This Open Call for Proposals is open to applications from companies or organisations residing in Member States subscribing to BASS, and in Cooperating or Associate Members States having declared their participation.

The list of member states participating will be confirmed soon: if applying from the UK, please check that it is on the list of eligible states before applying.

This Call for Proposals has been designed in collaboration with ESA BASS partners, who have helped to identify the following use cases. Please note, that these are only examples and the call is not limited to the use cases listed below:

• Enhancing information exchange
  • Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure communication applications could allow vehicles to share information about their speed, position and direction, as well as providing alerts about potential dangers, such as approaching vehicles or hazardous road conditions. This near real-time data exchange can enhance overall road safety of passengers, drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
• Improving Road design, signage and maintenance to reduce accidents
  • Well-designed roads with clear signage and better road markings can help drivers navigate safely and support automated vehicles by ensuring they have the necessary references. Regular and proactive road maintenance such as repairing potholes, clearing debris, restoring worn markings, and addressing drainage issues prevents accidents caused by deteriorating road conditions. It can be achieved through:
    • Rapid detection, prioritisation and repair of road defects, such as potholes, surface cracks, faded markings, or obstructed signage.
    • Designing and planning safer infrastructure to address the needs of pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and paying attention to the specific needs of people with disabilities, children and the elderly.
    • Upgrading existing infrastructure for improved prevention, detection and communication of accidents.
• Improving road safety by optimising traffic flow
  • Validation of environmental claims, cross-validation of data and validation of inconsistencies for insurance companies, auditing firms, certifying bodies and corporations. Monitoring traffic flow and congestion helps to identify bottlenecks and areas with high accident rates and allows for dynamic adjustments to traffic signals and other control measures. This can improve the overall efficiency and safety of the road network by reducing traffic jams and alleviating congestion during peak hours.
• Implementing measures to protect non-motorised road users
  • Implementing measures to protect non-motorised road users and to ensure that pedestrians, micromobility users and cyclists have safe spaces to travel, reducing the risk of accidents. Such measures could involve systems monitoring vulnerable road users’ safety and providing alerts about potential dangers, such as approaching vehicles or hazardous road conditions.
• Improving International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) survey completion
  • The star-rating protocol, set out by the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), is a way to assess how safe roads are. These surveys rely on information about road context, observed traffic flow, and infrastructure attributes to produce risk-based safety ratings. Tools to significantly improve the completion of surveys, through increasing cost-effectiveness, efficiency, frequency and precision are needed.

SatEO imagery can be used to update maps, monitor environmental hazards, and assess the conditions of roads. SatEO is valuable for planning and maintaining road networks, therefore preventing accidents caused by poor road conditions. SatEO data, such as weather nowcasting, can help vehicle systems to adjust the vehicle’s speed and trajectory to current road conditions. Finally, SatEO can be used in advanced routing applications to optimise the route based on hazards or weather conditions.

SatNav provides accurate positioning, navigation, and timing, which are essential for guiding and navigating vehicles, especially those with autonomous capabilities.
Aggregated GNSS data from connected vehicles, fleets, and mobile devices can be used to monitor traffic flow and to identify congestion patterns. This can improve the overall safety of the road network by reducing traffic jams and congestion during peak hours.

SatCom can ensure seamless communication between various systems, enabling near real-time data exchange and coordination.
Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication can leverage Satcom to ensure seamless connectivity in remote areas, therefore playing a significant role in detecting and communicating information about potential hazards.

This call offers funding for Proof-of-concept and Pilot Projects.

Proof-of-concept projects have a maximum cost of €600,000. These studies aim to reduce risks and validate the market opportunity by designing the service concept, engaging users, and developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP).  For proof-of-concept, ESA will co-fund up to 80% of the cost for SMEs (up to 75% for larger businesses) and up to 100% for research organisations (must not exceed 30% of total cost).

For pilot projects, the maximum cost will be determined on a case-by-case basis. These should focus on integrating, developing and testing the service or application with customers in the primary target market. The pilot demonstrates the solution in a real operational setting, confirming its value-propositions. ESA will fund up to 80% of the cost for SMEs (up to 50% for larger businesses) and up to 100% for research organisations (must not exceed 30% of total cost).

In both cases, the remainder of the cost must be industry co-funded.

Join the free webinar on 15 July 2026 at 11:00 CET (10am UK time) to find out more about this Call for Proposals – this is also your unique opportunity to ask the BASS team questions on this topic.

If you would like to find a project collaborator, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Space team.