“Health from Space” held its annual edition in Cannes on 15 and 16 February, 2023, to connect experts from the health, science and space sectors.
The Palais des Festivals et des Congres in Cannes hosted the international conference “Health from Space”, a major event that brought together high-level space and pharmaceutical companies, worldwide institutions as well as experts in health, science and space-related areas. ESA supported the conference as one of its platinum sponsors.
“Health from Space” aims to foster innovation in health and new material industry, as well as encouraging the collaboration of life, health and players in the space field. Due to trends such as digitalisation, the healthcare sector is expected to evolve and provide new opportunities for space based solutions in areas such as space medicine, medical and biomedical research and telemedicine. In this regard, the space sector is already providing significant value through a remarkable number of applications, expected to increase in the next years.
ESA Director General Joseph Aschbacher opened the event welcoming all the participants and introducing them to the topics in the agenda. On the second day of the conference, ESA Director of Commercialisation, Industry and Procurement, Geraldine Naja took part in the second round table “Institutions: is there still a role for governments in NewSpace and which one?”
Other ESA representatives attending the event included:
- Luca del Monte, Head of Commercialisation Department
- Donatella Ponziani, Head of ESA Commercialisation Gateway
- Anthea Evelina Comellini, ESA Astronaut Class of 2022
- Lisa Denzer, Innovation Officer
- Fabio Caramelli, Space Rider System Payload and Exploitation Manager
- Guillaume PRIGENT, Business Development and Partnerships Officer
- Dante Galli, Space Rider Space Segment Manager
Géraldine Naja stated: “ESA has already started to collaborate with some key non-space stakeholders within health (e.g. life sciences, BioTech, Pharma). Indeed, space can contribute a lot to the health sector, be it in terms of enabling services (e.g. for telemedicine), of using the specificities of the space environment for R&D for the development of new molecules or for better understanding the adaptation of the human body to extreme environments. An additional effort is needed to assess the complete role of the space component in the overall value chain of the health verticals. This is especially important in times where European companies working with a NewSpace approach are more and more requiring ESA support to engage with non-space verticals. In a holistic approach, collaboration between institutions, research organisations and private players, including investors, within the health and life sciences industry as well as with space service providers is essential to maximise synergies.”
