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ESA space spin-offs benefits for the health sector
Acta Astronautica 80 (2012) 1–7
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ESA space spin-offs benefits for the health sector$ Bianca Szalai n, Emmanouil Detsis, Walter Peeters International Space University (ISU), France
a r t i c l e i n f o
abstract
Article history: Received 8 February 2012 Received in revised form 13 May 2012 Accepted 15 May 2012 Available online 12 June 2012
Humanity will be faced with an important number of future challenges, including an expansion of the lifespan, a considerable increase of the population (estimated 9 billion by 2050) and a depletion of resources. These factors could trigger an increase of chronic diseases and various other health concerns that would bear a heavy weight on finances worldwide. Scientific advances can play an important role in solving a number of these problems, space technology; in general, can propose a panoply of possible solutions and applications that can make life on Earth easier and better for everyone. Satellites, Earth Observation, the International Space Station (ISS) and the European Space Agency (ESA) may not be the first tools that come to mind when thinking of improving health, yet there are many ways in which ESA and its programmes contribute to the health care arena. The research focuses on quantifying two ESA spin-offs to provide an initial view on how space can contribute to worldwide health. This quantification is part of the present strategy not only to show macroeconomic return factors for space in general, but also to identify and describe samples of ‘best practice’ type of examples close to the general public’s interest. For each of the ‘best practices’ the methodology takes into account the cost of the space hardware/software, a number of tangible and intangible benefits, as well as some logical assumptions in order to determine the potential overall returns. Some of the hindering factors for a precise quantification are also highlighted. In conclusion, the study recommends a way in which ESA’s spin-offs can be taken into account early on in the development process of space programmes in order to generate higher awareness with the general public and also to provide measurable returns. & 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Spin-off Technology transfer Health Space benefit
1. Background In today’s economic situation, governments need to have clear justification for their budget spending, and the space industry has to be able to show its added value, and thus quantify the benefits it brings. On the long-term, the success of the space industries’ spin-offs can be measured in terms of the economic impact, the income generated,
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This paper was presented during the 62nd IAC in Cape Town. Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (B. Szalai), [email protected] (E. Detsis), [email protected] (W. Peeters). n
0094-5765/$ - see front matter & 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2012.05.015
the number of jobs created, and the perceived and actual benefits to society [1]. Furthermore, the revenues generated by the space industry spin-offs can be defined in terms of economic return for the different players in the value chain: the space company having initially developed the technology, the company receiving the technology transfer, the intermediary firm that helps the transfer, the space agency that has funded the development of space technology, the technology transfer office which supports it, and finally the users of the products or services based on the technology transferred [2]. As part of its technology transfer programme the European Space Agency (ESA) has published a number of spin-off success stories, but they rarely have quantitative assessment associated to them.
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The current document makes an analysis of two qualitative spin-off stories presented on ESA’s website and expresses them, to the extent possible, in quantitative/financial figures. The solutions analyzed have been selected with relation to the implications they might have in the health sector and the potential to impact human well-being and reduce the risk of disease and/or death and included: AirinSpace PlasmerTM—the air decontamination system for prevention of nosocomial diseases and ESquad Jeans—the protective trousers for motorcyclists. 2. Definition of spin-off and technology transfer A spin-off is commonly referred to as a technology transferred from one mother domain to other industries for which it was not initially intended. Space spin-offs are considered to be indirect benefits of space activities. A space spin-off can, therefore be defined, as something that has been learned or changed during ‘‘space activities’’, which is then used or transferred in other contexts allowing creating economic value [2]. In the context of ESA, the focus is on transferring the technology developed as part of the space programmes, so as to create new non-space related applications. ESA identified the elements included as being mainly the transfer of software, hardware, know-how, but also the commercial applications of satellite systems [1]. In order for technology transfer to occur there must be an intentional move from a well-defined economic unit (firm, laboratory, sector, etc.) to another well-defined economic unit [2]. Moreover, it is often difficult to distinguish between what is a spin-off and what is a satellite application, as the borders can be ambiguous. For the purposes of this study, space technology and space activities have been used as a generic term incorporating any elements be it at component, sub-system or system level that were adopted into a new technology domain as a space spin-off.
developing an industry IP. Therefore, the main role of the TTPO was to help space industry to spin-off their IP (developed via ESA projects or not) to other sectors. Nevertheless, in recent years ESA has moved on to commercializing its own IP, and the TTPO is tasked to market the Agency’s own IP to the non-space industry in order to make sure they are exploited to their full potential [21]. The Euroconsult study highlighted that the TTPO is very efficient towards start-up companies, as the incubators create a very favourable business environment for companies to develop. Nevertheless, the lack of clear processes when delivering its support services and the equal financial support given to all candidates are identified as weaknesses [4], on the other hand start-ups also have difficulties to specify their technology support need, which makes the agency’s technology transfer task much more complex. The results provided by the ESA business incubators for 2009 [5] showed that the major domains, into which space technology has been transferred from ESA programmes, are lifestyle and software solutions, closely followed by environment and health. Fig. 1 illustrates the different categories and their individual weight. Fig. 2 gives an overview of the origin of spin-offs, by space discipline, that have emerged as part of the BIC programme since its beginning until 2006 (1990–2006). It can be noted that the highest number of technology transfers originated in the space sciences and launchers
3. ESA spin-off strategy ESA has been supporting organizations that are interested in transferring space technology into other industries by means of funding for feasibility studies, market analyses and prototypes creations. For start-up companies support is available via the business incubators as well as the ‘‘incentives’’ (or seed funding). The organism created for this purpose is the ESA Technology Transfer Programme Office (TTPO). ESA TTPO usually provides an initial incentive amounting up to 50k EUR for each start-up company for specifically defined tasks including a market study, feasibility study, etc. Moreover, the incubatees may have the possibility of acceding to another 50k EUR loan under very favourable payback conditions. The TTPO plays a role also in connecting the companies with venture capitalists, such as Triangle Ventures, and it may provide further funding via the Open Sky technologies fund [3]. As far as the intellectual property rights are concerned, ESA used to invest very little in the development of its own Intellectual Property (IP) [4], ESA’s focus being on
Fig. 1. Spin-offs distribution by industry area; Credit: Built using data from ESA Business Incubation Centres (BIC) alumni report 2009.
Fig. 2. Space disciplines creating spin-offs; Credit: Built using data from ESA BICs alumni report 2009.
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categories, closely followed by human space flight and telecommunications. 4. Quantification of the revenue of spin-offs The benefits of spin-offs can be separated into two categories: tangible and intangible. Some intangible benefits are an improved service or image, enhanced customer satisfaction, or a higher level of well-being. The current research focuses particularly on the tangible benefits as these can be quantified. Some of the tangible benefits identified for Geographic Information System (GIS) can be used to a certain extent also for the quantification of the space spin-offs [6]. Nevertheless, to have a complete picture the initial investment in developing the space technology, as well as the incentive of the ESA technology transfer programme, and potential investors/venture capitalists known contributions have been equally taken into consideration. It is important to note that a precise quantitative assessment is difficult to obtain in terms of tracking back the history of each ‘‘space technology’’. The amount presented as initial cost to market or investment is based on solely the expenses related to developing the ‘‘space technology’’ without taking into account that the use of initial spin-ins from other industries. The tangible benefits analyzed in the majority of the cases presented include: revenue growth, cost reduction or avoidance, increase of efficiency and productivity, time saving, increased regulatory compliance, health and safety. A study aiming to quantify the benefits of NASA life science spin-offs was able to identify some of the generated financial profits, nevertheless also highlighted the difficulties of measuring this [7]. It was pointed out there is no ‘‘one model fits all’’ [7], and cases should be analyzed on an individual basis. The Beta Diffusion Approach was proposed for calculating the profits generated by spin-offs in the space sector [2]. The method is based on the basic assumption that the spin-off process originates in the space contracting companies. As a result of space programmes, these companies acquire a number of skills, develop new technologies and products, and open up new markets. These learning processes induce economic benefits first for the contracting companies, then in a second step to the rest of the economy. This methodology has been identified to be time consuming, as the data collection is based on direct interviews, each case study being quantified based on a typology of effects and a range of quantifications methods. Other limitations of the Beta Diffusion Approach are the subjectivity of self-evaluation and the ambiguity between private and public. It is worthwhile noting that application of the model in ESA Member States results in return factors in the area of 3– 3.5, i.e. that each Euro invested in space gives an economic return (in terms of GDP) of 3–3.5 Euros [8]. The methodology used in the current document, consists of: (1) Identifying the total cost of developing the initial space technology (wherever possible) or making a logical assumption.
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(2) Determining the cost of developing the spin off (including commercialization), wherever possible or making a logical assumption. (3) Identifying any sources of potential incentives or investments. (4) (a) Calculating the market revenue for existing products via the equation: Revenue¼Price product Units sold. or (b) Calculating the potential market revenue based on the assumption that 1% of the target market is reached. (5) Determining the size of the target market. (6) Identifying the cost of the disease for the health sector (whenever applicable). (7) Calculating benefits obtained as a result of efficiency (whenever applicable). The reductions of health costs and the number of lives saved is, whenever possible, assumed to be 1%, but this is very variable in each application and cautious suppositions need to be made.
5. Case studies 5.1. AirinSpace 5.1.1. Product description The AirinSpace’s PlasmerTM bioprotection system is a three stage system that uses strong electrical fields and cold-plasma chambers to eliminate micro-organisms in the air [9]. It can be used to protect hospital patients, food, pharmaceutical products and passengers travelling on aircrafts against contamination and infection risks [10]. It has been demonstrated, for example, to completely remove the airborne avian flu virus from highly concentrated aerosols. A first version of plasma reactors has been created by Russian scientists to be used on the Mir Space Station, in the 1990s. Until the end of the mission in 2000, the equipment protected cosmonauts and astronauts from any bacterial, viral or fungal contaminations. The solution is currently also successfully used on board of the International Space Station (ISS) since April 2001 (Fig. 3). ESA’s TTPO, supported AirinSpace to create in 2001, based on this technology, a transportable and easily deployable ‘clean room’ for hospitals to use in emergency scenarios. It has now been used in more than 70 medical centres in France, as well as in a number of places in USA, Japan, Germany and Italy [10]. The company seems to have a number of competitors in the market, but they claim superiority for the functionalities provided as shown in Fig. 4. Another similar device which has been patented in Russia and Europe, Potok 150MK, has been used on-board of MIR and is currently also utilized on-board of the ISS. The relationship between these two products is not clear; therefore the influence this can play on the commercial figures it is unknown.
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Fig. 3. AirinSpace Plasmer; Credit: AirinSpace.
infections result in 8500–12,000 deaths, and the rates are rising [13]. Nosocomial infections are the fourth leading cause of death in Canada and the US [13,14]. In Europe, according to OECD statistics, three million cases of nosocomial infections occur annually, of which 50,000 are fatal. Countries such as the UK, France or Germany are estimated to spend about h1 billion annually on treating hospital acquired diseases. In most of these countries specific legislation has been adopted in order to ensure that the number of nosocomial diseases is drastically reduced. Given the situation, the market of AirinSpace is considerable in size, each hospital with an operating room being a potential customer. The company has identified 218,000 sensitive areas in developed countries’ hospitals. According to the studies conducted by AirinSpace approximately 24,700 hospitals have surgical activities in developed countries. Each of them has an average number of 5 operating rooms, 80% needing high quality air decontamination. This represents a potential of 100,000 operating rooms to be equipped [15]. Other associated areas also need air decontamination: recovery, sterilization, preparation, haematology and reanimation rooms, as well as surgical dentistry practices. They represent an additional of 105,000 rooms. Airplanes are another market which the company identified for the commercialization of the product. This target group will add a considerable number of prospective customers, thus, high revenue potential. Areas such as cruise ships, submarines or even hotels at some point could also potentially benefit from this solution. 5.1.3. Price and time to market (TTM) As presented on the company’s website [9] the commercialization of the PlasmerTM series started in 2005. The AirinSpace decontamination unit is currently sold for 17k EUR in Europe and approximately 35k USD in the US. Alternatively, the product can also be rented for 155 USD/ day, 990 USD/week or 3.9k USD/month [9].
Fig. 4. PlasmerTM technology versus competitive air treatment technologies. Credit: AirinSpace.
5.1.2. The market—nosocomial diseases It is estimated that approximately two million patients each year will get an infection while in a United States hospital and about 5% (almost 100,000) of them will die from it [11]. Moreover, the annual direct hospital cost of treating healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in the United States is in the range of $35.7 billion–$45 billion, prevention could, however, drastically reduce this up to 70% [12]. The direct costs of hospital acquired infections in Canada are estimated to be $1 billion annually, not including the care givers, or days lost off work. Each year in Canada, more than 220,000 healthcare associated
5.1.4. Benefits AirinSpace highlighted that they have a 1.2 billion EUR global annual sales market [9]. This could roughly be equal to approximately 60,000 units sold/rented worldwide every year. If this business model is continued the target market in the developed countries could be filled in 4 years time, therefore new business avenues will need to be identified. Nevertheless, currently the company prides itself of a 50% yearly growth. Regarding the intangible benefits, AirinSpace supports the legal regulatory framework for hospital units, it provides medical staff and patients with a safer environment and helps fight potential infections. The number of deaths prevented is not exactly known, but it could amount to an important number if nosocomial diseases are stopped. One of the major challenges is determining the cost of developing the space technology that served as the basis of the product, as the product originated most likely in Russia, the initial development price is confidential.
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Table 1 Financial overview of AirinSpace PlasmerTM. Item
Cost to market/investment Benefits
Development of space technology for air decontamination Technology Transfer Incentive ESA Venture capital investment (Matignon Invest) Global annual sales market Cost of treatment of nosocomial diseases per year (rough estimate)
10M EUR 50k EUR 6M EUR
Number of deaths due to nosocomial diseases per year Jobs created
Fig. 5. ESquad Jeans. Credit: ESA/ESquad.
Moreover, the research could not identify any figures that would indicate the further development cost for the PlasmerTM. A very conservative amount of 10M EUR has been considered for the space technology cost. For the cost of spin-off (including commercialization) the incentive from ESA has been taken into consideration, the venture capital investment seems to have been mainly oriented towards business development. The cost to market, investment and benefits for AirinSpace PlasmerTM are summarized in Table 1. It can be noted that the number of deaths due to nosocomial diseases could be predicted to be down by 100 folds.
5.2. ESquad Jeans 5.2.1. Product description The ESquad Jeans have been born as a result of a space spin-off into the textile industry. A French company blended UHMWPE high-tech fibres piggybacked in ESA’s Foton-M3 microgravity mission with old-fashioned denim to create protective gear for bikers. UHMWPE has some unique characteristics. It has a very lightweight, but a lot of strength as demonstrated by the YES2 tether experiment. ESA revealed that a 30 km-long, only half a millimetre thick, line of UHMWPE fibres dangled a small reentry capsule in orbit, demonstrating that ‘space mail’ can be sent using a relatively simple and cheap mechanism [16]. These special fibres have been covered in cotton and are included as integral part of the Armalith fabric, the prime jeans material for motorcycles riders (Fig. 5).
EU 20B EUR/year US and Canada: 10B EUR/ year EU: 50k/year US and Canada: 110,00/year
1.2B EUR/year EU 200M EUR/year US and Canada: 100M EUR/ year EU: 500/year US and Canada: 1100/year 20–49
5.2.2. Market Worldwide each year 1.3 million people are killed in road accidents, and several millions are injured or are incapacitated for the rest of their lives. While high income countries are looking back on a record decade in reducing road fatalities, 90% of global road deaths occur in low and middle income countries [17]. This can be also illustrated in the case of motorbike accidents, as from the total of 1.3 million casualties in high-revenue countries 5%–18% can be attributed to motorbike accidents (17.8% in Europe), whereas for low revenue countries these numbers can reach 27%–70% (e.g. India, Malaysia) and even 90% in Thailand. In 2006, compared to a passenger car, a motorcycle was thirteen times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident per kilometre travelled [18]. The number of motorbikes is increasing year after year. According to a report published by DEKRA [20], in 2008 there were more than 33 million powered two wheelers registered in Europe. Moreover, the Association des Constructeurs Europe´ens de Motocycles (ACEM) is expecting this figure to rise to between 35 and 37 million by 2020. For example, in France alone, there were approximately 2.5 million motorbikes in 2010 [19]. In the US in 2003, the market had 6.5 million motorbikes registered. Studies show that one of the paramount elements that could contribute to a reduction of accidents is appropriate protection clothing [20]; therefore, the ESquad Jeans could prove valuable. Moreover, as the United Nations have declared 2011– 2020 the Decade of Action for Road Safety, with the aim of stabilizing and then reducing global road deaths by 2020 [17], ESquad could be considered as a contributor to global transport policy. Looking at the commercialization price of the ESquad Jeans at 399 USD the potential markets targeted are the high-revenue ones in Europe, USA, Australia, Canada and Japan. Nevertheless, unless the prices decrease, the lowrevenue countries that could benefit most could not afford them as the price of the jeans is higher than the average monthly salary. 5.2.3. Benefits The cost of 1 Jeans is advertised for 399 USD. The company made in 2008, 900k EUR benefits. This can be estimated to 3000 pairs of trousers sold per year. If the company could be able to reach at least 1% of the bikers population in the aforementioned markets the revenues
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could reach several millions. An important element to take into account though is that the markets that could benefit most are those in which revenues are still extremely low, and whose purchasing power would not allow this type of trousers. Furthermore, more scientific proof would be necessary in order to claim the protection capabilities of the ESquad Jeans, and to establish the number of possible injuries, death or impairments they could prevent. As originally the space technology used for creating the product came as a result of a YES-2 student experiment, and assuming the average cost of payload being 30k USD/kg with a student payload of 40 kg, it can be deducted that the cost of developing the initial hardware was in the order of 1.2M USD. No evidence of venture capital investment could be found during the investigation. EADS was identified to give free access to materials, which can be conceived as an important way of reducing some of the costs involved in the purchasing and maintenance of equipment and materials. Taking into account the different amounts of cost vs. benefits, it can be noticed that a breakeven point could happen as early as 2 years. Table 2 summarizes the initial cost and investment vs. the benefits generated. A number of elements such as the number of jobs created, the number of lives saved or the initial private investments, remain unknown at the time this study was conducted. Therefore, the table only illustrates the methodology proposed. 6. Discussion ESA’s technology transfer programme is not only very valuable for the space industry, but also for the other industries such as telecom, IT, health, etc. These, via the spin-offs, can largely benefit from reliable space-based technologies. The research revealed that there are a number of difficulties encountered in the quantification of ESA spin-offs due to the lack of the availability of some data, the reduced transparency in the funding from the various sources, as well as the actual numbers to establish the costs of the initial space technology. Next, Table 3 tries to summarize some of the main findings of the case studies. The numbers identified in the Table 2 Financial overview of ESquad Jeans. Item
Cost/ investment
Development of space technology for satellites Technology Transfer Incentive ESA Venture capital investment Private investment Global annual sales market
1.2M USD–1M EUR 50k EUR Not known Not known
Cost of maintenance per year (rough estimate) Lives saved Jobs created
Not known
Benefits
900k EUR/ year
TBD Not known
Table 3 Comparison of referred case studies. Item
Cost of development of space technology Technology Transfer Incentive ESA Venture capital investment Private investment Global sales market Cost of maintenance per year (rough estimate) Lives saved Jobs created Breakeven point
Plasmer TM
ESquad Jeans
þþþ þ þþ þþ þþþ þ
þ þ ? þ þ 0
þþþ þþ þþ
? þ þ
þþþ very high; þþ high; þ medium; 0 none; ? not known.
case of AirinSpace show that the benefits so far and the ones potentially to come can be considerable in comparison with the costs. Some spin-offs can show a breakeven point with the initial space programme investment only after a couple of years (e.g. ESquad Jeans); nevertheless this cannot be generalized as each case is structurally very different, and some benefits cannot be easily translated into numbers, such as the number of lives saved. It is important to determine whether benefits need to be analyzed on the long run, if so for how many years, or whether reaching a breakeven point would be enough. Calculating the internal rate of return (IRR) could also be a valuable evaluation method. Furthermore, a higher number of case studies should also be considered in order to have increased confidence in the findings. Finally, it is not possible to reach an exact financially quantifiable result unless all the costs are publicly known and a detailed calculation is made taking into account all the different factors and steps involved in the development and commercialization phases. However, a high level of transparency of costs, from both agency and industry, is limited by legal confidentiality regulations and it needs considerable transformation before it will be achieved. The two applications selected have been used to illustrate the methodology proposed. 7. Conclusion and recommendations In order to be able to demonstrate some financial benefits provided by space programmes and their byproducts, it would be ideal to apply the model used in this report and track all the different costs, investments and profit generated to have a realistic image. The study revealed also a number of methodological difficulties that need to be taken into consideration and, ideally, solved by ESA for producing realistic quantitative assessments for space technology spin-offs. Innovation often comes from applying know-how from one industry to another. In Europe it seems that there is no systematic process in place for creating a spin-off from a space programme. The situation today gives the impression to be more based on a ‘‘lucky coincidence’’ or as an answer to an industry expressed need.
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A strategy for identifying a number of potential application areas for other industries should be started early on. Working groups from industries could come together from the beginning of a space programme to identify potential application uses in their specific domains. This would allow that by the time a space programme would be in place, several spin-offs could also have been identified. Furthermore, ESA experiments on board of the ISS could also potentially be considered as having spin-off opportunities and a spin-off strategy should be defined for them. Looking ahead further research should be oriented towards identifying the legal framework that accompanies spin-offs in general, in order to establish a clear IPR ownership. For future technology transfer it is important to establish whether spin-offs from European programmes should be limited to European companies or if enterprises from other countries could also be allowed to transfer European space technology if paying a licence fee to ESA. References [1] ESA, The Space Neededyto Get Business Ideas Off the Ground, ESA Today—The ESA House Journal, ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme Special Edition, April 2007. [2] L. Bach, Economic Returns of Space Activities. Presentation. ISU Lecture in Strasbourg, Jan 2011. [3] ESA, Technology Transfer from Space. Netherlands Space Office, NVR. Spin-off, April 2010 Edition. [4] EUROCONSULT, Economic Impact Study of the Technology Transfer Programme, ESA Document, 2011. [5] ESA, ESA’s Business Incubation Centres Alumni Report 2009. Ref: TEC-ST/BN/327, Version 2, Issue 0, 3rd September 2010. [6] D. Maguire, V. Kouyoumjian, R. Smith, The Business Benefits of GIS. An ROI Approach, ESRI Press, California, 2008. [7] H. Hertzfeld, Measuring the economic returns from successful NASA life sciences technology transfers, J. Technol. Transfer 27 (2002) 311–320. Kluwer Academic Publishers. The Netherlands. [8] P. Cohendet, Evaluating the Industrial Indirect Effects of Technology Programmes: The Case of the European Space Agency (ESA) Programmes. In Keys to Space—An Interdisciplinary Approach to Space Studies, ISU Publication, 1999. [9] AIRINSPACE, Corporate website, 2011. Available from: /http:// www.airinspace.com/international/index_international.phpS (accessed 28.01.11). [10] ESA, Technology Transfer Programme. Down to Earth. How Space Technology Improves Our Lives, 2009. [11] CDC, Estimating Health Care-Associated Infections and Deaths in US Hospitals, 2002. Available from: /http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/ dhqp/pdf/hicpac/infections_deaths.pdfS (accessed 31.01.11). [12] R.D. Scott, The DirecT MeDical cosTs of Healthcare-Associated Infections in U.S. Hospitals and the Benefits of Prevention. CDC, 2009. Available from: /http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/ Scott_CostPaper.pdfS (accessed 31.01.11). [13] CUPE—Canadian Union of Public Employees, Healthcare Associated Infections: A Backgrounder, 2009. Available from: /http://cupe.ca/ updir/healthcare-associated-infections-cupe-backgrounder.pdfS (accessed 01.02.11). [14] K. Mahaffey, Do Nosocomial Infections Discriminate? 2004. Available from: /http://www.umbc.edu/economics/grad_699_ab stracts/k_mahaffey_proposal.pdfS (accessed 31.01.11). [15] AIRINSPACE, Looking for Partners. Safe Air. Better Health, 2011. Available from: /http://www.unamec.be/data/doc/distrubutor%20 Airinspace.pdfS (accessed 04.02.11). [16] ESA, Space Material Prevents Road Rash, 2010. Available from: /http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/TTP2/SEMHV5TRJHG_0.htmlS (accessed 15.02.11). [17] INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT FORUM, Press Release: A Record Decade for Road Safety, Paris, 15th September 2010. Available from: /http://www.internationaltransportforum.org/Press/PDFs/ 2010-09-15IRTAD.pdfS (accessed 10.02.11).
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[18] WHO, Pourquoi les casques sont-ils ne´cessaires? 2006. Available from: /http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2006/ 9789242562996_chap1-2_fre.pdfS (accessed 15.02.11). [19] LE REPAIRE DES MOTARDS, Statistiques & Accidents Motos, 2011. Available from: /http://www.lerepairedesmotards.com/dossiers/ accident.phpS (accessed 15.02.11). [20] DEKRA, Motorcycle Road Safety Report 2010, 2011. Available from: /http://www.dekra.de/de/c/document_library/get_file?uuid= 18080ef4-7c8f-4740-b59d-5e08ccf7903e&groupId=10100S (accessed 15.02.11). [21] ESA, IP for Commercialization, 2011. Available from: /http://www. esa.int/SPECIALS/Technology/SEM1RVLTRJG_0.htmlS (accessed 30.04.12).
Bibliography [1] M. Bijlefeld, R. Burke, It Came from Outer Space. Everyday Products and Ideas From the Space Program, Greenwood Press, USA, 2003. [2] ESA, Best of t.e.s.t. Transferable European Space Technologies, ESA Publications Division, 1995. [3] P. Olla, Space Technologies for the Benefit of Human Society and Earth, Springer Science and Business Media, USA, 2009. [4] C. Sheffield, M. Alonso, M.A. Kaplan, The World of 2044: Technological Development and the Future of Society, Professors World Peace Academy, USA, 1994. [5] C.J. Touhill, G.J. Touhill, T.A. O’Riordan, Commercialization of innovative technologies. Bringing Good Ideas to the Marketplace, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., USA and Canada, 2008. Mrs. Bianca Szalai: Bianca obtained the Masters degree in Space Management with cum laude in 2011 from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. She has previously completed a first degree in health and physical recreation, and also graduated with a Masters degree in IT. Career-wise, she currently occupies a Telemedicine Project Manager position, after working for several years in the IT industry. Some space-related areas that are of particular interest to her include the use of space technology to answer varying health needs and the role of space policy and technology transfer in shaping everyday life. Dr. Emmanouil Detsis: Emmanouil obtained his bachelor degree in physics from the University of Crete. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh in 2006, in the field of astrophysics. He has also received a Masters degree in Space Science from the International Space University in 2010. He is currently employed by the International Space University as a teaching associate and research analyst.
Prof. Walter Peeters: Initial management positions in construction and petrochemical industry. Joined ESA in 1983 in a number of project control and management functions, among others in the HERMES project. Since 1990, involved in astronaut activities as Head of the Coordination Office of the European Astronaut Center in Cologne. Joined ISU in 2000. First director of International Institute of Space Commerce (IISC) since 2008. Author of articles on incentive contracting, project management and space commercialization. Author of the book Space Marketing. Education: Bachelor’s degrees in engineering and economics (Louvain), MBA (Louvain, Cornell University), Ph.D. degree (TU Delft).
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Acta Astronautica journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/actaastro
ESA space spin-offs benefits for the health sector$ Bianca Szalai n, Emmanouil Detsis, Walter Peeters International Space University (ISU), France
a r t i c l e i n f o
abstract
Article history: Received 8 February 2012 Received in revised form 13 May 2012 Accepted 15 May 2012 Available online 12 June 2012
Humanity will be faced with an important number of future challenges, including an expansion of the lifespan, a considerable increase of the population (estimated 9 billion by 2050) and a depletion of resources. These factors could trigger an increase of chronic diseases and various other health concerns that would bear a heavy weight on finances worldwide. Scientific advances can play an important role in solving a number of these problems, space technology; in general, can propose a panoply of possible solutions and applications that can make life on Earth easier and better for everyone. Satellites, Earth Observation, the International Space Station (ISS) and the European Space Agency (ESA) may not be the first tools that come to mind when thinking of improving health, yet there are many ways in which ESA and its programmes contribute to the health care arena. The research focuses on quantifying two ESA spin-offs to provide an initial view on how space can contribute to worldwide health. This quantification is part of the present strategy not only to show macroeconomic return factors for space in general, but also to identify and describe samples of ‘best practice’ type of examples close to the general public’s interest. For each of the ‘best practices’ the methodology takes into account the cost of the space hardware/software, a number of tangible and intangible benefits, as well as some logical assumptions in order to determine the potential overall returns. Some of the hindering factors for a precise quantification are also highlighted. In conclusion, the study recommends a way in which ESA’s spin-offs can be taken into account early on in the development process of space programmes in order to generate higher awareness with the general public and also to provide measurable returns. & 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Spin-off Technology transfer Health Space benefit
1. Background In today’s economic situation, governments need to have clear justification for their budget spending, and the space industry has to be able to show its added value, and thus quantify the benefits it brings. On the long-term, the success of the space industries’ spin-offs can be measured in terms of the economic impact, the income generated,
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This paper was presented during the 62nd IAC in Cape Town. Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (B. Szalai), [email protected] (E. Detsis), [email protected] (W. Peeters). n
0094-5765/$ - see front matter & 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2012.05.015
the number of jobs created, and the perceived and actual benefits to society [1]. Furthermore, the revenues generated by the space industry spin-offs can be defined in terms of economic return for the different players in the value chain: the space company having initially developed the technology, the company receiving the technology transfer, the intermediary firm that helps the transfer, the space agency that has funded the development of space technology, the technology transfer office which supports it, and finally the users of the products or services based on the technology transferred [2]. As part of its technology transfer programme the European Space Agency (ESA) has published a number of spin-off success stories, but they rarely have quantitative assessment associated to them.
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The current document makes an analysis of two qualitative spin-off stories presented on ESA’s website and expresses them, to the extent possible, in quantitative/financial figures. The solutions analyzed have been selected with relation to the implications they might have in the health sector and the potential to impact human well-being and reduce the risk of disease and/or death and included: AirinSpace PlasmerTM—the air decontamination system for prevention of nosocomial diseases and ESquad Jeans—the protective trousers for motorcyclists. 2. Definition of spin-off and technology transfer A spin-off is commonly referred to as a technology transferred from one mother domain to other industries for which it was not initially intended. Space spin-offs are considered to be indirect benefits of space activities. A space spin-off can, therefore be defined, as something that has been learned or changed during ‘‘space activities’’, which is then used or transferred in other contexts allowing creating economic value [2]. In the context of ESA, the focus is on transferring the technology developed as part of the space programmes, so as to create new non-space related applications. ESA identified the elements included as being mainly the transfer of software, hardware, know-how, but also the commercial applications of satellite systems [1]. In order for technology transfer to occur there must be an intentional move from a well-defined economic unit (firm, laboratory, sector, etc.) to another well-defined economic unit [2]. Moreover, it is often difficult to distinguish between what is a spin-off and what is a satellite application, as the borders can be ambiguous. For the purposes of this study, space technology and space activities have been used as a generic term incorporating any elements be it at component, sub-system or system level that were adopted into a new technology domain as a space spin-off.
developing an industry IP. Therefore, the main role of the TTPO was to help space industry to spin-off their IP (developed via ESA projects or not) to other sectors. Nevertheless, in recent years ESA has moved on to commercializing its own IP, and the TTPO is tasked to market the Agency’s own IP to the non-space industry in order to make sure they are exploited to their full potential [21]. The Euroconsult study highlighted that the TTPO is very efficient towards start-up companies, as the incubators create a very favourable business environment for companies to develop. Nevertheless, the lack of clear processes when delivering its support services and the equal financial support given to all candidates are identified as weaknesses [4], on the other hand start-ups also have difficulties to specify their technology support need, which makes the agency’s technology transfer task much more complex. The results provided by the ESA business incubators for 2009 [5] showed that the major domains, into which space technology has been transferred from ESA programmes, are lifestyle and software solutions, closely followed by environment and health. Fig. 1 illustrates the different categories and their individual weight. Fig. 2 gives an overview of the origin of spin-offs, by space discipline, that have emerged as part of the BIC programme since its beginning until 2006 (1990–2006). It can be noted that the highest number of technology transfers originated in the space sciences and launchers
3. ESA spin-off strategy ESA has been supporting organizations that are interested in transferring space technology into other industries by means of funding for feasibility studies, market analyses and prototypes creations. For start-up companies support is available via the business incubators as well as the ‘‘incentives’’ (or seed funding). The organism created for this purpose is the ESA Technology Transfer Programme Office (TTPO). ESA TTPO usually provides an initial incentive amounting up to 50k EUR for each start-up company for specifically defined tasks including a market study, feasibility study, etc. Moreover, the incubatees may have the possibility of acceding to another 50k EUR loan under very favourable payback conditions. The TTPO plays a role also in connecting the companies with venture capitalists, such as Triangle Ventures, and it may provide further funding via the Open Sky technologies fund [3]. As far as the intellectual property rights are concerned, ESA used to invest very little in the development of its own Intellectual Property (IP) [4], ESA’s focus being on
Fig. 1. Spin-offs distribution by industry area; Credit: Built using data from ESA Business Incubation Centres (BIC) alumni report 2009.
Fig. 2. Space disciplines creating spin-offs; Credit: Built using data from ESA BICs alumni report 2009.
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categories, closely followed by human space flight and telecommunications. 4. Quantification of the revenue of spin-offs The benefits of spin-offs can be separated into two categories: tangible and intangible. Some intangible benefits are an improved service or image, enhanced customer satisfaction, or a higher level of well-being. The current research focuses particularly on the tangible benefits as these can be quantified. Some of the tangible benefits identified for Geographic Information System (GIS) can be used to a certain extent also for the quantification of the space spin-offs [6]. Nevertheless, to have a complete picture the initial investment in developing the space technology, as well as the incentive of the ESA technology transfer programme, and potential investors/venture capitalists known contributions have been equally taken into consideration. It is important to note that a precise quantitative assessment is difficult to obtain in terms of tracking back the history of each ‘‘space technology’’. The amount presented as initial cost to market or investment is based on solely the expenses related to developing the ‘‘space technology’’ without taking into account that the use of initial spin-ins from other industries. The tangible benefits analyzed in the majority of the cases presented include: revenue growth, cost reduction or avoidance, increase of efficiency and productivity, time saving, increased regulatory compliance, health and safety. A study aiming to quantify the benefits of NASA life science spin-offs was able to identify some of the generated financial profits, nevertheless also highlighted the difficulties of measuring this [7]. It was pointed out there is no ‘‘one model fits all’’ [7], and cases should be analyzed on an individual basis. The Beta Diffusion Approach was proposed for calculating the profits generated by spin-offs in the space sector [2]. The method is based on the basic assumption that the spin-off process originates in the space contracting companies. As a result of space programmes, these companies acquire a number of skills, develop new technologies and products, and open up new markets. These learning processes induce economic benefits first for the contracting companies, then in a second step to the rest of the economy. This methodology has been identified to be time consuming, as the data collection is based on direct interviews, each case study being quantified based on a typology of effects and a range of quantifications methods. Other limitations of the Beta Diffusion Approach are the subjectivity of self-evaluation and the ambiguity between private and public. It is worthwhile noting that application of the model in ESA Member States results in return factors in the area of 3– 3.5, i.e. that each Euro invested in space gives an economic return (in terms of GDP) of 3–3.5 Euros [8]. The methodology used in the current document, consists of: (1) Identifying the total cost of developing the initial space technology (wherever possible) or making a logical assumption.
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(2) Determining the cost of developing the spin off (including commercialization), wherever possible or making a logical assumption. (3) Identifying any sources of potential incentives or investments. (4) (a) Calculating the market revenue for existing products via the equation: Revenue¼Price product Units sold. or (b) Calculating the potential market revenue based on the assumption that 1% of the target market is reached. (5) Determining the size of the target market. (6) Identifying the cost of the disease for the health sector (whenever applicable). (7) Calculating benefits obtained as a result of efficiency (whenever applicable). The reductions of health costs and the number of lives saved is, whenever possible, assumed to be 1%, but this is very variable in each application and cautious suppositions need to be made.
5. Case studies 5.1. AirinSpace 5.1.1. Product description The AirinSpace’s PlasmerTM bioprotection system is a three stage system that uses strong electrical fields and cold-plasma chambers to eliminate micro-organisms in the air [9]. It can be used to protect hospital patients, food, pharmaceutical products and passengers travelling on aircrafts against contamination and infection risks [10]. It has been demonstrated, for example, to completely remove the airborne avian flu virus from highly concentrated aerosols. A first version of plasma reactors has been created by Russian scientists to be used on the Mir Space Station, in the 1990s. Until the end of the mission in 2000, the equipment protected cosmonauts and astronauts from any bacterial, viral or fungal contaminations. The solution is currently also successfully used on board of the International Space Station (ISS) since April 2001 (Fig. 3). ESA’s TTPO, supported AirinSpace to create in 2001, based on this technology, a transportable and easily deployable ‘clean room’ for hospitals to use in emergency scenarios. It has now been used in more than 70 medical centres in France, as well as in a number of places in USA, Japan, Germany and Italy [10]. The company seems to have a number of competitors in the market, but they claim superiority for the functionalities provided as shown in Fig. 4. Another similar device which has been patented in Russia and Europe, Potok 150MK, has been used on-board of MIR and is currently also utilized on-board of the ISS. The relationship between these two products is not clear; therefore the influence this can play on the commercial figures it is unknown.
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Fig. 3. AirinSpace Plasmer; Credit: AirinSpace.
infections result in 8500–12,000 deaths, and the rates are rising [13]. Nosocomial infections are the fourth leading cause of death in Canada and the US [13,14]. In Europe, according to OECD statistics, three million cases of nosocomial infections occur annually, of which 50,000 are fatal. Countries such as the UK, France or Germany are estimated to spend about h1 billion annually on treating hospital acquired diseases. In most of these countries specific legislation has been adopted in order to ensure that the number of nosocomial diseases is drastically reduced. Given the situation, the market of AirinSpace is considerable in size, each hospital with an operating room being a potential customer. The company has identified 218,000 sensitive areas in developed countries’ hospitals. According to the studies conducted by AirinSpace approximately 24,700 hospitals have surgical activities in developed countries. Each of them has an average number of 5 operating rooms, 80% needing high quality air decontamination. This represents a potential of 100,000 operating rooms to be equipped [15]. Other associated areas also need air decontamination: recovery, sterilization, preparation, haematology and reanimation rooms, as well as surgical dentistry practices. They represent an additional of 105,000 rooms. Airplanes are another market which the company identified for the commercialization of the product. This target group will add a considerable number of prospective customers, thus, high revenue potential. Areas such as cruise ships, submarines or even hotels at some point could also potentially benefit from this solution. 5.1.3. Price and time to market (TTM) As presented on the company’s website [9] the commercialization of the PlasmerTM series started in 2005. The AirinSpace decontamination unit is currently sold for 17k EUR in Europe and approximately 35k USD in the US. Alternatively, the product can also be rented for 155 USD/ day, 990 USD/week or 3.9k USD/month [9].
Fig. 4. PlasmerTM technology versus competitive air treatment technologies. Credit: AirinSpace.
5.1.2. The market—nosocomial diseases It is estimated that approximately two million patients each year will get an infection while in a United States hospital and about 5% (almost 100,000) of them will die from it [11]. Moreover, the annual direct hospital cost of treating healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in the United States is in the range of $35.7 billion–$45 billion, prevention could, however, drastically reduce this up to 70% [12]. The direct costs of hospital acquired infections in Canada are estimated to be $1 billion annually, not including the care givers, or days lost off work. Each year in Canada, more than 220,000 healthcare associated
5.1.4. Benefits AirinSpace highlighted that they have a 1.2 billion EUR global annual sales market [9]. This could roughly be equal to approximately 60,000 units sold/rented worldwide every year. If this business model is continued the target market in the developed countries could be filled in 4 years time, therefore new business avenues will need to be identified. Nevertheless, currently the company prides itself of a 50% yearly growth. Regarding the intangible benefits, AirinSpace supports the legal regulatory framework for hospital units, it provides medical staff and patients with a safer environment and helps fight potential infections. The number of deaths prevented is not exactly known, but it could amount to an important number if nosocomial diseases are stopped. One of the major challenges is determining the cost of developing the space technology that served as the basis of the product, as the product originated most likely in Russia, the initial development price is confidential.
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Table 1 Financial overview of AirinSpace PlasmerTM. Item
Cost to market/investment Benefits
Development of space technology for air decontamination Technology Transfer Incentive ESA Venture capital investment (Matignon Invest) Global annual sales market Cost of treatment of nosocomial diseases per year (rough estimate)
10M EUR 50k EUR 6M EUR
Number of deaths due to nosocomial diseases per year Jobs created
Fig. 5. ESquad Jeans. Credit: ESA/ESquad.
Moreover, the research could not identify any figures that would indicate the further development cost for the PlasmerTM. A very conservative amount of 10M EUR has been considered for the space technology cost. For the cost of spin-off (including commercialization) the incentive from ESA has been taken into consideration, the venture capital investment seems to have been mainly oriented towards business development. The cost to market, investment and benefits for AirinSpace PlasmerTM are summarized in Table 1. It can be noted that the number of deaths due to nosocomial diseases could be predicted to be down by 100 folds.
5.2. ESquad Jeans 5.2.1. Product description The ESquad Jeans have been born as a result of a space spin-off into the textile industry. A French company blended UHMWPE high-tech fibres piggybacked in ESA’s Foton-M3 microgravity mission with old-fashioned denim to create protective gear for bikers. UHMWPE has some unique characteristics. It has a very lightweight, but a lot of strength as demonstrated by the YES2 tether experiment. ESA revealed that a 30 km-long, only half a millimetre thick, line of UHMWPE fibres dangled a small reentry capsule in orbit, demonstrating that ‘space mail’ can be sent using a relatively simple and cheap mechanism [16]. These special fibres have been covered in cotton and are included as integral part of the Armalith fabric, the prime jeans material for motorcycles riders (Fig. 5).
EU 20B EUR/year US and Canada: 10B EUR/ year EU: 50k/year US and Canada: 110,00/year
1.2B EUR/year EU 200M EUR/year US and Canada: 100M EUR/ year EU: 500/year US and Canada: 1100/year 20–49
5.2.2. Market Worldwide each year 1.3 million people are killed in road accidents, and several millions are injured or are incapacitated for the rest of their lives. While high income countries are looking back on a record decade in reducing road fatalities, 90% of global road deaths occur in low and middle income countries [17]. This can be also illustrated in the case of motorbike accidents, as from the total of 1.3 million casualties in high-revenue countries 5%–18% can be attributed to motorbike accidents (17.8% in Europe), whereas for low revenue countries these numbers can reach 27%–70% (e.g. India, Malaysia) and even 90% in Thailand. In 2006, compared to a passenger car, a motorcycle was thirteen times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident per kilometre travelled [18]. The number of motorbikes is increasing year after year. According to a report published by DEKRA [20], in 2008 there were more than 33 million powered two wheelers registered in Europe. Moreover, the Association des Constructeurs Europe´ens de Motocycles (ACEM) is expecting this figure to rise to between 35 and 37 million by 2020. For example, in France alone, there were approximately 2.5 million motorbikes in 2010 [19]. In the US in 2003, the market had 6.5 million motorbikes registered. Studies show that one of the paramount elements that could contribute to a reduction of accidents is appropriate protection clothing [20]; therefore, the ESquad Jeans could prove valuable. Moreover, as the United Nations have declared 2011– 2020 the Decade of Action for Road Safety, with the aim of stabilizing and then reducing global road deaths by 2020 [17], ESquad could be considered as a contributor to global transport policy. Looking at the commercialization price of the ESquad Jeans at 399 USD the potential markets targeted are the high-revenue ones in Europe, USA, Australia, Canada and Japan. Nevertheless, unless the prices decrease, the lowrevenue countries that could benefit most could not afford them as the price of the jeans is higher than the average monthly salary. 5.2.3. Benefits The cost of 1 Jeans is advertised for 399 USD. The company made in 2008, 900k EUR benefits. This can be estimated to 3000 pairs of trousers sold per year. If the company could be able to reach at least 1% of the bikers population in the aforementioned markets the revenues
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could reach several millions. An important element to take into account though is that the markets that could benefit most are those in which revenues are still extremely low, and whose purchasing power would not allow this type of trousers. Furthermore, more scientific proof would be necessary in order to claim the protection capabilities of the ESquad Jeans, and to establish the number of possible injuries, death or impairments they could prevent. As originally the space technology used for creating the product came as a result of a YES-2 student experiment, and assuming the average cost of payload being 30k USD/kg with a student payload of 40 kg, it can be deducted that the cost of developing the initial hardware was in the order of 1.2M USD. No evidence of venture capital investment could be found during the investigation. EADS was identified to give free access to materials, which can be conceived as an important way of reducing some of the costs involved in the purchasing and maintenance of equipment and materials. Taking into account the different amounts of cost vs. benefits, it can be noticed that a breakeven point could happen as early as 2 years. Table 2 summarizes the initial cost and investment vs. the benefits generated. A number of elements such as the number of jobs created, the number of lives saved or the initial private investments, remain unknown at the time this study was conducted. Therefore, the table only illustrates the methodology proposed. 6. Discussion ESA’s technology transfer programme is not only very valuable for the space industry, but also for the other industries such as telecom, IT, health, etc. These, via the spin-offs, can largely benefit from reliable space-based technologies. The research revealed that there are a number of difficulties encountered in the quantification of ESA spin-offs due to the lack of the availability of some data, the reduced transparency in the funding from the various sources, as well as the actual numbers to establish the costs of the initial space technology. Next, Table 3 tries to summarize some of the main findings of the case studies. The numbers identified in the Table 2 Financial overview of ESquad Jeans. Item
Cost/ investment
Development of space technology for satellites Technology Transfer Incentive ESA Venture capital investment Private investment Global annual sales market
1.2M USD–1M EUR 50k EUR Not known Not known
Cost of maintenance per year (rough estimate) Lives saved Jobs created
Not known
Benefits
900k EUR/ year
TBD Not known
Table 3 Comparison of referred case studies. Item
Cost of development of space technology Technology Transfer Incentive ESA Venture capital investment Private investment Global sales market Cost of maintenance per year (rough estimate) Lives saved Jobs created Breakeven point
Plasmer TM
ESquad Jeans
þþþ þ þþ þþ þþþ þ
þ þ ? þ þ 0
þþþ þþ þþ
? þ þ
þþþ very high; þþ high; þ medium; 0 none; ? not known.
case of AirinSpace show that the benefits so far and the ones potentially to come can be considerable in comparison with the costs. Some spin-offs can show a breakeven point with the initial space programme investment only after a couple of years (e.g. ESquad Jeans); nevertheless this cannot be generalized as each case is structurally very different, and some benefits cannot be easily translated into numbers, such as the number of lives saved. It is important to determine whether benefits need to be analyzed on the long run, if so for how many years, or whether reaching a breakeven point would be enough. Calculating the internal rate of return (IRR) could also be a valuable evaluation method. Furthermore, a higher number of case studies should also be considered in order to have increased confidence in the findings. Finally, it is not possible to reach an exact financially quantifiable result unless all the costs are publicly known and a detailed calculation is made taking into account all the different factors and steps involved in the development and commercialization phases. However, a high level of transparency of costs, from both agency and industry, is limited by legal confidentiality regulations and it needs considerable transformation before it will be achieved. The two applications selected have been used to illustrate the methodology proposed. 7. Conclusion and recommendations In order to be able to demonstrate some financial benefits provided by space programmes and their byproducts, it would be ideal to apply the model used in this report and track all the different costs, investments and profit generated to have a realistic image. The study revealed also a number of methodological difficulties that need to be taken into consideration and, ideally, solved by ESA for producing realistic quantitative assessments for space technology spin-offs. Innovation often comes from applying know-how from one industry to another. In Europe it seems that there is no systematic process in place for creating a spin-off from a space programme. The situation today gives the impression to be more based on a ‘‘lucky coincidence’’ or as an answer to an industry expressed need.
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A strategy for identifying a number of potential application areas for other industries should be started early on. Working groups from industries could come together from the beginning of a space programme to identify potential application uses in their specific domains. This would allow that by the time a space programme would be in place, several spin-offs could also have been identified. Furthermore, ESA experiments on board of the ISS could also potentially be considered as having spin-off opportunities and a spin-off strategy should be defined for them. Looking ahead further research should be oriented towards identifying the legal framework that accompanies spin-offs in general, in order to establish a clear IPR ownership. For future technology transfer it is important to establish whether spin-offs from European programmes should be limited to European companies or if enterprises from other countries could also be allowed to transfer European space technology if paying a licence fee to ESA. References [1] ESA, The Space Neededyto Get Business Ideas Off the Ground, ESA Today—The ESA House Journal, ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme Special Edition, April 2007. [2] L. Bach, Economic Returns of Space Activities. Presentation. ISU Lecture in Strasbourg, Jan 2011. [3] ESA, Technology Transfer from Space. Netherlands Space Office, NVR. Spin-off, April 2010 Edition. [4] EUROCONSULT, Economic Impact Study of the Technology Transfer Programme, ESA Document, 2011. [5] ESA, ESA’s Business Incubation Centres Alumni Report 2009. Ref: TEC-ST/BN/327, Version 2, Issue 0, 3rd September 2010. [6] D. Maguire, V. Kouyoumjian, R. Smith, The Business Benefits of GIS. An ROI Approach, ESRI Press, California, 2008. [7] H. Hertzfeld, Measuring the economic returns from successful NASA life sciences technology transfers, J. Technol. Transfer 27 (2002) 311–320. Kluwer Academic Publishers. The Netherlands. [8] P. Cohendet, Evaluating the Industrial Indirect Effects of Technology Programmes: The Case of the European Space Agency (ESA) Programmes. In Keys to Space—An Interdisciplinary Approach to Space Studies, ISU Publication, 1999. [9] AIRINSPACE, Corporate website, 2011. Available from: /http:// www.airinspace.com/international/index_international.phpS (accessed 28.01.11). [10] ESA, Technology Transfer Programme. Down to Earth. How Space Technology Improves Our Lives, 2009. [11] CDC, Estimating Health Care-Associated Infections and Deaths in US Hospitals, 2002. Available from: /http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/ dhqp/pdf/hicpac/infections_deaths.pdfS (accessed 31.01.11). [12] R.D. Scott, The DirecT MeDical cosTs of Healthcare-Associated Infections in U.S. Hospitals and the Benefits of Prevention. CDC, 2009. Available from: /http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/ Scott_CostPaper.pdfS (accessed 31.01.11). [13] CUPE—Canadian Union of Public Employees, Healthcare Associated Infections: A Backgrounder, 2009. Available from: /http://cupe.ca/ updir/healthcare-associated-infections-cupe-backgrounder.pdfS (accessed 01.02.11). [14] K. Mahaffey, Do Nosocomial Infections Discriminate? 2004. Available from: /http://www.umbc.edu/economics/grad_699_ab stracts/k_mahaffey_proposal.pdfS (accessed 31.01.11). [15] AIRINSPACE, Looking for Partners. Safe Air. Better Health, 2011. Available from: /http://www.unamec.be/data/doc/distrubutor%20 Airinspace.pdfS (accessed 04.02.11). [16] ESA, Space Material Prevents Road Rash, 2010. Available from: /http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/TTP2/SEMHV5TRJHG_0.htmlS (accessed 15.02.11). [17] INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT FORUM, Press Release: A Record Decade for Road Safety, Paris, 15th September 2010. Available from: /http://www.internationaltransportforum.org/Press/PDFs/ 2010-09-15IRTAD.pdfS (accessed 10.02.11).
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[18] WHO, Pourquoi les casques sont-ils ne´cessaires? 2006. Available from: /http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2006/ 9789242562996_chap1-2_fre.pdfS (accessed 15.02.11). [19] LE REPAIRE DES MOTARDS, Statistiques & Accidents Motos, 2011. Available from: /http://www.lerepairedesmotards.com/dossiers/ accident.phpS (accessed 15.02.11). [20] DEKRA, Motorcycle Road Safety Report 2010, 2011. Available from: /http://www.dekra.de/de/c/document_library/get_file?uuid= 18080ef4-7c8f-4740-b59d-5e08ccf7903e&groupId=10100S (accessed 15.02.11). [21] ESA, IP for Commercialization, 2011. Available from: /http://www. esa.int/SPECIALS/Technology/SEM1RVLTRJG_0.htmlS (accessed 30.04.12).
Bibliography [1] M. Bijlefeld, R. Burke, It Came from Outer Space. Everyday Products and Ideas From the Space Program, Greenwood Press, USA, 2003. [2] ESA, Best of t.e.s.t. Transferable European Space Technologies, ESA Publications Division, 1995. [3] P. Olla, Space Technologies for the Benefit of Human Society and Earth, Springer Science and Business Media, USA, 2009. [4] C. Sheffield, M. Alonso, M.A. Kaplan, The World of 2044: Technological Development and the Future of Society, Professors World Peace Academy, USA, 1994. [5] C.J. Touhill, G.J. Touhill, T.A. O’Riordan, Commercialization of innovative technologies. Bringing Good Ideas to the Marketplace, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., USA and Canada, 2008. Mrs. Bianca Szalai: Bianca obtained the Masters degree in Space Management with cum laude in 2011 from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. She has previously completed a first degree in health and physical recreation, and also graduated with a Masters degree in IT. Career-wise, she currently occupies a Telemedicine Project Manager position, after working for several years in the IT industry. Some space-related areas that are of particular interest to her include the use of space technology to answer varying health needs and the role of space policy and technology transfer in shaping everyday life. Dr. Emmanouil Detsis: Emmanouil obtained his bachelor degree in physics from the University of Crete. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh in 2006, in the field of astrophysics. He has also received a Masters degree in Space Science from the International Space University in 2010. He is currently employed by the International Space University as a teaching associate and research analyst.
Prof. Walter Peeters: Initial management positions in construction and petrochemical industry. Joined ESA in 1983 in a number of project control and management functions, among others in the HERMES project. Since 1990, involved in astronaut activities as Head of the Coordination Office of the European Astronaut Center in Cologne. Joined ISU in 2000. First director of International Institute of Space Commerce (IISC) since 2008. Author of articles on incentive contracting, project management and space commercialization. Author of the book Space Marketing. Education: Bachelor’s degrees in engineering and economics (Louvain), MBA (Louvain, Cornell University), Ph.D. degree (TU Delft).