Space cooperation
I. International space cooperation
Prime Minister YVES LETERME's government accord states that it will maintain Belgium's strong involvement in the European Space Agency's upcoming programmes. "Space is at the heart of the European project because control of space is a strategic issue". For more than three decades, space-related activities have stimulated the most advanced technological innovations in Belgium. Close to 95% of the federal budget for space is allotted to programmes run by the European Space Agency (ESA). As the fifth largest contributor, our country is important for the ESA, which in return makes a priority of optimising the flow of scientific, technological and industrial advances back to Belgium. The remaining 5% of the budget is spent on Belgian Earth observation programmes and bilateral programmes. The space sector in Belgium involves some 70 teams in federal or regional scientific establishments or research centres of excellence, as well as around 40 companies and almost 1,600 direct jobs for highly qualified people.
The ESA Convention states that the objectives of space cooperation are geared exclusively towards peaceful purposes, which does not, however, exclude activities by member countries for the purpose of ‘non-aggressive’ defence and security, especially within the framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and cooperative measures within the Atlantic Alliance.
The Belgian High Representation for Space Policy (BHRS) defends Belgian interests in international fora dealing with space, especially meetings of the ESA Council and the Space Council, which brings together ministers from EU Member States and ESA member countries.
The Belgian Science Policy and Space Affairs Service acts in synergy with the Belgian High Representation to represent the FPS Foreign Affairs at meetings of the Council and on the ESA Committee for International Relations. The Scientific Policy and Space Affairs Service keeps its authorities and our diplomatic posts abreast of important developments in European space policy and strategies for cooperation with third countries. It also serves as an interface with the services responsible for sustainable development and for combating climate change.
Recognising that space is a strategic asset of capital importance for European independence, security and prosperity, in November 2008 ministers at The Hague approved a budget of €10 billion for the period 2009-2013. The ministers decided to lend fresh impetus to European Space Policy and unite Europe behind a common ambition to be a major player in space.
Minister Sabine Laruelle announced that Belgium would increase its participation by 20% to a total of €947 million over the next 5 years. Belgium’s many priorities include the European launchers, ARIANE 5, VEGA and SOYUZ CSG at Kourou, the European space station in French Guyana; the Earth observation initiative Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) for environmental protection, combating climate change and defence and security applications; the 3G METEOSAT programme; the international space station (ISS); the European Programme for Life and Physical Sciences (ELIPS); the ESA’s Aurora Exploration Programme ExoMars; research into ARTES state-of-the-art telecommunications satellite systems, including for use in air-traffic control; the GALILEO positioning and global navigation satellite system (GNSS); the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme; building up ESA's European site at Redu in the province of Luxembourg; and the General Support Technology Programme (GSTP), which aims to provide the technologies required for new space programmes.
Together with its European partners, Belgium is participating in the joint strategic initiatives of the ESA and EU in the context of the Resolution on the European Space Policy and the application of Article 189 of the Lisbon Treaty on shared know-how in the domain of space.
In the Barroso II Commission, the European Space Policy is one of the priorities for which Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, the European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, is responsible.
The main European initiatives based on the framework agreement between the EU-ESA Framework Agreement are: GNSS-GALILEO, the future European positioning and global navigation satellite system, which has been the object of interoperability agreements with America’s GPS system since June 2004, and cooperation agreements with numerous third countries, in particular Brazil, China, Israel, Morocco, the Russian Federation, South Korea and Ukraine. The ESA station at Redu is part of the GNSS-GALILEO system's terrestrial network and receives navigation signals from the first GALILEO satellite, GIOVE-A. Septentrio in Leuven, a spin-off of IMEC, produces the GPS-GNSS GALILEO receivers for users all over the world and carries out the safety tests on GIOVE-A. Belgium has officially put forward Brussels as a candidate to host the headquarters of the GALILEO Supervisory Authority, GSA.
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), the second joint ESA-EU industrial initiative, which was approved by the European Council in Göteborg in 2001, guarantees independent access to information required by the governments of the EU-27 for analyses and decision-making. Apart from providing more reliable environmental data, the GMES programme is developing a strategic component with the European Defence Agency. GMES's five Sentinel satellites and their Earth-based infrastructure will contribute to the study of climate change, the management of natural catastrophes and the control of the EU's external borders with FRONTEX, a European agency based in Warsaw. At the same time, GMES is the European contribution to the Americans' 2003 initiative, Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), which aims to coordinate international environmental data as part of the follow-up to the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development and decisions taken by the G8. Belgium is actively involved in both GMES and GEOSS largely thanks to the activities of VITO, the Flemish Institute for Technological Research in Mol, Alcatel Bell Space and Verhaert. Together with France, Sweden and Austria, Belgium participates in the new SPOT programme, Pleiades, which provides high-resolution data for scientific, defence and security purposes.
On the initiative of the ESA and the EU, the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) was founded in Vienna in November 2003 in cooperation with the Austrian Space Agency. Philippe Busquin, a former European Commissioner for Research and Development, plays an important role in ESPI, whose mission is to support the implementation of European Space Policy. ESPI participates in seminars at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Space Studies (ICSS) at Leuven University.
Belgium is an active player in international cooperation in the domain of space:
To mark International Polar Year 2007-2008 and the establishment of Princess Elisabeth, the International Polar Foundation's Belgian base in Antarctica, of which HRH Prince Philip is the Honorary President, two Belgian explorers, Alain Hubert and Dixie Dansercoer, joined a team of international researchers in missions to study climate change in the regions of the North and South Poles using data from ESA's CryoSat 2 satellites.
In addition, Belgium is involved in cooperation between ESA and NASA, primarily through the Microgravity Research Centre at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA/IASB). The former astronaut and new NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, who is in favour of going to Mars, is planning missions involving exploration by robots together with NASA’s international partners and especially the ESA. He does not want any distraction through the Constellation lunar mission, which the White House has scrapped.
The ESA's TIGER and SHARE programmes, in which Belgium also participates, offer African countries information from Earth observation satellites that can be used, among other things, to improve water management in Africa.
In Chile, Belgian astronomers are participating with scientists from 12 other countries in the Universe Observation Programme with the aid of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the ALMA project run by the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
Belgium contributes to other ESA international projects as well, in particular with Canada, an associated country, and Japan.
In the 18-month TRIO Programme, Spain, Belgium and Hungary - the countries holding three successive European Council Presidencies – are in favour of developing the EU’s space policy and pushing ahead with its implementation. The three EU Presidencies will focus on implementing the GNSS-GALILEO programme and GMES as well as on space applications in support of CFSP-ESDP missions.
Links
BARROSO II & ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain: “The ambitions of Europe in Space” 19/10/09
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMA5UYRA0G_index_2.html
European Space Policy: Security & Defence http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/space/esp/security/index_en.htm
Tajani
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/tajani/about/mandate/index_en.htm
ESA
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMTDJ3KV5G_Belgium_du_2.html
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMVZK1OWUF_France_2.html
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMTZQRJR4G_Belgium_du_2.html
Belgian High Representation for Space Policy
http://www.bhrs.be/event_en.stm
http://www.bhrs.be/event_fr.stm
http://www.bhrs.be/be_nl.stm
Agoria
http://www.agoria.be/s/p.exe/WService=WWW/webextra/prg/izContentWeb?SessionLID=2&vUserID=999999&vWebSessionID=54693&FAction=searchtopic&TopicID=2037&enewsid=33413
http://www.agoria.be
II. Belgian science policy
To ensure that the economy remains innovative in the future, Belgium’s governments have made R&D and leading-edge technology a priority. The authorities have all agreed to make efforts aimed at bolstering public and private investment in R&D, and creating and strengthening poles of competitiveness.
In Belgium, scientific research policy is formulated by a number of different public authorities, namely the federal government, the Communities and the Regions.
Under the federal government’s remit, the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BelSPO) plays a key role in the cultural domain, arts and sciences, directly employing 3,000 people and operating on a budget of close to €500 million. BelSPO implements multiannual research programmes at the national and international levels with a view to boosting scientific and technological potential in our country.
In line with Prime Minister Yves Leterme’s government accord, the main tasks assigned to Sabine Laruelle, the minister responsible for SMEs, the self-employed, agriculture and science policy, are to modernise the 10 federal scientific establishments in Belgium and the Royal Academies and scientific institutions located abroad and to enhance the status of Belgium’s national heritage and develop public/private partnerships.
At the FPS Foreign Affairs headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Steven Vanackere, the Science Policy and Space Affairs Service within the Directorate-General for Multilateral Affairs and Globalisation (DGM) is responsible for providing the interface between the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BelSPO) and the relevant government departments to draft an opinion on the appropriateness of bilateral and international cooperation and interact with our diplomatic posts.
The federal government, Communities and Regions are implementing new incentives designed to promote research and innovation, taking account of the objectives of the revised Lisbon Strategy that the Council of Europe adopted in March 2007 and will amend in 2010 to bring it in line with the new EU-2020 Strategy. Technological poles of attraction and strategic research centres are creating networks comprising ‘clusters’ of companies, universities, and public and private research entities specialised in domains such as bio- and nanotechnologies, the agro-food industry, engineering, ITCs, transport and logistics, and aero space. These strengthened partnerships generate the critical mass necessary to make Belgian know-how, and especially the knowledge of SMEs and spin-offs in innovative domains, internationally competitive.
Belgian universities and scientific institutions have created the Mercator Network of Mobility Centres in the framework of the Mobility Strategy for the European Research Area.
Belgium is supporting the exchange of scholarships for young researchers and the promotion of university exchanges financed by the European Commission, especially those within the framework of scientific cooperation between China and Europe.
Thanks to contributions from the federal government, the Communities and Regions, Belgium is actively participating in the activities of the European Research and Innovation Area (ERA), the European Research Council (ERC) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) with a view to promoting excellence in research and innovation in Europe and reducing the gap in competitiveness with other regions, especially North America.
The United States and the European Union are bolstering their strategic partnership in numerous domains, including the sectors of innovation and technology related to health, nano- and biotechnologies and cooperation on e-Accessibility.
TRIO programme under the Presidency of the European Union:
Research, development and innovation
The three successive EU Presidencies (Spain, Belgium and Hungary) will ensure that the importance of research, development and innovation are taken fully into account in the future EU-2020 Strategy that will be adopted in 2010. The development and consolidation of the European Research Area (ERA) remain a priority objective designed to shore up Europe’s competitiveness and rise to key social challenges.
Links:
Federal science policy http://www.belspo.be/
National Programme 2008-2010 http://www.be2010.eu/admin/uploaded/200810151521110.NRP_2008_FR.pdf
Federal government http://www.belgium.be
Government of the Brussels-Capital Region
http://www.bruxelles.irisnet.be/fr/region/region_de_bruxelles- capitale/autorites/gouvernement.shtml
Flemish government http://www.flanders.be/servlet/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1166590837082&context=1166590833692--EN&pagename=flanders_site/View
Walloon government http://www.wallonie.be/en/index.html
Government of the French-speaking Community http://www.cfwb.be
Government de la German-speaking Community http://www.dglive.be/en/Desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-1263//2264_read-27181/
http://ec.europa.eu/eit/
http://www.eracareers-belgium.be/
