Cosmos

The space sector is one of the most dynamically developing industrial sectors in Poland. Polish scientists and engineers are making a major contribution to the construction of new satellites, rovers or specialised software. Poland has been a member of the European Space Agency for 10 years, and we have also signed the Artemis agreement, thanks to which we can participate in NASA missions to the Moon. We have many Poles who work at NASA or the European Space Agency. We are known as great engineers, and we also have very talented young people. Students from Polish universities win most of the competitions related to space technology in Europe and worldwide. However, this sector is still in its infancy in our country. Employment in it is only about 15 000 people, while in France, for example, it is over a million.

The activities of the Małopolska Voivodeship focused on the development of the space sector were initiated in 2016, when a letter of intent was signed concerning cooperation in the establishment of business incubators of the European Space Agency and joint activities within the development of space technologies. The signatories of the letter were: the Małopolskie Voivodeship, the Municipality of Kraków, Krakowski Park Technologiczny sp. z o.o. and Tadeusz Kościuszko Kraków University of Technology.

In August 2022, the Małopolska Voivodeship officially joined the NEREUS Association as a Full Member. Małopolska invited four entities active in the space sector to participate in the Association in the role of Associate Members, with whom it signed the ‘Agreement on Cooperation within the Association Membership’:

• AGH University of Krakow, where, among other things, a Space Technology Centre has been established to coordinate research related to space technologies and to conduct its own research in the field of these technologies
• The Henryk Niewodniczański Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences, which, inter alia, participates in the international MARE and DOSIS experiments.
• Krakow Technology Park, which undertakes a number of initiatives related to the space sector and its use in the development of Industry 4.0.
• Krakowski Park Technologiczny, który podejmuje szereg inicjatyw związanych z sektorem kosmicznym i jego wykorzystaniem w rozwoju przemysłu 4.0

ou can read more about the Association and the role of Małopolska in it here.

The region is also seeing an increasing number of companies offering space technology solutions, primarily using satellite data. This is a great opportunity to further develop and increase the competitiveness of industries that are already strongly developed in the region, i.e. transport and logistics.