AZO Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen

About ESA BIC / AZO

AZO Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen operates the ESA Business Incubation Centres (ESA BIC) Bavaria, Northern Germany and North Rhine-Westphalia – European incubation centres of the European Space Agency ESA. Startups and founders receive a funding package of EUR 60,000 without equity dilution as well as technical support from experts, mentoring, office space and access to an international network of industry, politics, agencies and research. Funded are companies with a space connection in application fields such as robotics, MedTech, mobility, automotive, aerospace, artificial intelligence, satellite navigation and Earth observation. AZO also organises the innovation competitions Galileo Masters, Copernicus Masters and INNOspace Masters and runs a business angel network. The headquarters with ESA BIC Bavaria is located at the DLR site Oberpfaffenhofen (Weßling); further sites are in Bavaria, Northern Germany (Bremen) and North Rhine-Westphalia (Aachen).

Site

Weßling

Processes

Incubation programme (funding, mentoring, R&D, market entry), EUR 60,000 funding without equity, Technical support by experts, Business & Marketing Support, Office space and shared facilities, Mentoring programme, International network (industry, politics, agencies, research), ESA BIC Booster

Materials

Incubation programme, ESA BIC Booster, Innovation Masters Series, Business Angel Network

Certificates

DLR as contracting client, Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs (StMWi), ESA network

Founded

2004 (ESA

Industries

Robotics, MedTech, Mobility, Automotive, Aerospace, Artificial Intelligence

1. 01

   Application and selection of startups

2. 02

   Incubation programme (funding, mentoring, R&D)

3. 03

   Technical and business support

4. 04

   Network and market entry

5. 05

   Alumni support and investor matchmaking

Programmes and Services

Locations

Weßling (Oberpfaffenhofen)

DE

Headquarters, ESA BIC Bavaria (Claude-Dornier-Str. 1, Building 401)

Nuremberg

DE

ESA BIC Bavaria site

Ottobrunn

DE

ESA BIC Bavaria site

Neubiberg

DE

ESA BIC Bavaria site

Würzburg

DE

ESA BIC Bavaria site

Bremen

DE

ESA BIC Northern Germany HQ (Fahrenheitstraße 1, BITZ)

Lübeck

DE

ESA BIC Northern Germany site

Wismar

DE

ESA BIC Northern Germany site

Aachen

DE

ESA BIC NRW (Dennewartstr. 25-27)

Herten

DE

ESA BIC NRW site (Doncaster Platz 5-7)

Inside the production

Network and Partners

ESA BIC Bavaria, Northern Germany and NRW are accompanied by renowned partners such as DLR, Fraunhofer, AWI and universities and are supported by ESA and the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs.

History

1. 1910

   First experimental flights at the site of today's Bremen airport grounds (historical context of ESA BIC Northern Germany)

2. 2004

   Start of the first space business incubator in Oberpfaffenhofen on behalf of DLR with support from the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs

3. 2021

   Foundation of portfolio startup The Exploration Company

4. 2022

   ESA Investor Forum with pitch session including KTW Technology