Beyond EPICA

What Beyond EPICA does

Beyond EPICA is a European Union-funded, non-profit scientific research consortium led by the Italian National Research Council's Institute of Polar Sciences (CNR-ISP) and involving more than 14 European partner laboratories across Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and the Netherlands. The project, operating under EU Horizon 2020 grant agreement No. 815384 (the "BE-OIC" phase launched in 2019 and running through 2026), is the successor to the original EPICA project (1996–2008) and is dedicated to retrieving and analyzing the oldest continuous ice core on Earth from Little Dome C in Antarctica.

Name

Beyond EPICA

Legal name

Beyond EPICA

Website

https://www.beyondepica.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Beyond EPICA is a publicly funded European research consortium, led by CNR-ISP and 14+ European labs, drilling and analyzing the oldest Antarctic ice core (1.2 million years) to study paleoclimate history for the global climate research community.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. EU Research Grant: Funded by the European Union under grant agreement No. 815384. The project receives direct EU funding to conduct Antarctic ice core drilling research, analysis, and dissemination of findings.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Beyond EPICA is a European research project that drills and analyzes deep Antarctic ice cores at Little Dome C, reaching 2,800 meters depth to recover ice at least 1.2 million years old. The project conducts seasonal Antarctic field campaigns, ice core processing campaigns, and comprehensive paleoclimate analyses (water isotopes, greenhouse gases, impurities, physical properties, dating) to reconstruct Earth's climate history across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition.

Product overview

Beyond EPICA is a European scientific research project focused on drilling and analyzing ice cores in Antarctica to reconstruct climate history over the past 1.5 million years. The project does not offer commercial products or services; its outputs consist of scientific publications, ice core data, outreach materials, and educational video content (DEEPICE video series) documenting ice core science and climate research methodologies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Beyond EPICA Oldest Ice Core (BE-OIC) Research Project Multi-year European research project that conducts deep ice core drilling at Little Dome C, Antarctica, and performs comprehensive paleoclimate analysis to reconstruct Earth's climate history across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. Delivered to the global scientific community through peer-reviewed publications and open data.
• Antarctic Ice Core Paleoclimate Dataset Reconstructed paleoclimate dataset derived from ice cores spanning 1.2 million years, including water isotopes, trace gases, impurities, physical properties, and dating information. Made available to the global scientific community through peer-reviewed publications and open-access repositories.

Quantifiable outcome

• Retrieved 1.2 million-year-old ice core from 2,800 meters depth
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• EU Polar ClustercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Collaboration within the EU Polar Cluster network of polar research projects. Beyond EPICA participates in joint outreach and communication activities with other European polar research initiatives.
• DEEPICE ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partnership with DEEPICE, a European research project involving 15 PhD students. Joint efforts include educational video series 'DEEPICE stories – Insights into ice & climate' and shared communication resources.
• Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGerman polar research institute providing drilling expertise, technology development, and hosting project activities. Key contributor to drilling operations and ice core processing.
• CNR-Institute of Polar Sciences (CNR-ISP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLead institution for the Beyond EPICA project. Based at the National Research Council of Italy, providing overall project coordination and scientific leadership.
• IPEV (Institut Polaire Français)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrench Polar Institute providing logistical support, field equipment, and personnel for Antarctic expeditions including transport via French vessels.
• ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerItalian national research agency providing logistical support, technical expertise, and field operations personnel for Antarctic campaigns.
• Australian Antarctic Division / MYIC ProjectminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Australian research teams conducting parallel drilling operations. Joint logistical support and scientific exchange at Little Dome C.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI): Germany's premier polar and marine research institute and a core Beyond EPICA partner. AWI conducts comparable Antarctic ice core drilling, glaciology, and climate research and shares drilling technology development for the project.
• British Antarctic Survey (BAS): UK national polar research organization running deep ice core and climate science programs in Antarctica. Operates in the same domain of paleoclimate reconstruction from polar ice.
• Ice Drilling Program (IDP) — U.S. National Science Foundation: U.S. program that funds and coordinates ice drilling technology and ice core science across Antarctica and Greenland. Directly comparable in mission, technology stack, and field operations.
• CNR Institute of Polar Sciences (CNR-ISP): Lead institution of Beyond EPICA under the Italian National Research Council. Conducts parallel polar science in Antarctica and is structurally the consortium's parent scientific body.
• Institut Polaire Français (IPEV): French Polar Institute providing Antarctic logistics, equipment, and personnel for polar science. A Beyond EPICA partner with directly comparable expedition and logistics capability.

Broad incumbents

• International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS): International coordination body that orchestrates the global ice core community, including oldest-ice initiatives like Beyond EPICA. Comparable as the umbrella community setting paleoclimate science priorities.
• National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC): U.S. cryospheric data center that archives and distributes polar ice data, including ice core records. Comparable as a community data infrastructure that supports the same user base Beyond EPICA serves.

Emerging players

• Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK): Leading European climate impact research institute that uses paleoclimate records (including ice cores) to constrain climate models and tipping-point analyses. Overlaps with Beyond EPICA's downstream modeling use cases.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCZ7J3WpoIwQ-qZk3G-NZLZQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/OldestIce
• Xx.com/OldestIce

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Beyond EPICA