The Integral SatCom Initiative: 12th General Assembly and 3rd “SatCom Day” outcomes
12th ISI General assembly: it was held on the 30th of November at DG INFSO premises in Brussels. A dinner sponsored by SES was organised in the evening at the European Parliament premises. The dinner gathered more than 90 participants including Members of the European Parliament, representatives from European institutions and ESA. Considering the importance for Europe of its Satellite Communication (SatCom) industry and in line with the objectives and measures in the article 189 of the Lisbon Treaty , ISI encourages the European Commission and European Parliament to provide its support with: 1. The explicit inclusion of Satellite Communications in the overall space policy and in particular inclusion of specific SatCom objectives in the future research and technology development framework programme 8 (FP8 ICT) ; 2. The implementation of appropriate demand aggregation, spectrum allocation and pre procurement schemes (involving public institution financial support) to foster the development of future high tech satellite communication infrastructures addressing the EU Digital Agenda objectives and enhanced service offer, at optimised costs, to institutional users in the security domain. This approach will optimize the usage of the public/private investments already invested in the space communication infrastructure; 3. The foundation of a specific and ambitious European Satellite Communications Programme, addressing key European challenges identified in the EU2020 Strategy including the security of EU citizens and the emergency communications in case of crises. 3rd EU SatCom Day: Held on December the 1st 2011, also in Brussels gathered more than 70 participants including: Mrs Edit Herczog, Member of the European Parliament, Mr Ken Ducatel head of the Digital Agenda policy coordination at the DG INFSO and Mr Giorgio Porzio Head of Unit at the EU Situation Centre, as well as representatives from the European satellite communications industry. The panel discussions enabled a clear understanding on the contribution of satellite communication systems to achieve current and future European Societal challenges to be understood: o Inclusive growth thanks to cost effective deployment of broadband access in un-served and under served areas. o Improvement of security of persons and goods thanks to responsive global, reliable and secured telecommunication means It was recognised that SatCom is undoubtedly a topic to be handled at European level as it is an essential enabler to fulfil the European Digital Agenda and Security policy objectives. Demand aggregation and harmonised regulatory framework at a pan-European level when needed would enable optimisation of investments on future satellite communication technologies and infrastructures addressing these policy objectives. Moreover the Lisbon Treaty now includes Space as a EU issue and therefore is expected to provide a new impetus to support ambitious innovative space programs including SatCom particularly in the broadband and security areas. . This will contribute to sustain the competitiveness of the European SatCom industry and constitute a key factor for a sustainable European space industry. About the Integral SatCom Initiative (ISI) The Integral SatCom Initiative is an Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) European Technology Platform. Led by European SatCom industry. It is acknowledged by the European Commission to address Satellite Communications strategic research challenges. ISI currently gathers 194 members organizations representing all the European SatCom industry stakeholders from 28 different countries. It includes members from manufacturing industry, network operations and service provision, SMEs, research centres and academia, European and National Institutions. For more information you may need, please visit www.isi-initiative.org or contact us at secretariat@isi-initiative.org.
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Spain