The Space Economy Program: Innovative Education to enhance applications and opportunities of the Space Sector to the General Public
- Paper number
IAC-23,E1,6,6,x75272
- Author
Ms. Chiara Maria Cocchiara, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy
- Coauthor
Mr. Adrian Saez, Space Economy Academy – SEAC, Germany
- Year
2023
- Abstract
The Space Ecosystem, with its upstream and downstream segments, has an impact on other fields that benefit from or contribute to space applications: from agriculture to medicine, to energy, to transportation, the Space Sector is a world of opportunities for the General Public. Many experts from other fields are not aware of the possibilities offered from the Space Sector; in the same way, many space engineers are not aware of the possible applications outside this field. The Space Economy Academy set Space Outreach as the key goal of its activities. The focus of the Space Economy course is to provide the general skills to all set of students backgrounds and expertise, to operate in the Space field: a Space engineer may need financial skills, a medical doctor may need the space technology knowledge, a business angel may need space regulation awareness. After an initial set of lectures, the students develop a business plan, providing an end-to-end overview of a new innovative business idea, touching on all aspects from technical, to legal, to financial, to marketing, etc. Through the course, the academy exploits the potential of new entrepreneurs and support them through the guidance of experts from the industry, in order to develop a new successful idea and transform it into an investment-worthy company. The Space Economy course is delivered entirely online, and after three years of live courses, following a market analysis, in 2023 the new pre-recorded course has been released, to allow self-paced learning. The promotion of the course included multiple steps: originally, the Academy was the first one launching a Space Economy program, and thanks to a strong SEO (Search Engine Organization), it became easily searchable and accessible by the audience at worldwide level. A series of global partnerships, including the European Space Agency BIC, the SGAC, Space Foundation, SSERD and Unimarconi then allowed reaching an even larger audience. The Academy registered a record of registrations in 2022, with students from over 10 nationalities, and diverse backgrounds (from engineering to journalism, to investors,..). About 35% of the students created new Start-Ups that have been launched into the market. Not only the objectives have been met, but the Academy proved once again that education is the most powerful tool for a better future, and that the Space Sector is a world of opportunities for anyone in the world, with any background and any innovative idea.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
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