Laura Landa Ortega
Innovation Analyst & Treasurer
Hi there, my name is Laura Landa Ortega. I was the producer for our very first SPACEtalks event and I will be managing the project from 2021.
SPACEtalks took place on the 5th of March 2020 in London’s iconic County Hall building.
SPACEtalks was born by combining our love for space, innovation and technology with our proven methodology for business development. I was once told that rather than looking for the gap in the market, you should seize the market in the gap, and that’s exactly what we aimed to achieve.
It has been estimated that by 2030, the space industry’s global value, will grow to £400,000 billion, and we wanted to further explore this by bringing together experts from all over the world including governmental space agencies, astronaut trainers, academics, space enthusiasts, start-ups, investors and heads of industry; to discuss some of the fundamental areas for running a successful business in no man’s land.
We were over the moon to welcome Eric Stallmer as our Conference Chair, a natural and eloquent speaker, whose passion for the space industry is almost tangible. With his opening remarks he launched our conference, leaving the audience and the speakers eager for a day of insightful discussions and encouraged the development of collaborative thinking and engagement during the networking breaks.
With the enthralling participation of our magnificent speakers and sponsors the day revolved around a wide range of topics starting with a discussion on how SMEs and start-ups can collaborate with Big Corporations and Gov. institutions, with experts from Open Cosmos, ESA, Harwell Campus, PuliSpace and a private astronaut trainer.
The discussion then took a turn about the importance of IP and law in the space industry, with a stand-alone presentation by Venner Shipley LLP and a panel of experts that discussed the legal challenges faced in the industry, we had the outstanding honor to welcome speakers from Pekama, Infostellar, Lumi Space, Commercial Spaceflight Federation and the United States Air Force. Some of the topics discussed included the legal challenges faced by companies within the space industry, in particular whether the current regulations are outdated and who takes accountability for space activities. As the panel was quite diverse in both experience and background, the passion of all our speakers shone through when the conversation turned to the international framework within the space sector.
This was followed by more fascinating stand-alone presentations such as:
-The missions for future settlement in the moon given by Nancy Vermeulen
-Satellite Constellation choices for earth observation by Maxar Technologies
-Using Space Applications to access new commercial markets by ESA Business Applications
-2020 and beyond, a new global approach by the UK Space Agency
-A demonstration of Catapult’s program Catapult In-Orbit
Furthermore, we had a panel on Investment with Oxford Space Systems, Multiply Global, 1Q Capital and Seraphim Space Camp where panel members discussed what are the particular challenges to gravitate investment for their business and what advice they should follow to overcome this.
We were then able to reflect on the insightful talks with a networking lunch, where our attendees have continued to collaborate and share the knowledge.
We continued the day, with a panel on Cybersecurity and insurance with CryptaLabs, PA Consulting and UltraSoc, moderated by our own CEO Tihomir Karakashev.
To wrap up the day, our final panel was in R&D and manufacturing with the host of the fantastic Interplanetary Podcast, Space in Africa and Dragon Aerospace Systems, with the panel ending with a bidding war erupting between multiple companies to offer support and investment to Dragon Aerospace Systems and perhaps making them the star of the event.
The atmosphere at SPACEtalks was refreshing and stimulating, the inspiring discussions alongside the real feeling of belonging that you get within the space industry made this an extraordinary event to experience not only from my point of view as the producer of the conference but as a space enthusiast myself.
This experience left me with the wish to join the space industry to further understand and observe all the fascinating work that has been done by the close-knit community that the space industry is. From the feedback we received, our attendees, speakers and sponsors left with a collective inspiration to further develop the space industry and absorb its full potential.
I would like to thank everyone – all of our speakers, attendees and sponsors for allowing us to feel welcome and part of this new and ever-innovative space. We are ecstatic to be working in this industry that has such a passion for the furtherance of humanity’s knowledge and understanding of our universe and our exploration of it. We hope to create an arena for discussion, collaboration and growth for this enthralling industry.
Watch this Space ! – SpaceTalks 2.0 is about to launch soon…
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Categorised in: Events, Space Tech, Staff Blog