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The New Space Economy Congress 2023 establishes Catalonia as one of Europe’s space knowledge hubs

Nov 24, 2023

Caption: Josep Colomé (left) moderating a round table on small satellite constellations featuring experts from ClearSpace, Hispasat, Open Cosmos and Telespazio Ibérica during the congress.
Credits: IEEC.

The New Space Economy Congress 2023,  organised by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and the Generalitat de Catalunya, with the partnership of the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC); the Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya (ICGC); the i2CAT Foundation and the KIMbcn Foundation came yesterday to an end. Its huge attendance success confirms the great potential of NewSpace in Catalonia.

The congress, which was held at la Llotja de Mar (Barcelona), featured top-level speakers who offered a detailed overview of the latest trends and opportunities in the sector. Among them were the astronaut and former Minister of Science and Innovation, Pedro Duque; the Director of Marketing, Industry and Competitiveness of the European Space Agency (ESA), Géraldine Naja; the social media spacialist for space Remco Timmermans or the Managing Director & CEO of Airbus DS GEO SGSA, Roser Roca Tohà.

The IEEC was represented by Josep Colomé, director of the Area for the Promotion of the Space Sector of Catalonia (APEC), who moderated a very interesting round table on small satellite constellations during the first day. Anna Ruiz, IEEC’s coordinator for the Talent and Society programme of the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia, highlighted the benefits of the ‘NewSpace Catalonia’ scholarships during the SpaceTalks session.

The event also turned out to be a great networking environment for a Catalan NewSpace community which is rapidly growing. The area for quick 1-to-1 meetings (B2B) and the stands of the different organisations and companies—including IEEC—kept a constant flow of attendees in search of new challenges and relevant contacts.

The Digital Catalonia Alliance (DCA), the European Space Agency (ESA), Eurisy, the International Space University (ISU), the Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies (NEREUS) and the Women in Aerospace Foundation (WIA) were also collaborating entities of the New Space Economy Congress 2023.

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