestrial networks (mobile, fixed, wireless) as an integral part of the 5G system. Depending on the type of project concerned in the SPL 5G, the programmatic rules and co-financing rate of the GPL type CC\AT or CC\C&G, BASS\BA, PP\ESA-lead or PP\industry-lead will be applied to it.