Space: France boldly goes international

Organized at the initiative of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, the International Space Summit in Paris brought together different countries, international organizations, space agencies, as well as scientific, industrial and financial stakeholders. This first edition placed space at the heart of a simple question: how best to cooperate to secure, finance and develop the uses of space.

Security, the economy, regulation, exploration: these discussions have shown how much space now impacts on our daily lives; it supports our communications; it informs our decisions; it helps businesses and governments to better understand, anticipate and proceed.

Space, a real driver for the economy

From telecommunications to geolocation, from earth observation and security to agriculture and resource management, space technology enables many of our daily activities. Behind every piece of data, every signal and every image, there are also businesses, jobs and industrial choices.

France has strong key strengths. Its value chain covers launchers, satellites, equipment, services and data. Its aerospace sector amounts to €85.6 billion in revenues, including €59.4 billion from exports, employing 230,500 people in France. In the space sector alone, it accounts for over €11 billion in activity and nearly 70,000 jobs.

Creating the right connections to open new markets

At the Summit, the Space Economy component brought together French businesses, international private sector players, investors and institutional partners. This business environment fosters a variety of valuable collaborations: finding a partner, identifying a market, fast-tracking a project, or preparing for a new presence.

Business France contributed to this momentum by leveraging its international network and sector expertise. With 450 international private sector stakeholders invited, including more than 150 confirmations prior to the Summit, the objective remained clear in terms of creating the conditions for new opportunities for businesses, investors and regions.

Business France coordinated the Summit’s business meetings, both business-to-business and business-to-government, with more than 400 appointments arranged. The agency also contributed to the summit’s bilateral sessions and orchestrated the Franco-Swiss meeting, which included Marc Ferracci, partners and key accounts, including APCO Technologies, WISeKey SA, CompPair and Stellar Alpina.

To encourage investment in the French ecosystem

France is attractive because it brings together industry, research, talent and state aid. During the Summit, several international businesses and funds discussed investment opportunities in France at a roundtable discussion in the Élysée Palace dedicated to the space economy.

The learning expedition, organized with Choose Paris Region, the National Office for Aerospace Studies and Research (ONERA) and EPA Paris-Saclay, extended this approach. International firms discovered, firsthand, the skills, infrastructure and partners capable of supporting their projects in France. These visits involved several international players, including Intellian Technologies, Celestical Cloud, Kuva Space, Starlab, KMI Space, Astral Systems, NexWafe and the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand.

A French industry geared towards international markets

For French space businesses, international expansion is an accelerator. It allows them to find new customers, join global value chains and forge the right partnerships. Since 2021, more than 25 French Space Days events have been organized and 284 businesses in the sector have received support.

At the summit, 50 announcements and contracts were unveiled, amounting to a total of more than €20 billion. Thirteen of the French businesses involved in these announcements are winners of the “France 2030 Export” program: a real catalyst for international cooperation!

This dynamic relies on a whole ecosystem: manufacturers, innovation clusters, agencies, sector partners and regional communities. Together, they make the French offering more transparent, accessible and visible in priority markets. Team France Aerospace, coordinated by Business France, sets the course for this ecosystem’s international roadmap.

Transforming cooperation into tangible projects

Funding a factory. Industrializing an innovation. Deploying a constellation. Reaching new customers. The space sector advances when the right expertise comes together at the right time.

Major international events provide a useful framework for these meetings. They bring together needs, solutions and regions. They can lead to contracts, investments, new facilities and jobs. For the French space sector, every successful connection opens a prospect for growth.