“Particular satisfaction – continues Dalla Chiara - comes from the number of B2B meetings, that were over 2000, and held in the B2B Meetings Area, and which saw the participation of 243 company representatives (210 suppliers, 43 buyers and 39 exhibitors) and over 160 between industries and institutions from 20 foreign countries (Algeria, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Morocco, Holland, Palestine, Russia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United States, England, Uzbekistan and India).

This confirms the fact that the event stands as a candidate – continues Dalla Chiara – for being a natural location for the demand and offer of Space services and applications. A step – points out Dalla Chiara – that has been widely encouraged due to support from the Istituto ICE (the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade), the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, and also due to the fact that this year, for the first time, an important role was performed by SMEs for Italian Aerospace Enterprises (ASAS, AIPAS and AIAD) who made SAT Expo Europe their official event. On this standpoint – added Dalla Chiara – in addition to having widened its reach, SAT Expo Europe has also organically involved the main actors from the aerospace sector, from the top players (Finmeccanica Group, EADS ASTRIUM, Eutelsat and Skylogic) to interested institutional bodies up to new technology incubators”.

The event, sponsored by the President of the Italian Republic, the European Commission and the President of the Council of Ministers, received the institutional collaboration of the Municipality of Rome.

SAT Expo Europe 2010 got off to an outstanding start at the Campidoglio in Rome with the presentation of ISRO (the Indian Space Research Organization) to over 70 company representatives and more than 15 newspapers.
Again on Wednesday 3rd, in the afternoon, Mediterranean space agencies presented their programmes for development, research and cooperation in the Pietro da Cortona Hall at the Musei Capitolini in Rome. The deputy mayor of Rome, Mauro Cutrufo, who participated in the meeting, declared that the meeting promoted by SAT Expo Europe, in collaboration with the Municipality of Rome, has the merit of “re-launching core activities of the Italian aerospace industry and particularly those in the Latian region, which serves as a hub for all those activities that in Rome could be connected to proposals for new advanced technology and their diffusion in emerging countries”.

Thursday 4th February the inauguration of SAT Expo Europe at the Rome Trade Fair saw the presence of two important institutional figures: the Deputy Minister Adolfo Urso and the Vice President of the European Commission, Antonio Tajani, who took part in the Conference on the EGNOS European navigation programme.

Mr Urso, reaffirmed that “the Institutions and the Italian Government are engaged in encouraging the internationalization of Italian industry and for this operation the aerospace sector, which is the seventh largest in the world, has a key role that includes the fundamental function of establishing the natural arrival point for advanced research and innovation”. Such support was also confirmed by Vice-President Tajani.

Earth Observation played the main role on the second day of the conference dedicated to the European programmes and the BMM (BlueMassMed) project.

The excellence of the solutions offered by the Italian industry in the Earth Observation programmes characterized the intervention of Massimo di Lazzaro, the Senior Vice President of Thales Alenia Space, who, due to his proven experience in the COSMO Sky-Med programme by ASI (the Italian Space Agency), was chosen as prime contractor by the ESA for the construction of the satellites Sentinel 1 and 3, which is an integral part of the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) programme. This European programme is already partly in operation, and as Thomas Beer from the GMES office of the ESA recalled, it is financed for 72% by the ESA and for the remaining part by the European Commission”.

Mr Di Lazzaro particularly highlighted the need by the aerospace industry to be able to count on the continuity of financial commitments from institutions, without which he affirmed, “competitiveness in acquired know-how could be lost in a short time”. From this point of view, Mr Di Lazzaro considers of indubitable worth “the use of ASI (Italian Space Agency) investments, which thanks to various programmes such as COSMO-SkyMed, have enabled Thales Alenia Space, and specifically, its Italian member, to become a centre of European excellence for the large-scale production of T/R (Transmit/Receive) modules as concerns volume capacity, performance and the technology adopted”.

Interoperability of the GMES system, an institutional programme that confirms the will of the European Commission to work towards a coordinated policy for the environment, the safety of citizens, meteorology and climate change, is the issue focused on by Claudio De Bellis, the head of sales at Elsag Datamat, a group company of Finmeccanica that elaborates and uses data collected from satellites taking part in the GMES programme.

The recipients of the demand for the open availability of data from different satellites that participate in the project, which is feasible on a technical level, whose recipients are European Institutions and single member states, which are summoned to also decide on the future property of the space sector of the pan-European project, a decision that carries considerable operational responsibility.

The fact is, that GMES as a European project requires substantial technical coordination, which presupposes perfect political agreement between the Institutions involved.

The third day of the event ended with the collaboration of the “Sapienza” University of Rome on the subject of scientific education for research progress in aerospace and for university training aimed at new professions in the Space sector.

Universities and the ASI (Italian Space Agency) are actively engaged in this role, offering specialization Masters that are increasingly pertinent and similar to the proficiency required and necessary for the aerospace industry, and for which, foundations also, such as the Space Academy are providing active commitment.

An important workshop meeting on international NASA – ASI cooperation illustrated different research missions that were carried out, and still are, by the NASA and the ASI side by side. The participation of Roberto Somma from Thales Alenia Space and Andrea Cisbani, Vice President of the Payloads for Earth Observation segment of SELEX Galileo, companies both belonging to the Finmeccanica Group, explained how this collaboration has on the one hand requested the Italian Industry the supply of extremely sophisticated equipment and devices, and on the other, enabled the development of acquired space know-how for the companies involved. The Italian industry, which has produced more than 50% of the habitable volume currently in orbit, has been extremely active in the Space sector as concerns telecommunications, sensor systems and measuring devices, and has often enabled direct collaboration between Italian Universities and NASA Laboratories.

The SAT Expo Europe 2010 also hosted the conference on “Space, an opportunity for SMEs” by EADS ASTRIUM, a meeting between the ASI and ESA Space associations and the Aerospace Industry. The workshop meeting highlighted the important opportunities offered by the aerospace industry to Small and Medium Enterprises.
Renewal by Telespazio of the lease agreement for two satellites managed by Eutelsat Communication regarding professional video contributions and for other Rai (Italian state owned public service broadcaster) broadcasts was announced during the event.

The two 72 MHz transponders were hired on a multiyear basis on the satellites ATLANTIC BIRD 1 belonging to Eutelsat and W3A. Both satellites provide Italian coverage for the gathering needs of national news and to support RAI requirements for the constant broadcasting of news, sports and special events over Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East.

Several advantages are in the project compared to previous traditional solutions. A new high-efficiency very-compact horn has been devised in order to reduce mass, volume and complexity  of the antenna structure.

The topic is Aerospace cooperation and strategies in the Mediterranean, discussed by representatives of space agencies in the Mediterranean (Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Syria, Turkey), together with the Italian and European Agencies (ASI, ESA) and representatives from the Indian, U.S., Russian and Turkish Agencies (ISRO, NASA, Federal Russian Space Agency).

The conferences will be opened by Foreign Undersecretary Hon. Stefania Craxi, the Vice-mayor of Rome Sen. Mauro Cutrufo, and Università la “Sapienza” Provost Luigi Frati.

The Conference, which starts at 2.30 p.m. in Sala Pietro da Cortona, will be preceded by the Press Conference presenting the Indian Space Agency (ISRO) and its plans for aerospace cooperation with Europe and Italy in Sala del Carroccio, at 12.00 p.m.

Thursday 4 Feb., Vice-minister Hon. Adolfo Urso will open the Conference on EGNOS, the satellite navigation program.

At 5.00 p.m. on the same day, European Commission Vice-president Hon. Antonio Tajani will close the Conference dedicated to satellite navigation with a Press Conference, during which he will present the latest developments concerning the EGNOS program.

SAT Expo Europe benefits from the Alto Patronato della Presidenza della Repubblica and has received the Sponsorship of the European Commission and of the Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri. The event’s institutional partner is the City of Rome. Scientific Partner, Università la “Sapienza”. It is the official reference event for the three Italian aerospace industry associations: AIAD, AIPAS e ASAS.

The Conference organized with the European Commission will present the new European satellite navigation system’s applications, which are already operational and will refine GPS positioning in Europe.

Born with the support of the European Commission, ESA and the air traffic control authorities Eurocontrol, EGNOS will use three geostationary satellites, 34 ground stations and four control centres and will be a free open service to integrate with GPS systems in order to improve their horizontal (from 7 to 2 meters approximation) and vertical precision, to help pilots in landing.

“In past decades, the Aerospace industry  established itself as the industry most characterized b intensive research – says Paolo Gaudenzi, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Astronautics at the University della Sapienza – In certain companies the level of investment reaches 30% of all profits, a much higher percentage than in other high-tech industries. For the European aerospace industry it is thus necessary to continuously enrol young motivated and talented specialists and engineers, on a national level, but also throughout Europe and the world.”
A meeting to discuss those professions that will see the most development in the aerospace business in the near future, and those “background job” opportunities that are developing with the advent of the new European navigation system, the large scale Earth Observation systems in progress and, for the more adventurous field of exploration, with journeys to the Moon and Mars.
The Round Table is defined in three moments: the role of scholastic and University-Scientific Institutions, the specializations and scientific centre “case studies”, which have “already launched students in orbit” with applications studied and built entirely by young researchers.

On Saturday only, the R2B (Research to Business) Meetings will be held in the “Space Italy” area. Here, students and interested researchers will have the chance to meet representatives from the various associations, industries and research institutions to gain information on  new Space professions and their educational and training paths
.
To conclude the day’s events, the Diploma in “Master in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Rome – Tor Vergata” session will take place in its devoted conference room.

At the Meeting will take part the Space Academy Foundation. Partners are Telespazio, Thales Alenia Space and the University of Aquila, who together fallow high-level training, research and develop of  competencies in space systems for Telecommunication, navigation, scientific research and orbital infrastructures and operates through residential masters’ programmes at the space centres, summer/winter schools, scientific congresses, workshops and conferences with international experts.

The world of Italian research is among the most prestigious in the world. Often researchers, though brilliant, are unable to find an appropriate middleman to understand their project, or do not identify the most appropriate channels for presenting their work, which could in fact be significant for the development of space applications.

For this reason, SAT Expo Europe has dedicated a section of the exhibit to R2b (Research to business) meetings, exclusively reserved for encounters between young researchers and scholars that could request a meeting with an industry or aerospace training representative to present their project.

To participate in these free meetings, it is sufficient to fill out the form on the SAT Expo Europe Web-site, www.satexpo.it, and request a meeting with one’s chosen interlocutor.

The meetings will be held exclusively on Saturday 6 February in Rome Fair, from 09.00 a.m. to 01.00 p.m.

The complete list of participants from India who will participate in the various related SAT Expo Europe events are:

Press Conference 3rd February:
Dr VS Hegde, Scientific Secretary, ISRO
Mr S Satish, Director, Publications and PR Dr (Mrs) Radhika Ramachandran, Counselor, (Space), Paris

II. Speakers:
February 3, 2010:

Inaugural Press Meet in the morning
Indian Ambassador along with Dr VS Hegde, Mr S Satish

International Conference:
Space Geo-politics and Cooperation : Dr VS Hegde

February 4, 2010
Indian Space Programme and Vision: Mr S Satish

February 5, 2010:
Environment, Agriculture and Integrated Applications.: Dr VS Hegde Cartography, Maps etc.: Dr VS Hegde Climate Change, Climatology:Dr (Mrs) Radhika Ramachandran Tele-medicine, Health Assistance: Mr S Satish

III. ISRO will also put up an exhibition of 60 sq. m. displaying models of satellites and launch vehicles with attractive posters and other display materials. The exhibition will be looked after by Mr S Satish and Dr Radhika.

This is an important event for Italy and for the Italian Aerospace Industry in particular, that has a chance to consolidate the long-lasting friendship between the countries.

02.30 PM – 03.30 PM

Marconi Room

Workshop by Eldy and Open-Sky

02.00 PM – 02.30 PM

Marconi Room

Workshop by Coding

11.30 AM – 01.00 PM

Marconi Room

Workshop by Open-Sky

Workshop Reserved to the Tooway/Open-Sky Sales Network Members