The Israeli Space Forum is set to be launched on April 2 to help connect companies, entrepreneurs, start-ups, investors, and academics to help grow Israel’s budding space sector, the Israel Space Agency and Rakia mission revealed Wednesday.
Announced at the 19th annual Ilan Ramon International Space Conference and part of Israel Space Week, the space forum is being launched in collaboration with the several major organizations and institutions such as the Israel Innovation Authority, the Israel Export Institute, and Israel Aerospace Industries.
The goal of the forum is to allow different companies and entrepreneurs to link up with investors, government bodies, academics, and global players in the space sector. In doing so, the Israeli Space Forum hopes to facilitate entrepreneurial activity, helping Israeli firms break into the growing space market.
Speaking in a video shown at the conference, Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe noted that the “Israeli Space Forum is positioned as the flagship of the space industry in the country.”
“We view the space industry as a key driver for economic and social growth in the State of Israel,” explained Israel Space Agency Director-General Uri Oron. “The forum is a crucial component of the agency’s overall strategy.”
Israeli space industry is expected to grow exponentially in coming decades
According to Israel Export Institute CEO Nili Shalev, “Launching this forum opens up fresh opportunities to advance and promote Israeli technologies in the global arena.”
Israeli Space Forum and the sector’s economic benefits
The announcement of the Israeli Space Forum was in line with several remarks made at the conference about the local space industry’s potential for economic growth.
Earlier in the conference, Oron noted that currently, the space industry in Israel is worth over NIS 6 billion per year and is set to grow exponentially in the coming decades. In addition, the average Israeli working in the space industry today makes around 45% more in terms of wages than the average Israeli employee, and 25% more than the average hi-tech programmer or consultant, according to Oron.
He further pushed for government action to motivate entrepreneurship in the sector. In doing so, Oron predicts that the country’s space industry could be worth over NIS 96 billion by 2035.
This is a sentiment further reflected by the Innovation, Science, and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis.
“We anticipate that demand in the Israeli space sector will increase dramatically over time,” Akunis said at the conference. “We won’t stop.”
