Article by Justyna Redelkiewicz,
Head of Sector Consumer Solutions, Market and Technology Market Development, EUSPA

The ERC 2021 was the first edition co-sponsored by EUSPA and we were really amazed by the outreach of the event and abundance of high-quality content. Space as a topic always attracted interest of general public and was something kids use to dream about but there are not many people who actually dare to make it a profession. Events such as ERC are a great tool to promote space as an accessible career option, not only for astronauts but also for geologists, robotics and automation experts, project managers and finally lawyers, HR specialists and accountants.

In fact, space is not only about rockets and StarTrek. Space technology, data and services have become indispensable in our lives here on Earth. Whenever we use our mobile phones, car navigation systems and drones we are actually connecting to satellites circulating thousands of kilometers above our heads. Satellite Navigation and Earth Observation became invisible technologies and we don’t realize that they enable so many applications in all sectors of economy.

Space technologies increase efficiency in agriculture and fisheries, satellite services help to shorten response times in emergencies, provide information for environmental monitoring and are the backbone of modern and reliable transport.

The flagship space components Galileo/EGNOS and Copernicus are fully operational, and they deliver free and open data and services to the benefit of EU citizens. At EUSPA we help companies to implement satellite services and data, coming from the EU space programs, in various solutions across all sectors of economy. We also provide dedicated support to start-ups in all phases of their growth from idea generation to the scale up.