The European Space Agency is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capabilities and ensure that investment in space continuously supports the competitiveness of the European industry and delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. For this purpose, ESA has measured the socio-economic impact of its activities since the nineties, drawing on experience from Member States and international bodies such as the OECD. Robust and standardised methodologies offer consistent measures of the impacts of ESA programmes.
As part of ESA’s Directorate for Commercialisation, Industry and Procurement, the Space Economy team seeks to:
- Promote the exchange of best practices on space economy and harmonisation of methodological approaches through external strategic partnerships such as with the OECD and Eurostat;
- Measure the Space Economy and provide ESA Member States’ with latest figures and trends;
- Evaluate the socio-economic impacts of Member States’ investment in ESA programmes on the European economy and society;
- Run the European Centre for Space Economy and Commerce (ECSECO).