Sustainability × Space Call for Ideas is now open!

In collaboration with ESA, the Phi-Lab at ESA’s European Space Deep-Tech Innovation Centre is calling for ideas (not research proposals) for technological challenges or “conundrums” at the intersection of space and sustainability, with a particular emphasis on technology convergence by combining the deep-tech areas Quantum, Materials, and Data.

Technology convergence is the process by which multiple technology domains combine and co-evolve, requiring coordination (integration, orchestration) to produce scalable, system-level solutions and competitive advantage. 

Here, convergence is specifically understood as the integration of technologies with the potential to unlock new commercially viable systems or services.

This Call for Conundrums aims to identify neglected, high-impact, technological bottlenecks that could enable such a step-change in sustainable space systems and resource-efficient mission architectures. We are interested in challenges where at least two of Phi-Lab Switzerland’s three focus areas – Quantum, Materials, and Data – meaningfully intersect.

A strong submission clearly indicates a plausible context of use, the type of commercial service or system that would be unlocked if the constraint is resolved, and why current technology or market structures fail to address it.

We seek upstream and enabling technologies that could make space missions, space infrastructure, and space-related industrial value chains more sustainable, resilient, resource-efficient, circular, repairable, or less dependent on critical resources.

We especially welcome problems that are “crazy but possible”: too complex, too interdisciplinary, or too neglected for conventional funding streams, but potentially transformative if addressed by the right collaborative teams.

By submitting your idea, you can help shape the scope of an upcoming Phi-Lab Switzerland research programme with several million CHF of total available funding, accessible to both academia and industry. Promising inputs may inform future open calls, workshops, and programme priorities.

Organisations from the public and private sectors are invited to participate.

What topics are we interested in?

Sustainability in space is a broad and rapidly growing field. For this reason, the Phi-Lab Switzerland is not seeking generic sustainability concepts, downstream services, or incremental improvements. Instead, we are looking for specific, upstream, technological conundrums that could unlock step-changes in how future space systems are designed, built, operated, maintained, repaired, reused, or decommissioned.

Future missions will need to do more with less: less mass, less power, fewer critical materials, fewer replacement parts, lower failure rates, reduced waste, and more autonomous operation. At the same time, space systems must become more resilient, more adaptable, and more commercially viable across longer mission lifetimes and harsher environments.

Addressing these challenges will require deep integration between disciplines. New materials may need embedded sensing and data-driven qualification. Data systems may need to optimise resource use, predict degradation, or support autonomous repair. Quantum technologies may enable ultra-sensitive monitoring, more efficient navigation, secure communication, or new diagnostic capabilities. Sustainable space technologies may therefore emerge not from one discipline alone, but from the intersection of several.

This Call for Conundrums therefore asks:

What are the neglected, upstream, technological bottlenecks at the intersection of Quantum, Materials, and Data that hold the potential for commercial viability and could make future space systems more sustainable, resource-efficient, resilient, circular, or long-lived?

The future lies in bold combination!