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European Space Agency

Press Release

First Portuguese Space Day

20 May 2003
 
The first Portuguese Space Day was held in Lisbon on Friday 16 May,
jointly organised by ESA and GRICES, the Office for International
Relations in Science and Higher Education of the Portuguese Ministry
of Science. The Museum of Science "Pavilhio do Conhecimento"
(Pavilion of Knowledge), built for EXPO 98, hosted the event.
 
Over 200 visitors attended the full-day event, including
representatives from industry, academia, and from the press. Since
Portugal became a full member of ESA at the end of 2000, there has
been an increasing interest in ESA activities and more than 20
Portuguese enterprises and Institutes already have contracts with
ESA.

The purpose of the Space Day was to present Portugal's participation
in ESA to decision makers, industry, the scientific community, the
general public and the press. What are the advantages and the
opportunities for Portuguese participation? Two key initiatives are
the ESA Portugal Task Force and the Portuguese trainee scheme.
Presentations on relevant ESA programmes, such as Earth Observation,
Galileo and Aurora, also attracted much interest.

The Portuguese Minister of Science and Higher Education, Mr Pedro
Lynce, opened the day, emphasising the importance of Portuguese
participation in ESA to increase the competitiveness of the private
sector in research and development effort. "The internationalization
of the Portuguese scientific system constitutes one of the
unquestioned priorities", stressed Minister Lynce. Mrs Maria da Graça
Carvalho, GRICES's Director General, presented in detail the strategy
behind the cooperative programme with ESA.

In the main hall of the museum a number of Portuguese companies
presented the projects that they are developing in collaboration with
ESA. In the 'cyber coffee corner' young people had the chance to
explore the missions of ESA online. Museum visitors were especially
interested in an Envisat image of Portugal taken in March this year.

Following the success of the Space Day, an Information Day On Earth
Observation, jointly organized by ESA and GRICES, will be held on 22
May. The objective of this is to inform Portuguese Industry and
research institutes about the current and planned Earth Observation
programmes and the opportunities that these will open for them in the
short and medium term. The Information Day is targeted towards those
SMEs and institutes that are new to ESA, and is just the first of a
series of such events planned to encourage the growth of the space
sector in ESA's newest Member State.

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