In-Orbit Demonstration and Validation (IOD/IOV) is a Union initiative enabling new technologies to be tested in orbit by providing aggregation, if needed, launch services and operations. This initiative enables to give flight heritage.

The IOD/IOV European initiative has several expected benefits:

• The global competitiveness of the European space sector: IOD/IOV allows technologies to be effectively tested in orbit, while reducing the time it would otherwise take to bring them to market. In doing so, the IOD/IOV initiative contributes to space entrepreneurship CASSINI
• EU non-dependence: IOD/IOV supports EU non-dependence by providing a cost-effective services based on EU solutions both for the spacecraft and for the launch services;
• A European Higher Education system: IOD/IOV aims to provide a generation of European engineers with hands-on experience in real-world space programmes.

through the first Call for Expression of Interest for IOD/IOV experiments in April 2018. This Call attracted 57 applications from various entities across Europe from SMEs to large companies, universities and research organisations. There were 26 successful applications related to technology innovation for Earth Observation, telecommunication, space science, navigation and space environment.

In September 2020, the first selected IOD/IOV experiment, UPMSat-2, was successfully launched on board of the Vega SSMS Proof of Concept flight.

The IOD/IOV initiative started under the Horizon 2020 programme Research and Innovation Programme. It countinues to be funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. Horizon Europe enables the space R&I community to develop innovative space technologies and operational concepts from idea to demonstration in space, and to foster the use of space data for scientific, public, or commercial purposes.

The In-Orbit Demonstration and Validation initiative (IOD/IOV) will allow academia, research organisations, SMEs and larger industrial companies to effectively test new technologies in orbit, reducing the time it would otherwise take to bring them to market. It will also contribute to the EU space skills agenda by exposing students to activities required for designing, building, testing, integrating, and operating a satellite.

It will positively impact the competitiveness of European space research, the space industry and further demonstrate the capability of European organisations. These missions will contribute to maintaining Europe’s place as a global space leader, while shaping solutions for the future