BENEFITING SOCIETY THROUGH SPACE-BASED TECHNOLOGIES AND SYSTEMS

摘要

Ever increasing social, medical, industrial and economic benefits are being derived from successful transfers of ground-breaking space technologies, developed as part of national and international space programmes, to non-space sectors and products are being continually developed and adapted to meet the growing interest and demand from end user markets. The paper explores the mechanisms and processes of technology transfer as implemented by the European Space Agency's Technology Transfer and Promotion Office as it relates to increasing public awareness of space technologies and the impact that cost effective space spin-offs are having and can have on everyday life. The paper also describes establishing an incubator facility at ESTEC, the European Space Agency's large R&D establishment in The Netherlands, which is designed to nurture new and emerging space technology-based start-ups wishing to develop business in the non-space sector. An overview of the concept realization and the attraction of investment funds is given together with details of the services to be provided by the incubator to its inhabitants.