On the 8 January 2025, the European Space Agency (ESA) opened the second PECS call for tenders for Malta, a call which is open to the local private and public sectors, and to academic institutions, for them to be able to conduct research and development activities related to Space. The Plan for a European Cooperating State (PECS) agreement is a five-year plan, put together by ESA and Xjenza Malta to cater for the needs of Malta to develop a Space sector based on the country’s capacity.

These tenders allow local stakeholders to submit project proposals to conduct research in the various sectors of Space, namely Space Upstream, Space Downstream and Space Education. In each call, the ESA establishes several criteria that are adapted to ensure the necessary growth and development of a local Space ecosystem.

One of the main advantages of PECS is that it acts as an incubator for domestic stakeholders to compete for ESA tenders on a national level. This guarantees that local contenders can bid for tenders without having to compete with companies and institutions from other European countries, who have more experience and resources. Local stakeholders are able to form collaborations with other domestic partners, and with foreign counterparts who are able to contribute towards the project as subcontractors.

In this second PECS call, researchers from the private and public sectors, and from academia, are encouraged to submit proposals by applying through the ESA Star registration platform. More information about the call criteria can be found on the ESA Star platform and on the Xjenza Malta website.

This call will remain open until 13.00 of the 19 February 2025. For more information about the call, please contact the Space Unit at Xjenza Malta on space.xjenzamalta@gov.mt