The Italian Embassy in Canberra organised, with the Consulate General in Sydney, the New South Wales Government, ICE and the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Australia, an event to mark the handover between Milan and Sydney, the host cities of the International Astronautical Congress in 2024 and 2025 respectively.
The event was opened by the State Minister for Industry and Trade, Research and Innovation, Anoulack Chanthivong, and the Italian Ambassador to Canberra, Paolo Crudele, who emphasised the importance of the aerospace sector in bilateral relations.
'Italy plays a central role in this sector,' commented Ambassador Paolo Crudele, 'both industrially and institutionally. In terms of managing space resources, our country encourages a sustainable policy based on international collaboration'. A video by the Piedmont Region and the speech by Teodoro Valente, President of the Italian Space Agency, signalled Italy's interest in exploring specific forms of collaboration.
This was followed by a round table discussion of representatives of research infrastructures in the sector, both Italian and Australian, followed by a session of presentations by the main companies present, both Italian and Australian. All the scientific and commercial aspects characterising the sector were touched upon: from launchers for launching satellites into orbit to positioning, from the implementation of on-board control systems to communication with the earth and data management, from ground infrastructures to large space bases.
It was an opportunity to present to the Australian market the Italian industrial districts of Piedmont and Emilia Romagna, which interacted with the National Space Industry Hub based in Sydney, a young but fast-growing reality that is rapidly becoming central in the Australian and South Pacific industrial landscape. The participation of the industrial world was significant: Italian companies of the calibre of Leonardo, Telespazio, Elettronica, Cshark, Blacks, Avio, D-Orbit, Thales-Alenia, Altec, and EIE group had the opportunity to present themselves to their Australian counterparts and institutions. The day closed with a presentation of the SpIRIT project, an Australian satellite carrying an Italian gamma-ray detector, the result of a collaboration between the Italian and Australian space agencies. A successful example of collaboration between the two countries that the conference organisers hope will pave the way for other fruitful collaborations. -
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