Space Tech Expo Europe 2021

Between 16. – 18. November 2021, the Space Tech Expo Europe took place in the exhibition centre of Bremen for the fourth time. This year was set to be a full house, with more than 4300 people in attendance, including industry leaders, vendors, and new space startups.

The 365 exhibitors were accompanied by an onsite conference which allowed attendees a closer look into the aeronautics and space industry within Europe as well as full access to highly specialised panel discussions and a multitude of networking opportunities.

Space Tech Expo Europe, Exhibition Centre 4 and 5 (©ESA BIC Northern Germany/ Macy Sto. Domingo-Heib).

As the hosting city and a leading player in the aeronautics and space industry, the Bremen City of Space booth was once again an eye-catcher. Topics such as digitization, training and study opportunities in Bremen were all showcased at the booth and attendees were invited to learn more about what the City of Space has to offer. The booth was setup in good tradition by BremenInvest.

In addition to this, the City of Space offered a matchmaking event through ‘Enterprise Europe Network Bremen’ via a central platform. Participants were then able to present their company profile in the lead-up to the event and find potential partners for exchanging information and cultivating new partnerships. More than 1000 participants from almost 50 nations took advantage of this unique opportunity and over 2500 meetings were arranged during the course of the trade fair. This was one of the biggest matchmaking events in the aeronautics and space industry in Europe.

The City of Space booth was also a meeting point not only for the Bremen space community and its guests but also for international delegations, for example from the Netherlands and Poland.

Both delegations were formally welcomed by Kristina Vogt, Senator for Economics, Labour and Europe, during a special evening reception that took place on 15. November. The traditional pre-event VIP dinner took place for the fourth time and was held in the Himmelssaal in Böttcherstrasse, with 60 members of the international aeronautics and space community in attendance.

VIP dinner hosted by Kristina Vogt, Senator for Economics, Labour and Europe.

Bremen City of Space booth, Space Tech Expo Europe 2021 (©ESA BIC Northern Germany/ Macy Sto. Domingo-Heib).

To further encourage the cooperation between the different space regions, Aviaspace Bremen and SpaceNed Netherlands invited companies and representatives from both regions to take part in a VIP networking event held at Havanna Lounge in the city centre on 16. November. The event was a great way for attendees to connect over the day’s events and the many highlights that were already experienced during the opening speeches and panels of the Space Tech Expo Europe.

VIP networking event at Havanna Lounge (©ESA BIC Northern Germany/ Macy Sto. Domingo-Heib).

Part of this VIP Event was also a delegation from the Netherlands focusing on Earth observation, organized by the Netherlands Space Office and Aviaspace Bremen. On the day prior to the Space Tech Expo, a conference was held in the BITZ Bremen, where Earth observation companies and their clients from the Netherlands and Bremen got the opportunity to present their business and network with each other. Later on during the day the delegation visited the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence. The head of the delegation Nico van Putten, Deputy Director Netherlands Space Office, was enthusiastic about the exchange and convinced that further activities would develop from it. In total, there were 36 participants coming from eight companies from the Netherlands and 14 companies from Germany.

Dutch Delegation visiting the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) (©ESA BIC Northern Germany/Macy Sto. Domingo-Heib).

After organizing three online “Connecting Space Regions” sessions during the course of the year, on Wednesday 17. November, Aviaspace Bremen and SpaceNed held the fourth Connecting Space Regions Event, with the topic “Earth Observation Applications”, during a breakfast event at the Parkhotel Bremen. There were three Keynote speeches from Netherlands Space Office, Groundstation Dotspace and the Institute for Environmental Physics from the University of Bremen. Afterwards, 14 companies from four countries (Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Poland) got the opportunity to pitch their business to the audience. This was a great opportunity for all participants to meet companies from the Earth observation sector and beyond.

On the last day trade fair, Aviaspace Bremen was part of the ‘Meeting DASCLab/NSO’ with the Zuid-Holland delegation. This session focused on the cooperation in the space sector between both regions, with particular interest in the cooperation between Avatar and DASCLab in the field of digital engineering and AR/VR. Representatives from Aviaspace, DLR, OHB,Airbus and RADIUSMEDIA were present.

At the ESA Space Solutions booth, business opportunities for young startups in the Hanseatic City were on full display. More than 30 ESA BIC startups were represented, with ESA BIC Northern Germany startups Evoblade, Levity and Valispace present in person. The startups were eager to use the trade fair to showcase their business ideas and products to potential partners and an international network of industry leaders. The startups were also given a booth tour of the trade fair to familiarize them with twelve of the biggest players in the space community of Bremen.

ESA Space Solutions booth, Space Tech Expo Europe 2021 (©ESA BIC Northern Germany/ Macy Sto. Domingo-Heib)

A special highlight during the trade fair was the signing of the contract for the ESA BIC Northern Germany Schleswig Holstein, based in Lübeck.

ESA BIC Northern Germany welcomes the region of Schleswig-Hollstein (©ESA BIC Northern Germany/ Macy Sto. Domingo-Heib)

In the evening, ESA BIC Northern Germany, along with ESA BIC Noordwijk and NL Space Campus, hosted ‘Connecting the Curious’ as a special addition alongside the day events of the Space Tech Expo Europe. The exclusive networking event gathered students, young professionals and startups from the space industry and space community to connect and exchange creative ideas. The event hosted approximately 80 participants and was held at Lugger, in Schlachthof.

‘Connecting the Curious’ networking event at Lugger, in Schlachthof (© ESA BIC Northern Germany/ Carolina Gomez)

Last but not least, Aviaspace was involved in two further side-events during Space Tech Expo Europe.

On November 16^th, Aviaspace, in cooperation with the DLR-ArianeGroup Think Tank, hosted a presentation on “Astronautical Space Transportation in Europe? Study results from the DLR-AG Think Tank”.

On November 17^th, Aviaspace, together with DLR, hosted a roundtable discussion on the plans for the new commercial LEO-Station “Orbital Reef” with John Roth, Vice President Business Development from Sierra Space.

Both events offered in depth discussions about the topics presented and were attended by approximately 20 participants each.

This year allowed the aeronautics and space industry to come together face-to-face and once again proved that, “the sky is not the limit”. Bremen City of Space looks forward to welcoming the space community again for Space Tech Expo Europe 2022!