Space tech convention 2019: Opportunities for companies from South-East Europe in the commercial space Industry

Event report

[Read more session reports and live updates from the 2nd Western Balkan Digital Summit]

Ms Irena Chaushevska (CEO, Co-Founder, and Investor at Next Billionaires Capital) opened her presentation by providing an overview of her organisation and its history. She told the story of how she travelled to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Los Angeles, California, to meet with representatives from the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). As a result, their organisation launched the NewMan’s Business Accelerator to organise space-related activities for Southeastern Europe, especially since space is now a US$400 billion industry. The main reason for the conference will be to explore competitive opportunities, business models, and partnerships that will work to catalyse space-related research in the region.

Chaushevska highlighted various conferences that will take place in Skopje and across the Western Balkan economies this year as part of the five-part series of the Space Tech Conference, with topics including the emerging of commercial space industry, opportunities for local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the commercial space industry, market trends for small satellites and manufacturing in the region, and various topical tracks that range from information technology (IT) and robotics, to communications, smart materials, energy, and medicine.

In addition to the Space Industry Expo and business-to-business (B2B) meetings, one of the highlights of the event will be the NASA space competition and the startup finale, as well as the Educational Space Expo. Chaushevska then called on interested investors, researchers, and participants to join them for the event, which will be held in Skopje in October 2019, and underscored that space is no longer a domain just for the United States and the Russian Federation.

By Michael J. Oghia