Between September and December 2023, ESPI conducted a comprehensive study for Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the Finnish Space Committee, in the light of the development of Finland’s new space strategy during the year 2024.
With the ambition to facilitate informed decision-making at national level, ESPI’s research support to Finland’s authorities revolved around three key areas:
- Assessment of the implementation of Finland’s current national space strategy, released in 2018;
- Analysis of the evolution of the global space sector since the release of the Strategy in 2018 and its impact on Finland’s space ecosystem;
- Provision of recommendations concerning issues and themes to be considered during the Strategy’s updating process.
Research projects in support of key policy processes of European public actors are aligned with ESPI’s purpose and vision outlined in ESPI statutes and “ESPI.2040 Space For Prosperity, Peace and Future Generations” policy vision published in January 2024.
The core ESPI research team was composed of Senior Researcher and Lead on European Engagement Tomas Hrozensky, Research Fellow Lucas Bersegol, and Junior Research Fellow Irene Saiz Briones.
Leveraging ESPI’s interdisciplinary expertise and unique mandate within the European space ecosystem, this collaboration with Finland distinctly revealed the profound impact of trends within the space sector, international security, and broader economy on the development of national policies related to space. In defining a new national space strategy, Finland’s authorities are facing the challenge of fostering a greater role of space in support of other industry domains and policy sectors, incl. national security, while ensuring an agile governance and nurturing strengths of the Finnish space industry and research actors.
– Tomas Hrozensky, Senior Researcher and Lead on European Engagement at ESPI
ESPI’s substantive analysis and interaction with Finnish stakeholders provided indispensable inputs to the development of Finland’s future national space strategy. With the introduction of numerous small satellites, and globally scalable business models, Finland aspires to be a highly attractive and agile space business environment. Since the release of the current strategy, new application areas have emerged, enabling space services to be utilised in other sectors. At the same time, the tightening geopolitical landscape makes space services increasingly integrated into national security considerations. In this evolving context, our updated space strategy is expected to be published in late 2024.
– Tero Vihavainen, Chief Specialist and Head of the Finnish Space Office at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland
