The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is holding today the presentation for Rome’s diplomatic community of the International Space Forum for Global Challenges which will be held in Trento next 24 October. The presentation will illustrate the contents, objectives and agenda of the Trento meeting, which will be the first international ministerial meeting on the Training and Research policies associated with space programs. The Forum will involve the ministers and persons in charge of the training and space portfolio, as well as experts from each Country’s national space agencies and the most important academic and university institutions.
The Trento Forum, organized by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), aims to enhance the involvement of the space academies and universities in outlining the space policies needed to tackle global challenges like Earth Protection, Climate Change and Big Data Management.
The International Space Forum for Global Challenges was conceived on the basis of the consideration that space academies and universities are present worldwide and represent a highly knowledgeable capillary network specialized in the scientific and technological disciplines that are at the basis of space programs. This knowledge-based network is therefore an essential asset, both for developed and developing countries, to which the Forum dedicates special attention. Space academies and universities represent the only way for these countries to tangibly contribute to space exploration and exploitation for peaceful purposes. This is why the ministers’ involvement of the competent authorities is the first step towards an ever-broader and shared awareness that space technology and education are essential in order to meet the current challenges of mankind, the solution of which we are all are called upon to contribute to. To achieve this goal, the Trento Forum, which will also involve authoritative representatives of the international and UN space community, will evaluate the proposals and actions suggested by the different countries in order to draft a Manifesto aimed at outlining the intervention instruments and joint cooperation strategies that will contribute to solving some of these global challenges.
