By Angelika Niebler – 21st October 2013
Our small and medium-sized businesses, the backbone of the European economy, need some sort of start-up funding in the highly specialised space industry
Angelika Niebler
The EU can and must draw on the resource of its ‘strong, highly specialised’ space industry, writes Angelika Niebler.
There are, currently, a number of services that are already now either directly or indirectly dependent on the space industry and which have become indispensable to people’s lives. That is why the European parliament’s industry, research and energy (ITRE) committee has, over the past few weeks, been busy dealing with the issues of sustainable space industry policy and improved opportunities for potential growth in the space sector. During the week-long session of the European parliament in early October, my own-initiative report was adopted in the committee by a large majority, and the plenary session of parliament is due to vote in November.
Parliament has always campaigned for an ambitious European space policy, and Europe can draw on a strong, highly-specialised industry. In my native Bavaria alone, one of the prime locations in the European aviation and aerospace industry, there are more than 400 primarily small and medium-sized Bavaria-based companies working in the industry.
Approximately a third of all the people employed in the aviation and aerospace industries work in Bavaria. There could, in addition, be more than 150 Bavarian companies involved in the satellite navigation user industry. This potential should be harnessed. The development of innovative applications, however, is still hampered by various obstacles, resulting in, for example, an as-yet untapped market in the commercial exploitation of satellite and earth observation programme-generated space-based data.
Moreover, numerous companies outside the space industry will benefit from the research results and innovations generated by the aerospace industry, which is why ITRE has called for companies in the aerospace industry to cooperate closely with companies outside the industry and for them to work in partnership on technological developments, potentially, and ultimately, leading to ground breaking innovations of benefit to society.
Our small and medium-sized businesses, the backbone of the European economy, need some sort of start-up funding in the highly specialised space industry, and not just because of the long development cycles and safety planning. This is the only way to ensure that sufficient financial resources for long-term investment in research and development are available, which will, in turn, lead to innovations stimulating economic growth and generating jobs. One positive development is that the new
Horizon research framework 2020 programme is to invest a total of €1.7bn in research and innovation in the space sector.
This is exactly the right approach if we want to catch up with the world’s number one space nation, the United States, and at the same time minimise our dependence on them. However, the US, to be honest, takes a very different approach, investing billions of dollars in both the civilian and military space sector. Europe treads an alternative path, with commercial sales playing a much greater role than in the US, India or China, which is where we need to start finding and seizing opportunities.
The market for satellite navigation and earth observation services could, in 10 years’ time, according to expert estimates, reach a volume of €220bn. Even today, six to seven per cent of the GDP of the EU’s western countries is dependent on the satellite navigation sector, which is exactly why the construction of the Galileo global navigation satellite needs to be completed as soon as possible.
However, just 27 satellites and an appropriate number of backup satellites linked to a terrestrial infrastructure, can achieve the expected added value and offer benefits for both business and society. Still, satellite communication is much more than Galileo: satellite communications constitute an effective way of providing business people and society with multimedia services that would not have previously been possible using terrestrial-based technologies.
Satellite networks can contribute significantly to the overall broadband connectivity coverage required by the digital agenda. Satellite communications have become increasingly important, particularly in crisis situations or in maintaining internal security, and the potential for innovation in this field is far from exhausted.
It is thus, in my view, crucial that we develop a ‘research roadmap’ covering the period to 2020, defining the priorities and objectives of European space policy, and providing all those involved with a more solid foundation on which to plan. This research roadmap should be the result of close cooperation between the European space agency, the EU and the member states. Only through these players working closely together can we achieve a genuine European approach, avoid duplication and maintain the competitive position held by our space industry.
Angelika Niebler is parliament’s rapporteur on EU space industrial policy, releasing the potential for growth in the space sector