EUSPA at the heart of EU’s New Space approach

At the fourth edition of the New Space Atlantic Summit, key players from Europe and the Atlantic region gathered in Coimbra, Portugal and online to discuss the role of New Space for people. European Union Agency for the Space programme (EUSPA) Executive Director Rodrigo da Costa gave a keynote address at the opening session, outlining EUSPA’s role as the key actor in the European Union’s New Space approach.

Introducing the opening session, Ricardo Conde, President of the Portuguese Space Agency noted that innovative solutions were needed to address user needs and to link space to non-space sectors. This was something that EUSPA Executive Director Rodrigo da Costa also picked up on in his address. 

Da Costa noted that EUSPA was at the heart of New Space and that its mission was to take advantage of the opportunities that come from the development of innovative space products based on satellite navigation, Earth observation and telecoms to maximize synergies between EU Space Programme components at user level.

Fostering collaboration

“We will do this by fostering collaboration between space and non-space actors, allowing greater cross-fertilisation. For example, space and non-space companies are already teaming up on several of our Horizon-financed projects to bring innovative solutions to diverse markets, such as agriculture, transport, or resource management, just to cite a few,” he said.

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Da Costa said that EUSPA was encouraging all the EU Member States to benefit from the innovation brought by space technologies, stressing that it was particularly important to build capacity in the Member States, including those with emerging capabilities.

“In the provision of Galileo and EGNOS services, we involve large, small and medium actors from several Member States, and with them we ensure the 24/7 operations of these key EU infrastructures. In GovSatCom also, we are now looking for innovative approaches to build the GovSatCom Hub,” he said.

Speaking at the session, Elodie Viau, Director of Telecommunications and Integrated Application at the European Space Agency (ESA) said that space had entered the digital economy and society. “Data generated in space and on Earth are improving our daily lives,” she said, adding that ESA was supporting European industry, start-ups and SMEs and was looking at new concepts of innovation, for technology. “We are going to work with all the institutional players and the private sector to create even more innovation. This is key for Europe to maintain its competitiveness,” she said.

Role of private sector

The EUSPA Executive Director also highlighted the key role of the private sector. He said that EUSPA would create opportunities for EU companies to explore new markets, through dedicated procurements, grants and prizes to create new business opportunities and connect them with private investors and venture capitalists for the necessary financing capability to jump-start their business cases.

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“For example, one of our winners in the MyGalileo Solution competition, 10 lines, an Estonian company, is developing an automated robot to design parking places. They already have contracts in the EU and have recently won a large contract in the US,” he said.

Da Costa stressed that the recently approved conclusion of the EU Council on “New Space for people” calls upon EUSPA, with the Commission, to foster the uptake of space services by stimulating the adoption of space-based solutions and by increasing the competitiveness of the EU industry. “We are ready to play our fundamental role on this,” he said, adding that this New Space development was essential for European economies and for European integration.

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