Slovenia has been contributing to the space industry for over 100 years, from Jozef Stefan’s research into black body radiation to space travel pioneers like Herman Potocnik Noordung. However, the revenue this sector brings to the country is yet to be maximised.
In fact, Slovenia’s 2016 Association Agreement cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA) has triggered over 60 collaborations resulting from ESA tenders, totalling more than EUR 17.7 million by 2022. These collaborations range from data-related systems (in 2022, Slovenian company Sinergise, in partnership with T-Systems, signed an agreement to deliver a data storage, processing, and distribution system to ESA) to space weather monitoring (also in 2022, Slovenian company Skylabs, in partnership with other EU companies and institutions, won the tender ‘Space Weather Monitor Nanosatellites’).
According to the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, Slovenia’s financial investment in ESA programmes will increase from EUR 3 million to EUR 5.8 million per year. Among these programmes is the Copernicus system (CDAS), an important project for sustainability within Europe and beyond. This implies the establishment of a system for the effective processing of satellite data obtained from earth observation. This data is essential for monitoring climate change, its consequences, and human activities regarding global warming.
Following this vivid activity and efforts to expand its aerospace business, Slovenia published a Draft Space Strategy 2030 on 13 April 2023 during a public presentation attended by more than 50 representatives from industry, research, governmental institutions, and the ESA.
This draft Space Strategy broadly sets the priorities and terms for governmental space actions. It focuses on space sustainability and space applications to ameliorate everyday life for Slovenian and European citizens. It also focuses on the development of R&D and STEM education, as well as putting Slovenia’s capacity for entrepreneurship and the promotion of space innovation programmes on the spot.
The Ministry has announced a call for comments and suggestions to be sent to space.mgts@gov.si with the subject ‘Space strategy’ until 10 May 2023. , there is an open invitation to companies that deal with space technologies and wish to be kept informed to subscribe to the list for receiving news; namely, to space.mgts@gov.
Slovenia’s fast-paced space technology industry, its much-awaited upcoming membership of ESA in 2024, and the budget increase that has been decided make the country an interesting market for newcomers. It is therefore critical that interested parties join the discussion today through comments and suggestions to safeguard their interests within this market.
Access Partnership closely monitors tech and space, regulations, and policy developments. For more information, please contact Sofia Stellatou at sofia.stellatou@accesspartnership.com or Sofia Tirini at sofia.tirini@accesspartnership.com.
