VALDANI VICARI & ASSOCIATI SRL

Their core work

Valdani Vicari & Associati (VVA) is a Milan-based economic and strategic consultancy that brings market analysis, stakeholder engagement, and dissemination expertise to technology-driven projects. In H2020, they operated at the business-development edge of the European space sector — helping GNSS and satellite-based services cross the gap between technical capability and real-world adoption. Their role in space projects is not engineering: they assess markets, build awareness among public authorities and industry, and support the replication of space-derived services in new geographies. This positions them as a rare bridge between space technology providers and the commercial or policy ecosystems that need to absorb those technologies.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both H2020 projects fall in exactly the same window — 2015 to 2016 — making it impossible to distinguish an early phase from a later one. No keyword data is available to trace shifts in focus. Based on the project types alone, VVA entered H2020 space projects with a consistent profile: economic/market consultancy supporting GNSS adoption and space service commercialisation, without any detectable pivot or expansion within this dataset.

With only two projects in a single year-band and no H2020 activity recorded after 2016, there is no reliable signal — a potential collaborator should verify whether VVA remains active in space or EU-funded work through other programmes (Horizon Europe, ESA BIC, etc.).

How they like to work

VVA has both led a project (UKRAINE, as coordinator) and joined as a participant (IODISPlay), suggesting they are comfortable in either role depending on project scope. Their consortia are modest in size — 12 unique partners across both projects — consistent with the lean, targeted teams typical of CSA and small IA grants. There is no evidence of a recurring partner network, which suggests they are brought in for specific consulting tasks rather than as a long-standing consortium anchor.

VVA has collaborated with 12 unique partners across 6 countries, indicating solid European reach for a two-project portfolio. The geographic spread reflects the international nature of space and GNSS consortia rather than any deep bilateral relationship.

What sets them apart

VVA occupies an unusual niche in space project consortia: they are economists and strategists, not engineers or researchers. Where most space SMEs bring sensors, algorithms, or systems integration, VVA brings market intelligence, policy navigation, and adoption strategy — capabilities that are consistently under-represented in technical consortia. For a project that needs to demonstrate commercial viability or reach non-EU markets (as in the Ukraine GNSS case), that profile is genuinely hard to replace with an engineering partner.

Highlights from their portfolio

• UKRAINE
  VVA served as project coordinator — their most senior H2020 role — on this CSA focused on replicating EGNSS-based innovations in Ukraine, demonstrating their ability to lead internationally scoped awareness and market-entry initiatives.
• IODISPlay
  Participation in an Innovation Action on in-orbit demonstration service portfolios shows VVA can contribute to technically complex space projects, likely covering the business case and dissemination workpackages.