Join the
SME Forum “The Future of Work” and contribute to the
SME consultation process
Context
The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the evolution of the way of working in the space sector, especially towards a more digital and green industry. The skills and competences required in the sector are quickly changing. This development needs to be anticipated to support the evolution and the competitiveness of Europe’s space industry and to attract the best professionals whose talents will be sought after by all industrial sectors.
ESA intends to foster exchanges among Member States and industry to reflect on the evolution of the space sector and, on that basis, to define the main skills and competences that will be required to ensure that European industry maintains and strengthens its competitiveness.
In this context, the Agency is organising a consultation process with industry to gather inputs from Large System Integrators, Midcaps and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in three dedicated preparatory workshops. These workshops will provide inputs for and feed into a plenary event on 2 September 2021 entitled “The future of work in a more digital and green space sector”. This event will be attended by ESA, the OECD, delegations as well as industry representatives and will culminate in a report to the ESA Council.
To gather SME contributions, the Agency now invites Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) active in the space sector to participate to the discussion by attending the online preparatory event, the SME Forum on “The Future of Work” on 17 June 2021.In addition to sharing opinions and feedback during the event, registered participants are also invited to support the preparation of this Forum by providing their inputs through an online questionnaire which will be attached to the event’s registration confirmation.
Programme
SME Forum "The Future of Work"
14h00 - 14h05: Welcome and introduction (ESA)
14h05 - 14h20: ESA overview presentation on events since last SME Forum and outlook Agenda 2025 (ESA)
14h20 - 14h30: SME4SPACE Covid-19 Surveys (SME4SPACE)
14h30 - 15h45: The Future of Work interactive discussion
Topic 1: Tomorrow’s space activities and the evolution of the way of working (Moderated by ESA)
- New opportunities: space solutions in the post-covid world
- Integration of new technologies (AI, big data, etc.)
- Opportunities for greener activities
- Digitalisation
- Remote working
- Investing in R&D
Topic 2: Evolution of skills and competences – what will be needed to address these changes? (Moderated by ESA)
- New skills
- Hard vs. soft skills
- Challenges and Opportunities of the demographics of the sector (hiring new generation and life-long learning)
15h45 - 16h00: Wrap-up and conclusions
Speakers:
Jens Kauffmann, Head of the SME and Industry Analytics Section, ESA
Hans Bracquené, Chairman of SME4SPACE
Monica Talevi, ESA Education Office
Participants: Registered SME representatives
Who should attend
Representatives of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) from ESA Member States, Cooperating States and Associate States active in the space business are invited to contribute to this event on behalf of their company. To allow for an interactive discussion, 1 representative per company can join the event.
Questionnaire
Registered participants are kindly requested to support the preparation of this Forum by providing their inputs through an online questionnaire which they will receive together with the registration confirmation for the event. ESA would appreciate to receive participant feedback by 1 June 2021 at the latest.
Registration
Online platform
The SME Forum “The Future of Work” will be organised as a Webex event. Registered participants will receive the link by email prior to the event.
Contact
For questions about the programme of the event, please contact:
Jens Kauffmann
Head of SME and Industry Analytics Section
Sandra Vogt
Industrial Policy Officer
For any other questions:
Address
P.O. Box 299
2200 AG Noordwijk
The Netherlands
Phone
+31 71 565 8179