The Catalan space ecosystem, represented at Europe’s leading trade fair on space technology and services
- Space Tech Expo Europe is the major European B2B event in the space sector
- The main players in this industry meet every year to showcase the latest innovations, establish contacts and agree on possible collaborations
- This year’s edition was attended by more than 650 exhibitors from over 40 countries
Caption: The ‘NewSpace Catalonia’ stand at the Space Tech Expo Europe.
Credits: IEEC.
On 14-16 November, the Generalitat de Catalunya, with the support of the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC — Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya), presented the ‘NewSpace Catalonia’ stand at Space Tech Expo Europe 2023, Europe’s most relevant fair on space technology and services. The Space Tech Expo Europe is held annually in Bremen (Germany) and in its 6th edition gathered more than 650 exhibitors from more than 40 countries.
With this goal in mind, last 1 June, the IEEC announced the open call for innovative companies or research and innovation centres in the field of space that would like to exhibit at the ‘NewSpace Catalonia’ stand. The selected companies—ASE Optics Europe, ICFO, isardSAT, Kreios Space and Osmium—had a dedicated space where they could promote their services among the attendees of a congress that each year attracts thousands of industry leaders, from manufacturers to service providers, research organisations and government agencies.Â
The ‘NewSpace Catalonia’ stand is an initiative framed within the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia, promoted by the Department of Business and Work of the Generalitat de Catalunya, in collaboration with the IEEC, the i2CAT Foundation and the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC). This collaboration seeks to project the industrial, innovation and talent generation capabilities of the Catalan ecosystem to the world.
The companies and organisations were supported throughout the event by staff from the Government of Catalonia, i2Cat and the IEEC, which brought its director, Ignasi Ribas, and also Josep Colomé, director of the Area for the Promotion of the Space Sector of Catalonia (APEC), as well as a technical team specialised in several technological and industrial promotion areas.
During the three days of the congress, several meetings were held to showcase the strengths of the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia and its ecosystem, as well as to establish new global collaborations.
The ‘NewSpace Catalonia’ stand initiative highlighted the potential for interaction between the space sector and the digital sector, both of which are strategic for boosting the new space economy, and the different institutions present, as well as the strengths of the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia and the sectors involved in this ecosystem.
Caption: group picture with staff from the entities promoting the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia and from the companies that were present at the ‘NewSpace Catalonia’ stand.
Credits: IEEC.
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Contacts
IEEC Communication Office
Barcelona, Spain
E-mail: comunicacio@ieec.cat
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.