A new Space Strategy for Europe - Main contents

The new Space Strategy for Europe aims at making the most of space for our society and economy, fostering a competitive and innovative European space sector and maintaining Europe's strategic autonomy in space.

EU space programmes already deliver services that have become indispensable in everyone's daily lives. Space data is needed in using mobile phones, driving cars with a navigation system, taking the plane or watching satellite TV. It is also central to the protection of key infrastructures such as power plants, smart grids or even bank transactions. Space data helps to manage borders and save lives at sea. It improves our response to earthquakes, forest fires and floods. It allows farmers to plan ahead. It helps to protect the environment and monitor climate change.

In its new Space Strategy for Europe the Commission proposes a range of actions to allow Europeans to fully seize the benefits offered by space, create the right ecosystem for space start-ups to grow, promote Europe's leadership in space and increase its share on the world space markets. It is a strategy that responds to growing global competition, increasing private sector involvement and major technological shifts.

Under the new Space Policy for Europe the Commission will for example:

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  promote the use of Galileo in mobile devices and critical infrastructures and improve connectivity in remote areas;
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  make it easier for innovative companies and start-ups to access space data via dedicated industry-led platforms in order to develop services and applications;
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  promote more private investment for such start-ups, in particular in the context of the Investment Plan for Europe;
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  support the emergence of European industrial space hubs and clusters in European regions.

On the same day, the EU and the European Space Agency i sign a joint declaration to express their joint vision for a European space policy. This is a first of its kind declaration, showing the importance both institution attribute to the close and integrated cooperation in a truly European approach to space.