Massimiliano Salini(Rapporteur/EPP) highlighted the importance of the reached agreement for the future of the European strategy in terms of guaranteeing services to the level that its citizens expects and deserves. Space sector is going to be a strategic sector for when it comes to the recovery from COVID 19. For additional information: Click here
Charles Michel, President of the EU Council laid out the overall strategy at a particular geopolitical moment for Europe. He stressed the importance of the Space Action in order to reach Europe’s strategic objectives:
For additional information (Video recordings): Click here
For the meeting minutes: Click here
The 1st Regional Hub Policy – Industry officers meeting took place on December 10, 2020, with the participation of 24 Europlanet policy and industry officers representing most regional hubs.
The local perspective’s importance to build the Europlanet policy strategy and links to the industry was raised. The collection of country-specific space strategies and building a directory of expertise were some of the issues discussed.
European Research and Innovation Days is the European Commission’s annual flagship Research and Innovation event, bringing together policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs and the public to debate and shape the future of research and innovation in Europe and beyond.
The main objectives of the EAAS workshop are to promote and enhance the development of Astronomy in East Africa region, to create a platform in networking young and senior scientific communities so as to share their research findings as well as experiences. Consequently, the workshop provides an opportunity to establish regional and international collaboration in research, supervision and teaching of astronomy across the region.
Organised by Network of Researchers on the Chemical Evolution of Life (NoRCEL)
The EAS Annual Meeting (formerly known as EWASS, and earlier JENAM) has more than 25 years of tradition and it has imposed itself as the largest conference for European astronomy. In addition to plenary sessions and the award of prestigious prizes, the conference hosts many symposia held in parallel, as well as special sessions and meetings.
The EAS, often together with one of its affiliated societies, organises its annual meeting to enhance its links with national communities, to broaden connections between individual members and to promote European networks
Following the World Conference in August 2017 in Liège, and in response to its final document of recommendations, ratified by the UNESCO General Conference in November of the same year, several regional conferences have been prepared in the various continents and several new international programs are being implemented.
In what concerns new programmes, three projects (a World Humanities Report, a Global History of Humanity and a project of Arts and Society) are underway, in addition to the creation of several new humanities chairs within the framework of the CIPSH and UNESCO, which have established and consolidated important international research networks. Meanwhile, also two new programs are being prepared, on the interfaces of Humanities with Arts and Technologies, and on the financing and sustainability of the Humanities, respectively.
The EuroNanoForum 2021 is dedicated to he latest developments in nanotechnology & advanced materials and their contribution to European manufacturing across all industries.
The EuroNanoForum 2021 deals with
The Workshops will bring together:
Abstract submission open until 16 March 2021.
The 2nd International Conference on High-Speed Vehicle Science & Technology, organized by The Council of European Aerospace Societies (CEAS) in collaboration with The European Space Agency (ESA), will bring together leading specialists from research companies from all over the world, including invited experts for providing general lecturers.
Presentations at the Conference, paper reports and interactive discussions cover different aspects of high-speed aerial and space vehicles development including fundamental researches and technical solutions in aerodynamics, flight dynamics, operations, materials and structures.
Conference topics cover High-Speed Missions and Vehicles, Propulsion Systems and Components, Thermal, Energy and Management Systems, Guidance & Control Systems, Materials and Structures, High-Speed Aerodynamics and Aerothermodynamics, Testing & Evaluation, Operation and Environment, Hypersonic Fundamentals and History.
Early registration will be possible from Sunday the 15th of May. Technical visits are planned the day after the conference on the 20th of May 2022.
The Council of European Aerospace Societies (CEAS) in collaboration with The European Space Agency (ESA)
Register here.
The European landscape of research infrastructures has evolved significantly over the past decades, namely by witnessing an increasing number of institutions, facilities and laboratories that have organized and consolidated their operations and services offered to the research community across countries. With this workshop we would like to invite the RI community to reflect on current challenges and explore future options for developing and sustaining their operations and demonstrate their impact in Europe. The workshop is covering all fields of research and focuses on mid- and small-scale, distributed physical infrastructures, and those RIs that offer Trans-National Access or similar programs.
The workshop is addressing primarily research infrastructure managers and operators, but it is open to all interested participants.
Please note that the deadline for registrations is 16 March 2021 at 17h00 CET
ESF-Science Connect and Europlanet Society
Prof. Nigel Mason, University of Kent, UK
Prof. Sylvie Jacquemot, Ecole Polytechnique, France
Dr. Lavanya Premvardhan, Institut Curie, France
Dr. Francesco Loreto, CNR, Italy
Ms. Niamh Flavin, Marine Institute, Ireland
Dr. Ana Helman, ESF, ahelman[at]esf[dot]org
14:00 – 17:00 Day 1 : Common challenges
14:00 – 15:00: Session 1 – Setting the Scene
15:00 – 15:30: Coffee Break
15:30 – 17:00: Session 2 – RIs’ contribution to European research and innovation missions
14:00 – 17:00 Day 2 : Common actions and way forward
14:00 – 15:30: Session 3 – Sustainability
15:30 – 15:45: Coffee Break
15:45 – 17:00: Session 4 – Going forward
This guest post by the Europlanet Industry and Policy teams summarises the Industry-Policy session that took place during EPSC2020.
A virtual Industry-Policy session was organised on 29 September 2020 as part of the Europlanet Science Congress 2020 (EPSC 2020), the largest planetary science meeting in Europe.
The session focused on:
This was a high level event featuring among the main speakers MEPs, EC officials, agency representatives, SMEs and other stakeholders.
The essential role of planetary exploration and the need to maintain generous funding for space programmes was particularly highlighted by the first speaker, MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament Dimitris Papadimoulis. In the grim landscape of significant budgetary cuts announced by the EU leaders in July 2020 on the overall budget for science and technology, including space, it is important to highlight that: “planetary and space exploration is a human endeavor that encompasses scientific, technological and economic challenges and bears long-term benefits for society. It stimulates innovation, boosts technological development, motivates young people towards highly qualified careers and may lead to unique benefits for the planet”.
Space and planetary science, besides their own merit also teach us about our own planet and how we can live here in a more sustainable fashion.
“When it comes to green and digital transition, I think the space opportunities here are key for achieving it,” said Ville Niinistö, Finish MEP and former Minister of Environment, pointing out that space technology is about exploration but also about sustainability which creates benefits. MEP Niinistö challenged planetary research officials to give public decision makers more tools in order to make better decisions and reach viable solutions.
The need to establish a unique European space strategy was raised by Niklas Nienaß, German MEP, who stressed that: “we need to take the step forward from the science fiction side that we seem to be living in at the moment to the actual science that we actually have”. It is essential for society and politicians to realise how important European space faring programs are how much strategic value is embedded in space, to achieve more funding and establish a unique European Space Strategy. And for this to happen, we need more scientists to lobby politicians, as well as raise the profile of successful EU/ESA missions so that ESA (not just NASA) receives broader society recognition. MEP Nienaß also raised the important issue of science education proposing the establishment of a European Space Academy to introduce young people in all fields concerning space faring.
The EU space policy and funding current and future strategy was outlined by Michal Spiechowicz, of the Space Policy Department of European Commission’s DG DEFIS, who put an emphasis on the need to foster better integration with space assets, in the context of the twin transition that Europe faces. “The EU space programs support both the digital and green callenges: Copernicus to monitor and map Earth, land, seas, and atmosphere, and Galileo, to help us navigate and position. They are in fact, nothing else than global-scale, autonomous European digital infrastructures.” The third EU priority being resilience, Mr Spiechowicz mentioned that, if we work on an ambitious project of secure connectivity by satellites, within five to seven years we could have an alternative European infrastructure that would drastically enhance Europe’s resilience. He also mentioned several upcoming funding opportunities for the space industry in the post-covid context. EU members states could embed data services in their national reform, recovery and resilience programmes, this would enable them to apply for funds under EU Regional and Structural funds.
Fabio Favata from ESA highlighted Europe’s vast capabilities in science and industry. He noted ESA does regular industry days and showcases for member states, and builds up a portfolio of industrial capabilities. As an example, In Hungary, Tamas Bárczy from Admatis Ltd. who has been involved in three ESA missions, presented an association of 45 SMEs in the space sector called HUNSPACE. Fabio Favata also commented that academics shouldn’t feel reserved about speaking with industries and to initiate collaborations; there are great synergies in the skillsets repective to each domain.
The virtual session featured several examples of successful Industry-Academia collaborations. Jörn Helbert, the Department Head of Planetary Laboratories of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), highlighted quite a few: A Berlin facility to do measurements at very high temperatures, funded by the Europlanet 2020 RI project, is an extremely valuable asset for planetary scientists to measure the hot surface of Mercury and the even hotter surface of Venus, look at volcanic surfaces on Jupiter’s moon, Io, etc. And inversely, an example of a direct spin-off from astrobiology research: a team of scientists who are studying the effects of humidity on microbes, so basically how would potential life survive on Mars, are now also working with two small SMEs, developing a trace humidity generator that will be used for industrial applications. He highlighted the two-way nature of this collaboration, with commercial customers using a university facility that contains SME-built equipment.
In a similar manner, Giovanni Martucci (ALTEC) highlighted the value of collaborations between planetary science missions and industry, with the example of ALTEC providing operational support to ESA missions, with a co-located team at the ExoMars ROCC facility.
Finally, Jeronimo Bernard-Salas, from one of our partner companies ACRI-ST, showed that collaborations with academic networks can lead to direct funding, with the success of the H2020 EXPLORE program selection, containing multiple Europlanet member organisations. This programme is based on collaborations with the planetary science community on exploitation of space science data including through the use of machine learning. Jeronimo also highlighted the potential for industry collaborations to valorise academic research, and open the door for new funding opportunities.
A debate has followed the main deliberations, focusing on how Europe’s Planetary Exploration programme can drive innovation and competitiveness in European Research, Industry and SMEs, impact the society and inspire the next generation of Europe’s STEM workforce. The debate was moderated by Nigel Mason and it was possible for viewers to submit questions via the Q&A facility on Zoom. The questions, addressed mostly to the MEPs another policy speakers, concerned a range of subjects such as: best practices for scientists to lobby politicians and the underlying issue of lobbying time conflicting with research priorities, University Master programmes on space as an opportunity for collaboration with industry, or the organisation of large-scale space education opportunities with EU support.
The virtual event was very well attended by ~100 participants. The recording of the full session can be found here.
Europlanet 2024 RI has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871149.
Europlanet AISBL (Association Internationale Sans But Lucratif - 0800.634.634) is hosted by the Department of Planetary Atmospheres of the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB), Avenue Circulaire 3, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium.