Trendsetting, innovative, connecting: Space Tech Expo Europe 2023

Space Tech Expo Europe returned to Bremen, the City of Aerospace, for its sixth edition. The three-day trade fair took place from November 14 – 16, 2023 at the exhibition centre in Bremen and was opened by Kristina Vogt, Senator for Economics, Ports and Transformation. Year after year, the Space Tech Expo Europe raises the bar for the industry with a showcase of the latest technologies, networking opportunities and topical debates. With more than 6200+ experts from around the world, including industry leaders, suppliers and new space startups, #SpaceTechExpoEurope 2023 has once again surpassed last year’s numbers. The 550+ exhibiting aeronautics and space companies and panel discussions offered attendees a closer look at the latest trends and news in the aerospace industry in Europe.

SPACE TECH EXPO 2023 Trade Fair ©AVIASPACE/Weber-Steinhaus.

Bremen’s aerospace industry presented the full breadth of its capabilities with the following players: OHB, Airbus DS, ArianeGroup, DSI Aerospace, AES, HE Space, Geradts, Polaris Raumflugzeuge, ZARM Technik, German Aerospace Centre (DLR) Institute of Space Systems, Fraunhofer IFAM, Arthur Behrens, ASTRA e.V., Ferchau, Shieldex, Thermconcept, and the ESA BIC Northern Germany startups Planblue, Valispace, Marble Imaging, Blue Orbit Space Systems, Trilitec, PhySens and Coher Sense.

Exhibition stand: Bremen/Bremerhaven City of Space

As in previous years, Bremen / Bremerhaven “City of Space” welcomed visitors and exhibitors with its own stand as the host federal state. Under the motto “Launch Your Career in Bremen”, visitors were invited to find out more about the aerospace industry as well as training and study opportunities at the fair. In keeping with tradition, AVIASPACE BREMEN e.V. and BremenInvest organized and designed the stand together.

Pepper, the humanoid robot, answered visitors’ questions about the aerospace players and activities in the state of Bremen, from A for AVIASPACE to E for ECOMAT and Z for ZARM technology.

Exhibit: Humanoid robot (©AVIASPACE/Justin von Glahn)

Bremen Party on 14.11.2022 at the exhibition space of Enterprise Europe Network and Bremen. Welcome by Hans -Georg Tschupke (Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ports and Transformation | Bremen) (©AVIASPACE/Justin von Glahn)

Bremen Party (©AVIASPACE/Justin von Glahn).

The stand was also a meeting point for international delegations from countries such as the Netherlands (Zuid-Holland), the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland), Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Canada and Enterprise Ireland. International guests, important exhibitors and representatives of Bremen’s space scene were officially welcomed by Kristina Vogt, Minister for Economic Affairs, Ports and Transformation, at a Senate reception on November 13. The traditional VIP dinner in the run-up to the trade fair took place in Bremen City Hall – part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site – and was attended by 120 VIPs and executives from the international aerospace community.

VIP dinner in the Upper Town Hall on 13.11.2022.

Connecting Space Regions

A special focus this year was once again on the space cooperation with the Zuid-Holland region, which has been in place since 2019. On the first day of the trade fair, November 14, 2023, two network meetings with Zuid-Holland took place in the Business Lounge in Hall 7. The first “Working Meeting” focused on the development of joint projects and the identification of funding opportunities; the second on cooperation & innovation in the university sector. In addition to Bremen and Zuid-Holland, space companies from Wales/England, Italy, Poland and the French region of Occitanie also had the opportunity to present their activities and network with each other. Peter Batenberg, representative of the LDE Space Network (cooperation between the Dutch universities of Leiden, Delft and Erasmus), was enthusiastic about the exchange and convinced that further activities will develop from this. In the coming years, successful pilot projects will be built upon and cooperation in areas such as digitalization and materials research will be driven forward.

To further promote cooperation between the different space regions, AVIASPACE BREMEN e.V. and the Dutch cluster SpaceNed Netherlands invited companies and representatives from various space regions to a VIP networking event at the Bremen/Bremerhaven Chamber of Commerce on the evening of November 14. For the participants, the event at the Schütting was a great opportunity to strengthen business cooperation and research and development between the space regions.

Connecting Space Regions VIP reception at the Schütting: Aviaspace – Province of Zuid-Holland – SpaceNed – Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.

COOPERANTS

The COOPERANTS consortium, consisting of Airbus DS, DLR RY, DFKI, Fraunhofer IWU, FZI, itemis, neusta aerospace, OHB, RADIUSMEDIA, ScopeSET, Valispace and ZARM Technik, was a co-exhibitor at the City of Space Bremen stand. The consortium, with a growing presence in the aerospace industry, is keen to develop partnerships in this field. With a presentation on the topic: “Showcasing a Future Data-Ecosystem for Space” and a panel moderation and participation on the topic: “Collaboration for Digitalization” by Dr. Caroline Lange (DLR), Hauke Ernst (Airbus Defence and Space) and John T.H. Dobson (neusta aerospace), the trade fair participants were able to learn more about the project.

Dr. Caroline Lange (DLR) on the panel on Collaboration for Digitalization (©AVIASPACE BREMEN e.V. /Justin von Glahn).

International delegations

Under the motto “Meet the Canadians” and “Meet the Swiss”, bilateral meetings and cooperation opportunities between various regions and countries were on the agenda on the second day of the trade fair (November 15). This also included the space and aviation clusters Andalusia and Space UK. On November 15, there was also an excursion into space law with the “Space Tech Expo Bremen Legal Conference” and the associated launch of the “Routledge Handbook of Commercial Space Law”.

Space Tech Expo Legal Conference. In the picture: Prof. Lesley Jane Smith (Weber-Steinhaus, Smith & Klein) and Dr. Ingo Baumann (BHO Legal).

Meet the Canadians: Networking event with a Canadian delegation at the Bremen City of Space trade fair stand (©AVIASPACE/ Justin von Glahn) .

Meet the Swiss: Networking event with a Swiss delegation at the Bremen City of Space exhibition stand (©AVIASPACE/ Hannah Lüdeker)

The ZARM Sponsors’ Association Prize was also awarded jointly by Dr. Thomas Reiter (President of the ZARM Sponsors’ Association and former ESA astronaut), Sabine von der Recke (OHB) and Marc Steckling (Airbus) at Space Tech Expo Europe on 15.11.2023. First place, endowed with €1,200.00, went to Magdalena Misslich from the University of Hanover. Second place, endowed with €1,000.00, went to Tobias Hoffmann from the University of Oldenburg. Third place, endowed with €800.00, went to Patrick Alter from TU Darmstadt.

A highlight of day 2 of Space Tech Expo Europe: the presentation of the ZARM Sponsorship Award. (©AVIASPACE/ Justin von Glahn).

In the picture: Winner Magdalena Misslich from the University of Hanover / supervisors Prof. Dr. Rasel and Dr. Schlippert. Master’s thesis “A Compact Vacuum System for Dark Energy Search Using Atom Interferometry in the Einstein Elevator”(©AVIASPACE/ Justin von Glahn).

UK Networking Event on 15.11.2023 (©AVIASPACE/ Hannah Lüdeker).

ESA Business Incubation Centre Northern Germany

Géraldine Naja, ESA Director of Commercialization, Industry and Procurement, presented the prizes for ESA’s Technology Transfer Ideas Competition on 14 November.  First prize went to GSI, second prize to Halo and third prize to PhySens.

Dr. Andreas Kanstein (cesah), representatives of HALO Technologies, Clemens Espe (GSI), Géraldine Naja (ESA), Henriette Struckmann (PhySens) and Johannes Schmidt (EurA AG) (from left to right).

The future of space was the focus of the ESA BIC Pitch Breakfast for 30 young international startups on November 15.

The ESA BIC Northern Germany startups Blue Orbit Space Systems, PhySens GmbH and CoherSense were particularly well represented at the ESA Business Incubation Centre Northern Germany stand. They all wanted to use the trade fair to make a big breakthrough.

The joint stand “ESA Commercialization Gateway” was operated in a good partnership between ESA SME and the ESA Business Incubation Centre Northern Germany.

ESA BIC Northern Germany Pitch Breakfast (©ESA BIC Northern Germany/ Justin von Glahn).

ESA BIC Press Tour: Minister Vogt  (Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ports and Transformation | Bremen) visits the ESA BIC Northern Germany stand (©ESA BIC Northern Germany/ Justin von Glahn).

In addition, the City of Space offered a matchmaking event on November 14 specifically for ESA BIC startups with the help of the Enterprise Europe Network Bremen. In the run-up to the event, participants were able to present their company profile and find potential partners to exchange information and initiate new partnerships. In total, the Enterprise Europe Network matchmaking event attracted 1600 participants from 56 nations, who came together for 3500 meetings in the matchmaking areas in Hall 5 and Hall 6. This is another record result not only for matchmaking at Space Tech Expo, but also for the entire Enterprise Europe Network!

ESA BIC stand (©AVIASPACE/ Justin Von Glahn).

On the evening of November 15, ESA BIC Northern Germany, together with ESA BIC Noordwijk and NL Space Campus, hosted the “Connecting the Curious” event with over 100 participants as a special addition to the daytime events at Space Tech Expo Europe. The networking event brought together students, young professionals and startups from the space industry and the space community to network and exchange creative ideas. The event with 24 pitches took place at the Lugger/Schlachthof.

Connecting the Curious network event at the Lugger/Schlachthof (© ESA BIC Northern Germany/ Justin von Glahn).

On November 16, the Mayor and President of the Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, Dr. Andreas Bovenschulte, visited the Space Tech Expo and met with the Bremen companies OHB, Airbus Defence & Space, ArianeGroup, DSI Aerospace, AES, Geradts, Arthur Behrens, Polaris Raumflugzeuge, ZARM Technik, the university initiative ASTRA and the Bremen startups Planblue, Valispace, Marble Imaging and Blue Orbit Space Systems at the ESA BIC stand.

Mayor Bovenschulte at the #SpaceTechExpoEurope 2023 in Bremen.

An extremely successful trade fair week came to an end on Thursday, 16.11.2023. The City of Space is looking forward to welcoming the space industry to Bremen’s exhibition halls again at Space Tech Expo Europe from 19-21 November 2024!

About Bremen Bremerhaven – CITY OF AEROSPACE

The key aerospace sector of the state of Bremen, in accordance with the innovation strategy Land Bremen 2030, markets itself under the claim Bremen Bremerhaven – CITY OF AEROSPACE. Four organisations in the state of Bremen are jointly implementing the operational objectives of the innovation strategy.

The Ministry for Economic Affairs, Ports and Transformation creates the financial and organisational framework for the design and implementation of the aerospace strategy of the State of Bremen.

AVIASPACE BREMEN e.V. manages the network necessary for the realisation of the operational goals of the innovation strategy of the state of Bremen and the participation in innovation projects.

The state’s development bank, Bremer Aufbau-Bank GmbH (BAB), handles the state of Bremen’s aerospace research programme. BAB’s Starthaus supports startups and young companies and integrates them into the startup ecosystem of the state of Bremen.

WFB Wirtschaftsförderung Bremen GmbH (BremenInvest) supports the activities of Bremen Bremerhaven CITY OF AEROSPACE by organising trade fairs and events and with BremenInvest in the internationalisation of the industry. The Enterprise Europe Network supports companies in matters relating to innovation and internationalisation. The trade fair stand was financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

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