CESAER university network and ESA meet in Paris
On 11 September 2024, an event took place at the European Space Agency (ESA) headquarters in Paris to advance collaboration between universities of science and technology and ESA.
Politecnico di Torino was represented by Roberto Zanino, the Rector’s senior advisor for international university networks and Unite!, as well as member of the CESAER Board of Directors, and by Nicole Viola, professor of Aerospace Systems.
The program began with welcoming remarks from Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General, and Tim Bedford, Vice President of CESAER. The Director General emphasized ESA’s interest in collaborating with CESAER to harness the unique capabilities of universities in fostering innovation, education, and research related to space exploration.
A key highlight of the event was a session on good practices from CESAER Member universities, which featured a series of presentations by delegates from twelve prominent CESAER Member universities, including the presentation by Nicole Viola on “Advancing European space research, education and exploration”, as well as contributions from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Delft University of Technology, among others.
The ESA leadership team and invited experts also provided insightful perspectives on potential next steps in the collaboration, with a view to solidifying the alignment of key strategic priorities between ESA and CESAER. The event concluded by exploring concrete next steps for joint CESAER-ESA activities. Both organisations agreed to investigate how existing exemplary practices could be scaled up and expanded across more universities, supported by new strategies and funding instruments.
“This joint CESAER-ESA event confirms the critical role science and technology universities play in Europe’s space sector, promising to advance not only Europe’s space capabilities but also the broader mission of creating sustainable and impactful scientific, economic, and societal benefits – Prof. Zanino stated - ESA has a 2024 budget of almost 8 billion euro, and Italy is the third contributor to that budget among the 22 member states, with a remarkable almost 17%. CESAER provided and excellent opportunity to showcase the strengths and plans of Politecnico di Torino in the space sector. ESA also showed interest for the development of a possible systematic collaboration with European University Alliances, a topic which will be worth of future discussion inside Unite!”
“Strethening the collaborations between Science and Technology Universities and ESA, as well as among Universties, is crucial to advance European competitiveness – Prof. Viola added - In addition to promote students and staff’s mobility and exchanges between educational programs, it is of utmost importance to enhance cooperation among research teams and research infrastructures across Europe to possibly set up chains of laboratories”.