Celebrating the tenth anniversary of Portugal joining ESA as a Member State, José Mariano Gago, Portuguese Minister of Science and Higher Education, and Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA’s Director General, met today at Pavilhão do Conhecimento, Lisbon.
For Portugal, becoming a Member State has been essential to foster the development of new cluster of activity. Around 30 companies, many of them start-ups, have been created with a focus on space technologies. Over one thousand projects in the space field have been conducted by industry and academia together during this last decade, in a global investment of more than €100 million.
Portugal participates today in all the main ESA programmes, including Telecommunications and Integrated Applications, Galileo and Navigation-related activities, Earth Observation, and Science and Robotic Exploration.
Mr Gago and Mr Dordain also attended the Fourth Space Forum, organised by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Science and Technology Foundation), through its Space Office and Agência Ciência Viva. ESA has been a strong supporter of the event.
