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European Space Policy: Space Strategy for Europe: the road ahead

Brussels, 24 & 25 January 2017

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WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND THE 9th EU SPACE CONFERENCE

Since it will be held in early 2017, this 9th EU Space Conference will obviously become the awaited opportunity for all the space stakeholders – representatives of national and EU institutions, industry, research centres, EU associations, civil society and media – to debate at the highest level about the key priorities for the development of space and space-based activities in Europe, as they will be identified in the “Space Strategy for Europe”, to be adopted by the European Commission shortly beforehand.

The debate would lead to know:

  • If all the space stakeholders consider that the key priorities proposed meet their expectations to face, in a competitive way, the profound changes due to the new technological breakthroughs and the increasing competition from old and new global players;
  • What will be the first concrete initiatives to move ahead that the European Commission is ready to take, with the approval of the European Parliament and the EU Members States, and the support of ESA;
  • To which extent the EU is ready to bring sufficient financial support to realize its ambitions.

Indeed, the budgetary dimension is crucial to the continuation of the current EU programmes such as

EGNOS/Galileo, Copernicus and SST, and the possible fulfilment of new projects, such as GovSatCom, as well as to support research and innovation projects.

Therefore, the 9th Conference will take place at the very moment of the review of the current multiannual financial framework for period 2014-2020, including the RD&I Programme Horizon 2020, and of the upcoming preparation of the next multiannual financial framework for period 2020-2027.

These topics are crucial for the future of the European space industry and for a resilient development of a “space market uptake” aiming at creating new space-based services, new enterprises and new jobs. To feed such a dynamic, interactive and fruitful debate among the numerous participants, many guest speakers from national and European institutions, space agencies, research centres, large companies as well as innovative SMEs, including from the supply chain, public users and civil society, will be invited to take the floor during the conference.