Deadline Date: May 31, 2026
The ESA BIC Liftoff Challenge 2026 invites innovators and teams to submit business projects with meaningful links to space technologies for a chance to win financial rewards and gain exposure to investors.
The competition focuses on supporting innovative space-related projects, encouraging projects with clear and meaningful connections to space technologies, promoting technical and economic added value through space applications, fostering innovation beyond standard solutions, ensuring realistic access to necessary data, technologies or services, and enabling consultation for projects still developing their space sector linkages.
The ESA BIC Czech Republic, operated by the CzechInvest Agency, is hosting the second edition of the Liftoff Challenge in the year marking the tenth anniversary of its presence in the country. The competition offers a total of CZK 150,000 in financial rewards and the opportunity for participants to present their best ideas to investors. Unlike the first edition, there is no upper age limit, and participation is open to individuals or teams of up to five members aged 18 and over.
Projects must demonstrate that the use of space technologies is essential for solving the identified problem and that they provide technical, economic, or other added value compared to solutions not using space technologies. The submitted business concepts must go beyond common applications and include an innovative element, with realistic availability of required data, technologies, or services.
For participants still exploring their connection to space, the initial phase allows consultation with experts to refine their ideas and establish a meaningful link to the space sector.
In the first round, participants submit a lean canvas describing their project. The most promising ideas advance to the second round, where teams develop their concepts into full business plans with mentorship support. The final round takes place during Czech Space Week from November 2 to 8, 2026, where the best proposals are evaluated by an expert jury.
The top three winning projects will receive financial awards to further develop their business plans. The first-place winner receives CZK 80,000 and the opportunity to present their idea to investors at the ESA BIC Launchpad 2026 event, the second-place project receives CZK 50,000, and the third receives CZK 20,000.
For more information, visit ESA BIC.
