ARTES 4.0 Call For Ideas

Call for ideas quick links

Submission form
Guidelines for idea proposals
Cut-off date
Future preparation
Advanced Technology and SPL
LINKS

This is an invitation to submit ideas for long-term, preliminary studies and technology development-related activities.

To submit ideas, you are requested to fill in a questionnaire using the online form

Online Submission Form

The Call For Ideas (CFI) is issued to gather valuable input from the satellite communication industry and experts to help ESA establish relevant work plans for the Advanced Research In Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) programme to meet future satellite communication needs.

The CFI covers Generic and Strategic areas of satellite communication. The Call for Ideas is continuously open.

Guidelines for idea proposals

Submitted ideas will be assessed for their:

Innovation, credibility and feasibility

Commercial, strategic and technological relevance,

Performance impacts at sub-system or system level

Direct or indirect business opportunity for the ARTES Member States’ industry

Resulting activities are implemented either under ARTES Future Preparation or under ARTES Advanced Technology. For both programme elements activities receive up to 100% funding and contractors are selected through competitive open invitation to tenders (ITT).

The ARTES Technology Call for Ideas covers the ARTES Advanced Technology and Strategic Programme Lines:

ARTES Advanced Technology supports the early steps of product development: the design phase and the verification testing phase. Formal qualification and industrialisation are not supported under this element but under ARTES Competitiveness and Growth (Industry initiated). By ensuring the long-term readiness of technologies, industry will be able to prepare for future commercial or institutional opportunities.

The Generic Programme Line targets the following areas:

ARTES focuses on research and development of new systems, technologies and techniques

The idea submission cut-off date for the 2027 ARTES Technology Work Plans is

For re-submitted ideas

FRIDAY 16 JANUARY 2026 6PM CET

For all Ideas

FRIDAY 30 JANUARY 2026 6PM CET

ARTES Future Preparation: The strategy component of the ARTES Programme

ARTES Future Preparation features a rolling work plan that is continuously updated throughout the year. There is therefore no specific cut-off date for submitting ideas.

Under Future Preparation we are specifically interested in your ideas related to:

Generating better insight into market evolution across the full satcom value chain

Defining and studying new satcom system concepts and architectures

New downstream service and application possibilities

Identifying future technology development needs

Highlighting technology spin-in opportunities from other high-tech industrial sectors

Improving the integration of satellite networks with terrestrial ones

Investigating more efficient usage and greater access to frequency spectrum

Supporting standardisation activities to promote growth

Removing barriers to entry and growth for the satcom sector

The ARTES Technology Call for Ideas covers the ARTES Advanced Technology and Strategic Programme Lines:

The Generic Programme Line targets the following areas:

Telecom systems (e.g. end-to-end satcom systems, network protocols, propagation, resource management, air interfaces),

Telecom satellite platforms (e.g. attitude & orbit control, mechanical, thermal, power and propulsion techniques, devices, equipment and systems)

Telecom satellite payloads (e.g. antenna, repeater, and signal processing techniques, devices, equipment and systems)

Ground segment of telecommunication systems (e.g. satellite user terminals, gateway, network, operations and mission control techniques, devices, equipment and systems)

The Strategic Programme Line Optical and Quantum Communication – ScyLight – targets

Optical and quantum communication technologies to build the next generation of Telecom satellite systems.

Supporting both the standardization, as well maturation and development in harmony with developing commercial user needs of key stakeholders.

The establishment of a high throughput optical network (HydRON) that seamlessly extends existing terrestrial fibre networks into space (from LEO to GEO) by adding an optically inter-connected satellite layer cap.

The Strategic Programme Line Space for 5G and 6G targets

Satellites and space technologies to build and operate such future 5G and 6G networks, providing resilient, seamless, and ubiquitous connectivity to both urban and remote areas; this supports many vertical markets including telehealth, autonomous travel, emergency services, and smart farming. We support technology development, standardization, development of testbeds and trials thus bridging the economic and digital gap.

The Strategic Programme Line Space Systems for Safety and Security (4S) targets

Next generation secure telecom satellite systems and technologies, including support to standardization, for more safety, security and resilience in transport (air, maritime, land), essential services and critical infrastructures (related to e.g. utilities), and governmental and institutional services (e.g. disaster and emergency systems, secured resource management and operations, cyber-secured cloudification and virtualisation, higher layer encryption protocols, (quantum) key distribution, command, control and telemetry communication for safety critical applications)

Call for ideas quick links

This is an invitation to submit ideas for long-term, preliminary studies and technology development-related activities.

The Call For Ideas (CFI) is issued to gather valuable input from the satellite communication industry and experts to help ESA establish relevant work plans for the Advanced Research In Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) programme to meet future satellite communication needs.

Submitted ideas will be assessed for their:

The ARTES Technology Call for Ideas covers the ARTES Advanced Technology and Strategic Programme Lines:

The Generic Programme Line targets the following areas:

ARTES focuses on research and development of new systems, technologies and techniques

FRIDAY 16 JANUARY 2026 6PM CET

FRIDAY 30 JANUARY 2026 6PM CET

ARTES Future Preparation: The strategy component of the ARTES Programme

Under Future Preparation we are specifically interested in your ideas related to:

The ARTES Technology Call for Ideas covers the ARTES Advanced Technology and Strategic Programme Lines:

The Generic Programme Line targets the following areas:

The Strategic Programme Line Optical and Quantum Communication – ScyLight – targets

The Strategic Programme Line Space for 5G and 6G targets

The Strategic Programme Line Space Systems for Safety and Security (4S) targets

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