Space technology, data and services tackle some of the most pressing challenges, such as fighting climate change, helping to stimulate technological innovation, and providing socio-economic benefits to citizens. Its potential in supporting the European Commission Green Deal and digital transformation is undoubted. The importance of fostering innovation in space applications and services across countries and continents is widely acknowledged as well.
The EU’s relationship with Africa has been recognised as a key priority for the European Commission. The field of Space and space applications represent an enormous potential for cooperation between Europe and Africa. In particular, space research and all related activities have outstanding capacity to enable new skills development and human capital development in Africa: laying the foundation for an innovation driven economy to support economic well-being on the continent. In the past, the focus on R&D has been on the development of space assets. In the meantime, the EU Space programme has not only been established, but both the Copernicus Sentinel and the Galileo constellations deliver continuous data and services, that have started changing the way we live on this planet. Therefore a co-designed strategy and research agendas for the creation of innovative space applications in close collaboration between Europe and Africa will be necessary. The commencement of Horizon Europe and the NDICI programme is an unique opportunity to advance the EU's cooperation with Africa and its’ agenda 2030.
This session gathers prominent speakers from Africa and Europe, sharing their take on how space applications can foster a dynamic cooperation between both continents across different sectors. At the European side, the establishment of the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), expected to link space to user needs, could be seen as a logical step towards increasing engagement with Africa in this field. The already strong policy dialogue in many space-related fields shall be continued and further developed, ensuring further alignment. The international research cooperation between Europe's and Africa's needs a strategic approach to space so that the combined efforts and assets can reach the common goals. In that respect, research cooperation shall advance the idea of synergies between Horizon Europe and NDICI. The NDICI programme has enormous potential to deliver key policy objectives in Africa and with Africa. Space must be part of this narrative and we need to work together to identify specific measures and initiatives.
The next EU-Africa Summit will take place during the French Council Presidency early in 2022. This triannual meeting is a unique opportunity to set new agendas and space to be part of this dialogue.
In the course of this session, we will look for the answers of these and many other related questions:
- How can Europe and Africa collaborate to advance the SDGs together?
- What measures should be taken to ensure that research and development is increasingly part of the shared by both continents space agenda?
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