The event, Opportunities in Developing Technologies, Products and Applications for Advanced Satellite Systems, was co-hosted by Enterprise Ireland and ESA.It took place in Dublin, Ireland on Sept. 7. Attendees and ESA representatives agreed the event was a success.
"This is the first of such tailored events and we want to thank Tony McDonald from Enterprise Ireland for hosting the first one," said Ralph Bierett, Head of ESA's Strategy and Future Programmes Department.
Registrants included representation from industry, primarily SMEs. A large proportion of attendees had not worked with ESA Telecom in the past. The main focus of the event included; innovative solutions, emerging technologies, convergent solutions, (terrestrial and satellite, mobile and fixed) and integrated networks and applications. It opened with welcoming remarks from Tony McDonald of Enterprise Ireland.
"ESA has an impressive track record in satellite technologies and systems and can provide invaluable assistance to industry in realising their business development ideas in satellite communications and navigation," he stated.
Bierett, along with Pierluigi Mancini, Head of ESA's Future Programmes and Applications Division, followed McDonald with a discussion about ESA's Advanced Research in Telecommunications System (ARTES) program.
"ARTES is the first entry of the value chain of satellite telecommunications," explained Bierett.
"We have to make a stronger case for space," Mancini said. "By tradition ESA has a technology 'push role'. But we have understood several years ago the importance of the user -driven approach."
Jorgen Sandberg, Head of ESA's, Technology Projects Division, then took the floor to discuss ARTES 5, Enabling Satellite Technologies.
"We are very minded on competitiveness," he said.
Satcom Applications (ARTES 3 and 4) was then discussed by Franceso Feliciani from ESA's Future Projects and Applications Division.
"We would like to keep the dialogue open even after 3 p.m. today," he said.
A general question and answer period as well as the opportunity to have face to face meetings with key ESA representatives was offered to attendees. A total of 17 face-to-face meetings took place.
"The day was extremely well organized," said Paddy O'Boyle, representing Business Development at Bell Labs, Ireland. "The speakers were all knowledgeable. The answers to questions were excellent, precise and direct."
"The event was very informative," said Dedan Cambell of Digiweb, Ltd, Ireland. "I found it to be thought-provoking."
