Academic and industrial cooperation in space research

The European Space Agency (ESA), in cooperation with the Austrian Ministry for Science and Transport, will organize a conference on academic and industrial cooperation in space research, to be held in Vienna, Austria, from 4 to 6 November 1998.

The aim of the conference is to provide a forum for representatives from universities, research centres and industry - in particular SMEs - in order to facilitate the exchange of ideas and enhance medium and long-term research cooperation in specific fields of interest to the space sector. The role of the ESA in stimulating and fostering partnerships leading to innovative and commercially viable products will also be discussed.

The emphasis of the conference will be on practical issues and will cover the following:

- Breakthrough and frontier technological research relevant to space at universities, research centres and SMEs;
- Ways of enhancing regional, social and economic development through academic-industrial research cooperation;
- The role of regional, national and European bodies in bringing universities and SMEs closer together;
- Methods for developing fruitful cooperation between universities, industry and research establishments;
- Technology transfer from universities to the marketplace via SMEs;
- Motivations for industrial and academic partnerships;
- Challenges faced by SMEs in seeking cooperation with universities;
- Funding and investment aspects of research cooperation.
For further information, please contact:

ESTEC Conference Bureau
PO Box 299
2200 AG Noordwijk
The Netherlands
Tel. +31-71-5655005; Fax +31-71-5655658
E-mail: confburo@estec.esa.nl
URL: http://www.estec.esa.nl/CONFANNOUN/98c16/index.html(opens in new window)