On Monday, 17 September 2018, at 10:00 a.m., the Farnesina will host the event titled “Italy in Space”, aimed at illustrating to the Diplomatic Corps and to the world of business and research the new governance system introduced by Law No. 7/2018, which came into force last 25 February and set up an ad hoc Inter-ministerial Committee under the aegis of the Prime Minister’s Office and chaired by Giancarlo Giorgetti, MP. At a time in which the space plays a key role in our Country’s technological, economic and social development, it has become necessary to better coordinate the institutional players concerned.
The event will open with remarks by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Emanuela del Re, the Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Education, University and Research, Lorenzo Fioramonti, the Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Defence, Raffaele Volpi, the President of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Roberto Battiston, and the Member of the European Parliament and Rapporteur of the EU Regulation to reform the space sector, Massimiliano Salini.
The session will follow with a number of testimonies from the major players of the sector, including entrepreneurs, experts and trade associations, and will close with a panel formed by the Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, (MAECI), Manlio Di Stefano, the CEO of Leonardo SpA, Alessandro Profumo, and the Undersecretary of State at the Prime Minister’s Office with delegated powers for space and aerospace policies, Giancarlo Giorgetti.
The meeting will be chaired by the MAECI’s Director General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation, Vincenzo De Luca.
The speakers at the meeting will present some of the figures relative to the sector, which are on a continuous uptrend. The sector comprises 250 companies, 150 of which focus on the space sector as their core business. In 2017, the turnover amounted to 1.9 billion euros. Over the 2014-2016 three-year period, the employees in the sector rose 3% to more than 6,000.
In her opening remarks, Deputy Foreign Minister Del Re said: “Our Country is spearheading the achievement of the 2030 Agenda goals thanks to the use of technologies applied to space: satellite infrastructure, data, information and integrated services will play a key role only if they become an integral part of this collective commitment, which we expect to be global and active in every Country, so as to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals”.
In winding up the meeting, Undersecretary Manlio Di Stefano emphasised that the goal is to “convert the national space sector into one of the major motive forces of the Country’s new growth trend”. He added: “Through technological innovation and the reduction of the costs to access space, small satellites will configure a completely new architecture enabling a vast range of private activities in space. In this area, a crucial role is played by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and start-ups.”
