On Thursday, November 16 the Irish Space Industry Group (ISIG ) held a conference event in collaboration with Space Industry Skillnet and Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT ).
The aim of the conference was to bring interested parties together for the first time to explore the exciting and inspiring activities already taking place in the Irish space sector, and to discuss the development of a strategy for realising Ireland’s economic and social potential from the growing global space economy in both upstream and downstream markets.
This first Irish Space Industry Conference was attended by more than 50 key people representing companies, researchers and Government agencies active in the space sector in Ireland.
John Halligan, Minister for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development at the Department of Business Enterprise and Innovation, opened the conference.
“Today’s conference is an important event for Ireland’s rapidly growing space sector,” he said. “An increasing range of Irish companies are involved in the development of space related products and services. These companies, through Ireland’s membership of the European Space Agency, which is supported by the Irish Government through Enterprise Ireland, can access and exploit opportunities in the expanding global commercial space market.”
Professor Ciarán Ó Catháin, President of AIT, said: “As well as AIT being a location of ESA Space Solutions Centre Ireland since 2016, the recent announcement of funding for a new STEM building at AIT will help meet the need for STEM skills in the growing space sector in Ireland. In that context and in this Science Week, AIT is particularly honoured to host this important first industry conference for the Irish space sector.”
