The 100th General Assembly of Austrospace followed by an exclusive networking event at TTTech’s premises in Vienna celebrated Austrian successes in the international space industry.
TTTech was proud to host not only Austrospace’s 100th General Assembly at its premises but also a celebratory and networking event highlighting the Austrian industry’s contributions to the global space sector. The event was attended by many distinguished guests from politics, associations, and industry, among them Federal Minister Leonore Gewessler.
Austrospace – a strong voice for the Austrian space sector
“The Austrian space industry is internationally successful because it has a highly educated professional workforce and a framework that supports innovation, research, and development. At Austrospace, we unite the leading Austrian players in the space sector,” explains Christian Fidi, General Manager TTTech Aerospace and member of the Austrospace Advisory Committee.
Austrospace is the association of Austrian space companies and research institutions. Founded in February 1991, it highlights its members international activities and successes and represents them toward Austrian authorities and international organizations.
The Austrian space sector currently employs 1,000 people, a number that is increased by 3,000 – 4,000 people from other sectors that are working with and applying space technology in medicine, transport, or energy applications, or using satellite data, e.g., for weather forecasts and climate research.
Austrian technology and research for space – a success history
Austrian space activities started in the 1960s. A huge milestone for the sector was the Austromir-91 mission in 1991 that brought the first (and to date only) Austrian to space.
Since then, the space industry in Austria has continued to grow and established its place in the international space market. Austria's strong and innovative space sector contributes high-end research, products, and technologies to some of the largest international space activities. Among them are programs and missions like NASA Artemis that will bring humanity back to the Moon, satellite-based programs for earth observation and global positioning, like Copernicus and Galileo, or the new European launcher generation Ariane 6.
Increased commercialization presents more opportunities for small and medium-sized companies to participate in the global space market that is projected to grow to 1 trillion US dollars by 2040 according to Morgan Stanley. However, the space sector is also a business that requires a lot of investment in research and development to meet the needs of the market and successfully supply technology and products in international programs.
This is why government support remains essential to ensure access to research activities and programs led by the European Space Agency ESA and the EU through funding and support from the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and the Austrian Ministry of Climate Action (BMK) says Christian Fidi: “The long development times, high initial investments, and long runtimes of space activities can impede our ability to compete internationally. This is why the commitment of the Austrian government is so important. The recent increase in Austria’s ESA budget by Federal Minister Gewessler is instrumental for the continued growth of the industry.”
Charting the course for future success at networking event
After the General Assembly, Austrospace member TTTech invited fellow Austrospace members as well as a list of distinguished guests and partners to its premises to review the past achievements of the Austrospace organizations and map out future activities and cooperations.
Christian Fidi was excited to celebrate the achievements of the Austrian space industry at TTTech with his guests: “I’m happy that so many of our partners and representatives of the Austrian government and associations could join as well. Working together, we ensure that the Austrian space industry makes the best use of its competencies, know-how, and expertise to grow and thrive on the global market.”
