A message from the Chair
The space and spatial industries have never been more important for the future of Australia. They both have a fundamental role to play in helping Australia navigate the response to catastrophic bushfires, the impacts of climate change, and the development of recovery plans for the economy following the global pandemic and its impact on our society and the economy. The growth of these two sunrise industries will have a profound effect on the well-being of Australia over the next decade and beyond.
The combination of space and spatial working together adds enormous value. In many ways these two industries are co-dependent and synergistic. The space industry sets up critical elements of the communications supply chain (through satellite communications (SATCOM)) together with vital content from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and Earth Observation (EO) sensors). The spatial industry provides the vast bulk of the subsequent data infrastructure, value-added content and analytics, and the ‘last yard’ delivery channels to customers and end users for most industries and across global societies.
Optimising this combined ecosystem over the next decade will create a premium competitive advantage for Australia; greatly strengthen our sovereignty, defence and security; and play a key role in managing our environment and improving our well-being.
But the nation faces a major challenge in growing its emerging and fragmented space community so that it can reach the critical mass required of a modern space-capable nation.
The purpose of this consultation paper is to specifically seek the advice of key stakeholders in the space and spatial ecosystems on actions that can be taken over the coming decade to accelerate the growth of the space and spatial industries working together.
This input will then be used to develop the 2030 Space and Spatial Industries Growth RoadMap which will be completed later in 2021.
Your input and feedback is warmly welcomed.
Dr Peter Woodgate
Chair of the Steering Committee of the 2030 Space and Spatial Industry Growth RoadMap