Stephen Withers
Thursday, 05 April 2007 13:55
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 2
Space agencies in the US and Europe are looking to tap the inventive and innovative nature of the small and medium enterprise sector. ESA is looking to SMEs as suppliers, while NASA is continuing to fund SME-based research.
ESA recently held its fourth annual workshop aimed at promoting SME participation in European space projects.
"SMEs are very valuable contributors to the supply chain in the space environment," Eric Morel de Westgaver, head of ESA's Procurement Department, told more than 100 participants.
"On several occasions in recent years we have seen SMEs come up with really innovative ideas; ideas that were not coming from large businesses, which in general build more on their experience. Sometimes SMEs have provided breakthrough solutions which have played a very important role in the life of the Agency."
Even though around 700,000 SMEs are developing technology in Europe, only 1530 of them are registered with ESA as potential suppliers, and only 6.5 percent of the agency's 2005 budget went to SMEs.
"ESA's SME Initiative consists of a variety of measures ranging from funding of technology actions to delivery of training," said Nora Bougharouat, head of ESA's SME unit The workshop was "not meant to solve all the problems SMEs may have, but to target some of the important major hurdles," she added.
"Its main purpose is to improve SMEs' skills and competences and thus their participation to the space sector, and also to improve their competitiveness in the non-space market to help sustain their business and limit over-dependency on space."
Please turn to page two to read what NASA's doing with SMEs.
