CONFERENCE
The Interreg Baltic Sea Region (BSR) programme is an EU funding programme (total of about €280 million from 2014 to 2020) that facilitates transnational cooperation in the region that includes Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden plus Norway. This year the St. Petersburg province of the Russian Federation will also be participating. Partners from countries around the Baltic Sea work together in transnational projects to address common key challenges and opportunities. The funding is mainly directed at public authorities, research and training institutions, NGOs, sectoral agencies & associations and enterprises. For more information - www.interreg-baltic.eu/home.html
The BSR) represents the largest regional concentration of space science and space technology capabilities in the European Union. Major optical and radio astronomy facilities are active in the region. Two countries have rocket launch sites. Norway’s Svalberg Island is a superb Moon-Mars analog site. Research organizations from every country in the region have participated in ESA space exploration missions. Major aerospace businesses exist in the region. Increasingly, in recent years, research-driven SMEs are emerging to address new challenges. The BSR is also a locus of space-related expertise that is playing an increasing role in the development of Africa.
The BALTIC SPACE COAST project was inspired by the Florida Space Coast, a region where NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is located along with numerous research organizations and space businesses. Thus far, Europe has no analog to the Kennedy Space Center. European space activities have not been of the scale of NASA. However, as commercial space activities increase in number, scope, size and complexity European investment in space will increase dramatically both in public investment and commercial investment. It is in the strong interests of the BSR and of the research organizations and space related businesses in the region to lay the foundations now for taking better advantage of the numerous opportunities that will emerge in the coming decade. The BALTIC SPACE COAST project aims to build the foundations for regional cooperation in space science and space technology and related commercial in the BSR.
Despite its very strong capabilities in space science and space technologies and numerous active firms there has been only modest cooperation across the BSR among space research organizations and space technology businesses in the region. The Baltic Space Coast project is aimed at building greater collaboration in space science and technology development particularly to encourage more innovation by research driven SMEs.
The emerging National Photonics and Space Technology Center of the University of Latvia will serve as the coordinator of the project. The first step will be to develop the full project proposal. The second step will be to organize and coordinate a BSR macro-regional planning process involving the key space research and development organizations in the Baltic Sea Region. The third step will be for the National Photonics and Space Technology Center to coordinate the overall project implementation as well as to coordinate activities within Latvia to engage research organizations in Latvia as well as research – driven SMEs from Latvia to better use the space research and technology development infrastructure of the entire BSR.
The National Photonics and Space Technology Center of the University of Latvia is an emerging national research center whose formal designation is in process. The core of the Center is the FOTONIKA-LV association of University of Latvia research institutes comprised of the Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, the Institute of Astronomy and the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformatics. FOTONIKA-LV was founded April 2010 to gain critical mass to take on large-scale projects. In 2011 FOTONIKA-LV won its first larger project the FOTONIKA-LV FP7-REGPOT-2011-1 project 285912 with total budget €4,198,520.00. The project was successfully completed in 2015 and received an excellent review[1]. The FOTONIKA-LV project included significant outreach to industry in Latvia, particularly to the emerging cluster of photonics and space technology firms in Latvia whose turnover in 2015 exceeded €105 million[2]. The BALTIC SPACE COAST Project can be viewed as a further development of the FOTONIKA-LV Regpot project.
The Riga Photonics Centre (RPC) has been formed to facilitate communications between research units within FOTONIKA-LV with industry and the public furthering work started during the FOTONIKA-LV Regpot project. Communications includes assistance provided to SMEs regarding Horizon 2020 funding opportunities as well as opportunities for collaboration within the BSR. Its function can be understood as coordinating the photonics cluster in Latvia including both businesses and research organizations. For more information, refer to the website – www.rigaphotonicscentre.org. As the status of the National Photonics and Space Technology Center is formally established the relationship of RPC with the Center will also be formally established.
[1] fotonikalv.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/flv_ex_post_evaluation_final.pdf [2] fotonikalv.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/klasteris_latvia_15-08-2016.docx
[1] fotonikalv.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/flv_ex_post_evaluation_final.pdf [2] fotonikalv.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/klasteris_latvia_15-08-2016.docx