On 9 October the European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC) in Noordwijk (the Netherlands) hosted the sixth High Level Forum with the aerospace industry organized by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with Europe’s space industry association, Eurospace.

Jorge Potti, GMV’s Space Manager attended this event together with other top-level representatives from Europe’s space industry and institutions.

During the forum Jan Wöener, Director General of ESA, argued that space activity is set to take off anew in various fields and talked about the roles to be played in this future development by stakeholders, especially ESA’s activities and programs over the coming years. He also presented his ideas to work towards a united Europe by means of programs and activities as from 2020.

For his part, Jean-Loïc Galle, President of Eurospace, explained that the substantial growth of resources recently proposed by the European Commission in the space program EU MFF 2021-2027 calls for an increase in member states’ ESA-brokered investments to keep up with the space powers’ long-term growth.

Both Woener and Galle agreed on the need for Europe’s space sector to be provided with resources in keeping with the political ambitions of the European Union and its member states and the industry’s competitiveness challenges. They therefore pointed to ESA’s upcoming ministerial council in 2019 as a turning point in the prospects of the space sector.

More info (ESA Press Release)