European Space Agency has chosen Friktion to support out-of-this-world transformation
How do you change the mindset of some of Europe’s brightest engineers and scientists? At the European Space Agency (ESA), the answer involves rethinking how collaboration happens every day across disciplines, departments and decades. And adding a bit of Friktion.
Malmö, Sweden—December 4, 2025—Friktion is proud (and, if we’re honest, a little giddy) to finally share with you that we were chosen by ESA to support a large-scale transformation affecting 950+ people across its Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality (TEC). The assignment began with a successful validation and pilot phase back in August 2024 and has been ongoing ever since.
The mission? To improve collaboration!
The goal of the transformation? To improve efficiency, decision-making and collaboration in mission operations across ESA's complex technical projects. In other words, to help the people designing and building the systems, satellites and infrastructure behind Europe’s space missions work better together.
"Friktion helped us define the mindset shift we needed and translate that into concrete behaviors we want to see more of in everyday interactions here at TEC," says Sylvain Bouchart, Head of the Electrical Department at ESA and lead of the transformation initiative. "They also established an approach for engaging our people to co-create and drive the change in a structured way. We look forward to continuing this journey together with Friktion."
Non-linear methods, stellar outcomes
Traditional change management is inefficient when it comes to changing people's mindsets, especially in highly technical environments like ESA. Engineers and scientists simply don't respond well to top-down directives about how to think and feel. That’s why we’re applying our Non-Linear Change (NLC) methodology instead, which helps people identify behaviors and practices that work for them and embed them into their daily work.
"Being invited to help reshape how some of the smartest people on Earth work together is a dream come true," says Vadim Feldman, Founder and Consultant at Friktion. "It’s been fascinating to see how committed people at ESA are and how quickly momentum is building throughout the organization."
The transformation initiative is set to continue throughout 2026, evolving as we go to fit ESA's challenges and needs.
PS. 1
The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organization, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. The Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality (TEC) is responsible for ensuring that enabling technologies are available at the very point when new ESA and European missions need them. Learn more at esa.int
PS 2.
To find out more about how we at Friktion handle transformations with complexity awareness and non-linear thinking, have a look at these real-life cases that we've solved.