With the second phase of the programme having come to an end in December 2021, it’s worth a moment to reflect on the success the PARSEC Accelerator programme was able to achieve throughout its first and second phases, along with PARSEC’s lasting impact beyond these phases.
An innovation ecosystem fuelled by Earth Observation
PARSEC was designed to help small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups turn their ideas into commercial products and services onto the market by fuelling them with Earth Observation (EO) technologies, through an acceleration programme. More specifically, PARSEC focused on supporting these companies apply EO technology to address challenges in the emerging food, energy and environment sectors. These sectors are of high priority for society and were selected based on their increasing need to innovate in order to efficiently address the rise in food and energy consumption and the pressure on the environmental sustainability.
Throughout the two stages, a total of 113 SMEs received support to create and improve new EO-fuelled services for the chosen sectors. This holistic support was organised around four pillars: access to knowledge, markets, technology and capital. Some of the resources compiling these four pillars are available to the public, such as PARSEC Business Catalysts or PARSEC Insights.
PARSEC’s lasting impact
Setting out to inspire innovation using EO technology, PARSEC has successfully enabled the creation of 15 impressive solutions that are now currently available on the market and/or ready to be scaled up to continue driving success. The sustained upward momentum of these solutions, in addition to the pioneering nature of the other solutions/services developed under of the umbrella of PARSEC, exemplify that EO-based innovation can revolutionize how food, energy and environment sectors operate to spur positive and lasting change that create value for society and the world.
In addition, PARSEC demonstrates the direct impact EO can have on European entrepreneurship, as 31 out of the 100 companies selected for the first stage were newly created. Consortia applying for the Open Call 2 put forward 60 new EO-based solutions, and whilst 15 of these were selected for the second stage, several of the others continued to be developed independently outside the PARSEC Accelerator. Similarly, the PARSEC Business Catalysts will remain active and available to continue to support new and established EO-based services.
The main success of the project – aside from the launch of 15 solutions and the successful support to 113 SMEs – was the creation and maintenance of the PARSEC ecosystem of SMEs, clusters, start-ups and other stakeholders. Furthermore, the PARSEC beneficiaries established strong cross-sectoral and cross-border partnerships, working together within PARSEC and other initiatives, fostering EO-based entrepreneurship. Overall, the successful and crucial work carried out over project’s lifetime have encouraged the consortium to continue supporting and participating in the PARSEC ecosystem and look into opportunities to build off the success of the project in the future.
Celebrating success
The project has paid special attention to the successful, strategic and sustainable dissemination of its final results: the development and commercialisation of 15 new EO-fuelled solutions. To this end, multiple actions have been carried out to promote and celebrate these solutions, notably, the organisation of a culmination event to present the project’s achievements and a Digital Showcase virtually presenting all 15 solutions and their developers.
To mark the end of PARSEC’s second phase and to celebrate the success of the PARSEC community, a cullimination event – Launchpad to Success - was organised as a side event at Startup Valencia’s Digital Summit. The event consisted of PARSEC-dedicated events such as a pitching championship and face-to-face networking opportunities. In line with Digital Summit’s theme, Inspiring the good future, PARSEC also took to the Summit’s main stage to give a presentation on the generative power of EO technology to drive positive global impact, using PARSEC’s solution success stories as tangible examples. Learn more about the event here.
Adapting to a more virtual environment, the PARSEC Digital Showcase was created with the members of #15PARSEC in mind. For each solution, a dedicated showcase page was crafted detailing the solution’s essential information. This promotional tool can be used by #15PARSEC to direct interested parties to an easy-to-use resource where they can quickly learn more about the solution, who’s created it and what they’ve already accomplished in their field. Explore the Digital Showcase for yourself here.
What’s next for PARSEC?
In understanding the magnitude of PARSEC’s lasting impact, the project team’s nine partners are continuing to examine options for the future of the accelerator beyond the end of the project. Specifically, the team is interested in continuing support for the development of EO-based products and services, and enabling access to finance, knowledge, markets and expertise.
Are you interested in future partnership? Contact the PARSEC team today.
New to PARSEC? Check out this short summary:
The first PARSEC Open Call (Autumn-Winter 2019/2020) attracted 348 applications from 36 European countries. The 100 winners selected through the innovative peer-to-peer evaluation process became the so-called #100PARSEC. The 100 winners received €10.000 in equity-free funding and accessed the business support services of the first stage of the accelerator.
With a major overarching objective being to promote the international competitiveness of European EO companies through cross-cluster collaboration, to apply for the Open Call 2 (Spring 2020), #100PARSEC teamed up, creating cross-border and/or cross-sectoral consortia of 2-4 SMEs. In total, the second call attracted 60 such consortia representing 142 SMEs (87 from within the accelerator and 55 “newcomers”) based in 32 countries. The winning 15 consortia or #15PARSEC were selected during the PARSEC Demo Days by a jury of experts consisting of industrial CEOs, investors and business leaders. These winning teams received access to funds (€100.000 per consortia) and to the second stage support services.
Visit the PARSEC website or check out a previous EO Mag article to learn more about the programme.