Space Economy Activities

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.

As part of ESA’s Directorate for Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness (CIC), the Space Economy team seeks to:

• Monitor the space sector globally and Europe’s competitiveness, providing ESA Member States’ with key figures and most recent trends;
• Promote the exchange of best practices on space economy and harmonisation of methodological approaches through external strategic partnerships such as with the OECD, Eurostat and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), and CERN;
• Evaluate the social, economic and environmental impacts of Member States’ investment in ESA programmes;
• Run the European Centre for Space Economy and Commerce (ECSECO).

The team prepares the “Report on the Space Economy” to ESA Council annually. The objective of the report is to provide an annual update on the status and trends of the space sector globally, and Europe’s competitiveness.

It also prepares the report “Socio-economic impact of ESA programmes”, which is presented to ESA delegations in preparation of each ESA Council meeting at Ministerial level. The objective of the report is to provide Member States with an overarching view of the socio- economic impacts of their investment in ESA programmes. Since 2023, the impact of ESA on Europe’s environment and sustainability has been set up as a priority within ESA impact studies. The work builds on a first ever cooperation between ESA’s Space Economy team, ESA’s Clean Space team, and ESA’s Climate and Sustainability office to ensure compliance with ESA’s Life Cycle Assessment framework and full integration within ESA’s Green Agenda.