Luxembourg recently unveiled the new national space strategy for 2023-2027 which put sustainable development at the top of the agenda. Silicon Luxembourg interviewed Marc Serres, CEO of the Luxembourg Space Agency, to learn more about the strategy and its implications for the sector.
Last December you unveiled the new national space strategy for 2023-2027 which saw a 21.6% increase in investments. Front and centre are developing competencies that contribute to sustainable development on our planet. Why is the space sector a good vector for this?
I think the space sector has already demonstrated that it’s an important actor which monitors and supports sustainable development. When looking at the Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations and the initiatives they comprise, more than 40% of them are already supported by space infrastructures.
Can you give an example of a Luxembourg initiative using space infrastructure to contribute to sustainable development initiatives?
One such initiative is emergency.lu, a mobile, satellite-based telecommunications platform that was created to re-establish communication after a disaster and support the coordination of humanitarian organisations in the field. This is only one of many initiatives that use space infrastructure to support the Sustainable Development Goals.
How stringent will Luxembourg’s sustainability guidelines be for space companies wishing to register here?
We don’t have the power to decide which companies register here or not but we will try to see how we, Luxembourg Space Agency, can stimulate this in a more natural way. It is too early to say at what point international sustainability guidelines will become legally binding but at this point, we are proceeding on a step-by-step basis. At the end of the day, we are also here to promote our economic development, so we have to find measures that do not slow us down in this respect.
The space strategy comprises four pillars: economic sustainability, sustainability on Earth, sustainability in space and the sustainable use of space resources. What can you tell me about them?
One of the pillars is more transversal and the three others are more thematic. If you look at sustainability on Earth, it’s more thematic because here we would like to foster the use of space for Earth applications with a sustainable focus. Sustainability in space is also thematic and involves thinking about how to manage future space activities in a sustainable manner. Before launching new space activities we need to think about the long-term consequences and understand how to minimise their impact.
Space resources is a long-term topic which we’ve been working on for six years and which we see as a critical enabler for future space activities. This pillar aims to develop strategies and practices of space resource utilisation that are more sustainable than the ones we’ve undertaken on Earth. Lastly, economic sustainability is the more transversal one as it affects all pillars. The idea behind it is that all our space sector investments are consolidated and that they create a long-term and sustainable ecosystem that will not disappear. This includes thinking about education, having the right talents, and considering our innovation aspects but also our investment and research angles.
“Since the space sector was already so involved in sustainable development, it was obvious to us to continue this development and put it at the heart of our strategy.”
Marc Serres, CEO of the Luxembourg Space Agency
What changes are you making to the educational system?
We are working closely with the ministry of education to support primary and secondary teachers to integrate space topics in their subjects. We hope that this will create increased awareness and inspiration for the young generations to go more into scientific and technical careers. We want space to become a more natural and accessible topic in general.
As our Space master’s programme becomes more mature, we also hope to attract more and more students to it. In the end, we want to anchor space long-term in Luxembourg, through our educational approach and also our regulatory and innovation approach.
Other than the sustainability angle of the strategy, what other elements are important?
As the national space agency, it is our task to implement this national space strategy. However, something that is not directly mentioned is that the ministry of economy has delegated a couple of other tasks to us. This includes representing the country in different international organisations such as the European Space Agency (ESA). This is a crucial part of the strategy as the ESA is an extremely important partner and their support is critical to continue our work at the highest level.
While our work with ESA is very important, it also requires a very big effort from us because they are active across many topics and have put in place committees and working groups that have to be followed. It occupies 80% of our team for around 25% of the year–which is huge–but sometimes this effort is a bit invisible to the outside.
How will the new strategy support space startups and entrepreneurs?
In the space sector in general, we are at the forefront of innovation so startups are obviously an important element of the strategy. However, we have also seen that it can be important to help existing companies establish a new arm in Luxembourg. Since maturity is an important element of consideration and established companies are more mature than startups, they can often bring more advantages.
As partners with Luxinnovation, Fit 4 Start and ESRIC, startups nevertheless continue to play an important role in the space ecosystem and we help them develop their activities, especially in relation to space resources. We also have the ambition to build a dedicated space incubator on our future space campus which we hope to have up and running by 2025-2026, but there remains a lot to be defined when it comes to the space campus.
What is on top of the agenda for the LSA in 2023?
As we are celebrating our fifth anniversary this year, we are taking this opportunity to communicate a bit more towards the younger generation and the general public. We have done this before, but not as much, so this year we have a few initiatives throughout the year where we are partnering with companies and labs in the ecosystem and opening our doors to the public.
The idea is to make our ecosystem better known to the public and young people and really give them a look into what happens behind the scenes. The first registrations have shown that there is a huge interest in these initiatives so we are excited to get the ball rolling on them soon.
This article was first published in the Silicon Luxembourg magazine. Get your copy.
