Catalonia, present at the most important space congress in the world with the Government’s ‘NewSpace Catalonia’ stand

• The 75th edition of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2024) kicked off today at the Milano Convention Center (MiCo) in Milan, which will bring together the main space players from around the world until 18 October
• The ‘NewSpace Catalonia’ pavilion, promoted by the Government of Catalonia and the IEEC as part of the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia, hosts 14 companies from the Catalan space ecosystem
• The aim of the Catalan participation in the IAC is to provide international business and collaboration spaces for the Catalan space ecosystem and to project its industrial, innovation and talent capabilities to the world

Catalonia is taking part for the second time with its own pavilion at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), the most important space congress in the world, which is holding its 75th edition from 14 to 18 October at the Milano Convention Center (MiCo) in Milan. Under the theme ‘Responsible space for sustainability’, the event brings together over 150 exhibitors and more than 8,000 experts from industry, research and institutions from around the world in this field to discuss the use of space to support sustainability.

Promoted by the Secretariat for Digital Policies of the Department of Business and Work and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC — Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya) in the framework of the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia, the NewSpace Catalonia pavilion hosts a total of 14 companies from the Catalan space ecosystem in a space of more than 140 m² located in a prominent place of the fair. The pavilion also has the collaboration of the other two promoters of the strategy, the i2CAT Foundation and the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC), and the DCA-NewSpace, the community of the Digital Catalonia Alliance (DCA) that integrates companies, research centres, administrations and other entities that develop, integrate, implement or offer technological solutions based on NewSpace.

The NewSpace Catalonia pavilion has an exhibition area with the individual stands of 14 companies from the Catalan space sector that will be able to exhibit their products and services and hold business meetings: ASE Optics Europe; ATMake; Augusta Abogados; GPA Space; IsardSAT; Kreios Space; OSMIUM; Pangea Aerospace; Sateliot; Satellogic; SLIMOP Space; SPASCAT; Systellar Space and YPlasma. Of these 14 companies, 12 are members of the DCA-NewSpace community and 6 are startups incubated at ESA BIC Barcelona, the incubation programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) promoted by the Secretariat for Digital Policies in the framework of the NewSpace Strategy, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and the Parc Mediterrani de la Tecnologia (PMT).

In addition, the Catalan stand has shared presentation and networking spaces so that companies and organisations from the Catalan space ecosystem—including Compoxi, Leaf Space and Open Cosmos, the latter two with their own stand at IAC 24—can publicise their activities, establish contacts with other leading players in the global space sector and promote global collaborations. At the institutional level, the Catalan delegation is headed by the Secretary for Digital Policies, Maria Galindo, and the Director of the IEEC, Ignasi Ribas.

The participation of the Catalan space ecosystem in this world reference event has a threefold objective: to project internationally the commitment of the Government of Catalonia, embodied in the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia, for the great opportunities offered by the new space economy; to show the world the industrial, innovation and talent generation capabilities present in the Catalan ecosystem; and to encourage participating Catalan companies to do business and establish international contacts as part of an innovative ecosystem.

Thus, in addition to participating in the activities of the fair and congress itself, the Catalan delegation will organise its own activities, such as meetings with delegations, agencies and companies from other countries, public presentations of initiatives within the framework of the NewSpace Strategy, and networking meetings at the NewSpace Catalonia stand to connect the global ecosystem with participating Catalan companies and organisations.

About the IAC 2024

Organised by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) with the local collaboration of the Italian Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIDAA), one of the oldest astronautical associations in the world and a founding member of the IAF, the Italian Space Agency (ASI), and the leading Italian aerospace company Leonardo, the 75th IAC takes place from 14-18 October at the MiCo in Milan, Europe’s largest convention centre.

IAC 2024 aims to address, debate and propose appropriate solutions to the dilemma posed by the slogan ‘Responsible space for sustainability’, chosen for this edition: space technologies are key to today’s society and a sustainable future, but outer space is a finite resource and an asset to be preserved for future generations.

About the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia

Promoted by the Government of Catalonia through the Secretariat for Digital Policies of the Department of Business and Work and with the participation of the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), the i2CAT Foundation and the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC), the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia is designed to take advantage of and maximise the opportunities of this new economic area based on the use of small satellites orbiting at low altitude and the exploitation of their data.

Thus, the strategy deploys a series of specific actions with the aim of evaluating the adoption of NewSpace technology in the services of the Government of Catalonia, acting as a driver for its development in the different productive sectors and, at the same time, placing the Catalan space ecosystem on the international game board linked to this new emerging field and promoting the generation, attraction and retention of talent in Catalonia.

Links

• IEEC
• NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia
• International Astronautical Congress

Contacts

About the IEEC

The Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC — Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya) promotes and coordinates space research and technology development in Catalonia for the benefit of society. IEEC fosters collaborations both locally and worldwide and is an efficient agent of knowledge, innovation and technology transfer. As a result of more than 25 years of high-quality research, done in collaboration with major international organisations, IEEC ranks among the best international research centres, focusing on areas such as: astrophysics, cosmology, planetary science, and Earth Observation. IEEC’s engineering division develops instrumentation for ground- and space-based projects, and has extensive experience in working with private or public organisations from the aerospace and other innovation sectors.

The IEEC is a non-profit public sector foundation that was established in February 1996. It has a Board of Trustees composed of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC), and the Spanish Research Council (CSIC). The IEEC is also a CERCA centre.