When demand for its technology started growing, Soilspect reached an important stage in its development. To prepare for external manufacturing and support future growth, the company needed to optimise its production process and make its technology ready for larger-scale production. Through the NL Space Campus Voucher Arrangement, Soilspect partnered with nearby engineering specialist Lencon to access expert guidance during the design for manufacturing phase, helping the company prepare for its next stage of growth.
Applying space technology to everyday infrastructure
Founded by Daniel Spils and Hille Wichers, Soilspect develops a navigation satellite-based monitoring system that measures ground movement during construction projects. By tracking how the ground settles over time, the system helps engineers determine when the soil has become stable enough for roads and other infrastructure to be safely built.
“Over the past few years, we’ve developed a GNSS-based measuring system that measures ground movement at construction sites,” explains Daniel Spils. “The measuring system is mounted on iron poles. By measuring this beacon or steel rod, you can see how the ground underneath it is moving. At the start of a construction project, the ground moves quite fast, and towards the end, once the ground preparation is finished, the movement stops. After that, you can safely build a road or another structure without the risk of the construction sinking further or breaking, because you know the ground is stable.”
The technology addresses a common challenge in civil engineering. Many roads and other infrastructure projects in the Netherlands are built on soft ground, which first needs to settle before construction can begin. By monitoring how much the ground compacts over time, engineers can determine when it has become stable enough to safely start building.
To achieve the level of accuracy required for these measurements, Soilspect combines signals from multiple global navigation satellite systems with reference networks and post-processing techniques.
“We use GNSS receivers and all the constellations, including Galileo, GLONASS and GPS,” says Hille Wichers. “With only a single GNSS solution you don’t get much accuracy. When you use your phone, you probably have three, four or five metres of error, and that’s not good enough because we need sub-centimetre accuracy for our customers. We use reference networks to calculate the exact position through post-processing of the data, which gets us down to around two-millimetre accuracy, depending on the length of the measurements.”
Accelerating innovation through the NL Space Campus Voucher
Growing an innovative company often means overcoming technical challenges that require specialised knowledge or expertise. The NL Space Campus Voucher Arrangement helps startups and SMEs take the next step by providing financial support for external expertise, facilities and services that accelerate innovation and business development.
Depending on the stage of development, companies can use the vouchers to access advisory support, establish operations at NL Space Campus or further develop and validate their innovations.
Soilspect applied for an Advisory Voucher to support the company’s development. As demand for Soilspect’s technology increased, the focus shifted towards preparing the core product for larger-scale manufacturing.
“We’re transitioning from startup towards scale-up,” says Daniel Spils. “Part of that means making production as fast and accurate as possible and making sure it can be outsourced to another company without the constant need for our internal knowledge, so they can manufacture our product too. We used the voucher to streamline our production process, to make it faster and better, so we can start mass-producing these measuring stations.”
Growing within the NL Space Campus ecosystem
Although Soilspect joined ESA BIC after the company had already been founded, the programme and the wider NL Space Campus ecosystem became an important part of its growth journey.
“We actually started the company before ESA BIC,” explains Hille Wichers. “After we finished the programme, we decided to stay in the building because there were a lot of opportunities we really valued.”
Over the years, Soilspect has benefited not only from the programmes available at NL Space Campus, but also from the people around them. From collaborating with other startups to taking on engineering assignments, the ecosystem has provided opportunities that extend well beyond incubation.
“It’s just the two of us, Hille and me,” says Daniel Spils. “In that ecosystem, it feels like you have colleagues without actually having colleagues. You can ask questions to different people in the building, have lunch together. That’s also an important part of keeping it fun, and when it’s fun, it’s much easier to grow the business.”
For Hille, access to knowledge is one of the biggest strengths of the Campus.
“The Space Campus provides a lot of opportunities for us as a company, and a lot of knowledge from external parties where you can just walk in the door. We have close relations with a lot of people there, and you can just walk in and say, ‘I have this technical problem, can we talk about it for five minutes?’ and you can come to a solution really fast.”
Soilspect’s collaboration with Lencon is a good example of the collaborative environment Hille describes. Based at NL Space Campus, Lencon is a mechanical engineering specialist that supports companies with product development and design for manufacturing. Through the Voucher Arrangement, Soilspect was able to access Lencon’s expertise to optimise its production process and prepare for larger-scale manufacturing. The partnership illustrates how the NL Space Campus ecosystem connects innovative companies with specialised expertise available on Campus, enabling startups and SMEs to access the knowledge they need while creating opportunities for Campus-based companies to apply their expertise to new projects.
Daniel also points out that the Voucher Arrangement complements programmes such as ESA BIC by supporting companies beyond the incubation phase.
“The ESA BIC programme is something you can only do once and then it stops. The NL Space Campus vouchers sit alongside it, so you can use them later, when you have a new project or a new tool to develop.”
From optimisation to growth
For Soilspect, the Advisory Voucher made it possible to bring in specialist engineering expertise at the right moment, allowing the team to focus on growing the business while improving the production process.
“When you’re a startup, you have to focus on a few specific things. For us, that’s growth. We noticed we didn’t have much time to spare for the engineering work, so it was very useful to use the voucher to bring in Lencon for the engineering and optimisation, so we could focus on other higher-priority work,” says Hille.
The improvements delivered practical results.
“The voucher reduced the production time per measuring system from 30 minutes to 20 minutes,” says Daniel. “If we’d hired an external party to build these systems, or done it ourselves, we’d have spent a third more time per measuring system.”
Hille adds that the redesigned production process also made the measuring stations easier to assemble and reduced the likelihood of mistakes during production.
As demand continues to grow, these improvements are helping Soilspect keep pace with customers while preparing for larger-scale manufacturing.
“Business is going well, and we can’t keep up with demand. By increasing production speed, we can now keep up with our customers’ demand,” says Daniel.
Today, Soilspect’s monitoring systems are deployed across construction projects throughout the Netherlands, and the company is preparing for the next phase of growth.
When asked what advice they would give to other startups and SMEs considering the Voucher Arrangement, the founders keep it simple. “If you have a project that fits within it, just apply for it, and make a good plan,” Hille says.
Could your innovation be next?
From early-stage ideas to scaling innovative technologies, the NL Space Campus Voucher Arrangement supports startups and SMEs at different stages of their journey. If you’re active in the space or space-related sector and want to accelerate your project, discover which voucher best fits your ambitions.
As Soilspect’s and Lencon’s experience demonstrates, the right expertise at the right moment can help accelerate innovation and prepare your company for its next stage of growth. If you’re interested in exploring how the NL Space Campus Voucher Arrangement could support your project, visit the Voucher Arrangement page. For more information or to schedule an intake interview, contact Marc Sandelowsky or Maaike Smelter.