Meet the 2026 CASSINI Challenges winners

The wait is over! CASSINI Challenges 2026 have officially announced its winners. Twelve standout companies from eight European countries will each receive EUR 100 000 in recognition of their innovative use of EU Space Programme assets, from Copernicus EO and Galileo navigation to secure SATCOM and SST.

Winners will be officially celebrated at the CASSINI Entrepreneurship Days 2026, taking place on 30 September to 1 October in Prague, where they will receive their awards and present their solutions to the wider European space innovation community.

Applicants were invited to show how their space-based solutions tackle real-world commercial, social or environmental problems. This year's winning solutions show the broad range of applications for EU Space technologies. They address challenges in areas such as sustainability, infrastructure, security, mobility and industrial operations and show how data can be used for flood prediction, wildfire detection, space traffic management or governmental SATCOM.

The 2026 edition marks an important evolution for the competition with a particular focus on commercial readiness. The result is a portfolio of winners that are not only innovative, but also well-positioned to deliver real-world adoption and growth.

The high number and quality of applications received this year made the selection process particularly challenging. They were evaluated on three core pillars: technology excellence, innovation level and commercial potential.

The winners: from forests to satellite technology

The winning projects highlight the incredible versatility of EU Space data.

Environmental resilience features strongly among the winners, with several solutions pairing EU Space data with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to address climate risks. Finland's CollectiveCrunch combines radar and optical Copernicus imagery with AI to map storm damage in forests. Its winter detection model is the first to map damage under snow cover. Germany's FloodWaive delivers building-level flood prediction using Copernicus data and physics-informed AI. It produces local 2D flood maps in seconds, helping protect lives, assets and critical services. Hula Technologies, also from Germany, fuses Earth observation (EO) and AI and ground sensors to deliver biodiversity monitoring at scale. Spain's MARGINS uses Copernicus climate datasets to identify optimal growing regions for fruit crops. And the UK's Pyri pairs low-cost, heat-activated ground sensors with Copernicus data for ultra-early wildfire detection.

Beyond environmental applications, several winners are operating closer to space itself. Italy's Ecosmic has built SAFE, a space traffic management platform that flags collision risks. OhmSpace, also from Italy, has developed a nanosatellite propulsion system using water as a propellant. And Luxembourg's CYSEC has produced ARCA SATCOM, the first European solution enabling governments to use commercial satellite communications at GOVSATCOM-grade security.

Four further winners address the hardware and services that make satellite missions possible. France's SpaceLocker offers on-orbit payload hosting. ION-X, also from France, has developed a modular cluster propulsion for precise manoeuvring in low Earth and very low Earth orbit. Finland's Space Air Technologies has built a compact antenna capable of replacing up to five conventional antenna systems. And Italy's NaviGate provides onboard autonomous orbit determination, reducing dependence on ground-based tracking.

Learn more about the winners and their solutions

Media note: This feature can be republished without charge provided the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is acknowledged as the source at the top or the bottom of the story. You must request permission before you use any of the photographs on the site. If you republish, we would be grateful if you could link back to the EUSPA website.