Three passionate space experts explore how space technology is transforming business across various industries. Moderator Jakob Stöber (McKinsey & Company ) is joined by Eric Even (Airbus), Raphael Röttgen (E2MC Ventures) and Sabine von der Recke (OHB).
“Space has never really only been about business”, Jakob Stöber notes. “There’s always a sense of adventure, a sense of exploration.”
This holds true, even though the recent space boom has vastly increased competition. “It really is like a family”, Sabine von der Recke says, referring to the European space ecosystem. Despite being competitors, “we still have the goal that we think that we need to convince the rest of the world that space is important.”
Airbus executive Eric Even points out that space technology already touches everyday life in ways most people don’t realize. “You are using our products every day”, he notes, pointing to weather forecasts and navigation apps. “Where are the data coming from? Among others, from us.”
In combination with AI, satellite imagery plays an increasingly important role in Earth monitoring and sustainability efforts, such as monitoring deforestation with Airbus’s “Starling” system.
“Space is at the beginning”, Even emphasizes. “It’s growing fast, and I strongly believe each industry, each company, needs an element of space in its strategy.”
Early-stage investor Raphael Röttgen discusses cutting-edge developments like in-space manufacturing. He predicts that companies will soon produce advanced materials in orbit, at economic costs.
“We can actually make better materials, for example semiconductors or better biological materials, like protein based drugs, human organ tissue, maybe all the way to a personalized replacement organs”, Röttgen says. “We can do that in orbit. We’re not doing it right now because it has been historically way too expensive, way too complicated. But this is the side effect of space becoming cheaper and cheaper.”
Watch the video for more on Europe’s position in the global space industry; different applications of space technology; and geopolitical implications and space infrastructure.
