{"id":14396,"date":"2026-02-06T12:20:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialisation.esa.int\/?p=14396"},"modified":"2026-02-06T12:33:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:33:45","slug":"esa-access-to-space-priorities-highlighted-at-the-18th-european-space-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialisation.esa.int\/?p=14396","title":{"rendered":"ESA Access\u2011to\u2011Space Priorities Highlighted at the 18th European Space Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the 18th European Space Conference <\/strong>in Brussels, Belgium, Geraldine Naja<\/strong>, ESA Director of Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness (CIC), took part in the session \u201c<\/em>Access to Space: Market Realities and Tomorrow\u2019s Challenges\u201d<\/strong>, contributing to a high-level debate on the future of Europe\u2019s launch capabilities and the evolving global space market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The panel brought together representatives from European institutions, space agencies, and the commercial launch ecosystem to reflect on how Europe can strengthen its strategic autonomy in space.<\/p>\n

CM25 Outcomes<\/h2>\n

Opening the discussion, Geraldine Naja outlined the major outcomes of ESA\u2019s Council Meeting at Ministerial Level (CM25)<\/strong>, a milestone that secured a record subscription of \u20ac22.3 billion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Key takeaways emphasised the political and financial commitment expressed by Member States, with subscriptions increasing across the board<\/strong> and space transportation<\/strong> receiving particularly robust support.<\/p>\n

The ACCESS programme<\/strong> was also well subscribed, confirming continued attention to commercialisation and innovation. ACCESS is ESA\u2019s new flagship commercialisation programme, built on the proven foundations of ScaleUp and Business Applications and Space Solutions (BASS). It provides targeted support to help businesses grow, offering structured pathways for developing innovative commercial products and services for both space and non\u2011space markets.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Geraldine Naja, ESA Director of CIC, speaking at the \u201cAccess to Space: Market Realities and Tomorrow\u2019s Challenges\u201d panel.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Director of CIC noted an evolution in the balance among Member States, with Germany now joining France as a leading contributor, Spain increasing its financial engagement, and Canada also stepping up its participation.<\/p>\n

The session highlighted the growing alignment between ESA and the European Union<\/strong>, and the first\u2011ever participation of the European Investment Bank<\/strong>, which presented a new tool developed with the European Commission<\/strong> to improve access to funding for SMEs.<\/p>\n

Geraldine Naja also pointed to ESA\u2019s mandate in the security and defence domain<\/strong> becoming clearer, with new General Support Technology Programme (GSTP) element supporting this direction. She underlined that Europe is increasingly adopting service\u2011based models, citing examples such as the European Launcher Challenge<\/strong> and the LEO Cargo Return System<\/strong>. She added that ESA\u2019s internal reform efforts continue, aiming to shorten time\u2011to\u2011contract<\/strong> and improve responsiveness<\/strong> to institutional and commercial customers.<\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s Competitiveness Capabilities<\/h2>\n

Regarding competitiveness, the panel discussion stressed that Europe\u2019s position should not be assessed through pricing alone. Reliability, availability and flexibility<\/strong> were highlighted as equally important in a market that remains largely publicly funded and smaller in scale than those of major competitors.<\/p>\n

It was underlined that Europe must strengthen its adaptability and industrial capacity to keep pace with a rapidly evolving global commercial landscape<\/strong>. This includes accelerating industrialisation and scale, increasing delivery cadence, adopting more modular approaches across systems and services, and preparing for long\u2011term technological shifts, such as reusability, while positioning for growth in areas like in\u2011orbit services and in\u2011space manufacturing.<\/p>\n

Industrial Policy and the Path Forward<\/h2>\n

The panel reiterated that Europe\u2019s industrial policy will be central to transforming the political commitments of CM25 into tangible progress. Ensuring competitiveness requires accelerating industrialisation<\/strong>, improving serialisation<\/strong>, and developing models that support sustainable commercial growth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the 18th European Space Conference in Brussels, Belgium, Geraldine Naja, ESA Director of Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness (CIC), took part in the session \u201cAccess to Space: Market Realities and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":14397,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[249],"tags":[430,482,765,494,824,518,310],"directorate":[431],"sts-api_categories":[],"esa-fields":[],"class_list":["post-14396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-access","tag-bass","tag-cm25","tag-european-investment-bank","tag-european-launcher-challenge","tag-european-union","tag-space-transportation","directorate-commercialisation-competitiveness-support"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nESA Access\u2011to\u2011Space Priorities Highlighted at the 18th European Space Conference - ESA Commercialisation Gateway<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/commercialisation.esa.int\/?p=14396\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ESA Access\u2011to\u2011Space Priorities Highlighted at the 18th European Space Conference - 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