The importance of assessing the wider economic benefits of space activities in Europe, in the upstream and in services
- Paper number
IAC-15,E3,IP,4,x30889
- Author
Dr. Luigi Scatteia, Strategy& - Formerly Booz and Company, The Netherlands
- Year
2015
- Abstract
Space technologies enable services and applications within countless industrial sectors, impacting a large recipient audience, and strongly contributing to industrial competitiveness and to the development of a knowledge-based society. Space-enabled services and all the associated benefits are clearly subjected to the availability of appropriate upstream space infrastructure, which in turn still depend, financially, on adequate and continual public spending (especially true for Europe). This argument points towards the importance of Socio-economic Impact assessments of space activities: they demonstrate the broad benefits of public spending, help provide transparency vis-à-vis stakeholders, and can be used to support public spending decision, or in trade-offs between alternative investments. A survey of past studies carried out in 2013 by Strategy& highlighted issues in the way socio-economic impacts of space are assessed and communicated in Europe. To address those issues, Strategy& Strategy& developed a rigorous methodology for socio-economic impact assessments of space activities in Europe, leveraging existing modelling assets and minimizing data collection needs. The methodology was successfully tested in a project carried out in 2014 for the European Space Agency, and is currently being adapted for a general use for European space project/programmes for the European Commission. This paper will elaborate on the need and importance of socio-economic impact assessments of space for Europe, and will present the methodology for wider socio-economic impact assessments developed by Strategy&. The paper will also describe on going developments on a tailored methodology to assess the socio-economic impact of the space sector downstream, and how these sort of impact assessments can be used to shape the European space policy to promote downstream market development.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)