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As public activities in space are undergoing significant change, IIPP research aims to inform policy focused on directing space innovation activities towards maximum socio-economic benefit.
Public activities in space are undergoing significant change, with more than 60 space faring nations and a growth in the number of private sector organizations interested in the space economy. As a consequence, the space sector is rapidly evolving in its 'ecosystem', and under听 pressure to deliver socio-economic impacts at a reasonable cost.
NASA
In the USA, NASA has historically been able to drive market creation through its active investment and procurement policies. The past decade has seen a visible shift in US space policy away from NASA-directed developments in areas such as LEO. Instead, it has been moving towards an ecosystem with a mix of private, not-for-profit and public actors in LEO.
This has fundamentally changed NASA鈥檚 role from one of orchestrating/directing, to a more 鈥榝acilitating鈥� role driven by commercialization needs. This shift has ramifications for the LEO ecosystem, as well as NASA鈥檚 innovation policy, which has previously centred on clearly defined 鈥榤ission-oriented鈥� objectives, such as putting a man on the moon or creating the space shuttle fleet.
European Space Agency (ESA)
Creating a strong European space innovation system is a key mission for the European Space Agency (ESA), in the era, termed 鈥渘ew space鈥� or, what the ESA's Director General Jan Woerner calls 鈥淪pace 4.0鈥�.
ESA is exploring new ways of partnering with the increasing number of space faring nations, private space firms and other non-space entities. It hopes to achieve socio-economic impacts, including jobs and growth and addressing societal grand challenges.
Mazzucato and Robinson鈥檚 approach to these questions has built on Mazzucato's work on , as opposed to traditional 鈥榤arket-fixing鈥� frameworks steering public agencies worldwide.
UCL space
Professor Mazzucato recently contributed to a workshop at UCL on policy and regulatory considerations for the space sector in the context of Brexit. It was co-organised by UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory and the London Institute of Space Policy and Law. .
UCL Space Week Workshop: Space Missions, Economic Value and Public Purpose
IIPP co-hosted a workshop with the 宅男视频 Mullard Space Science Laboratory as听part of听. The workshop saw听speakers from IIPP, Mullard, and the European Space Agency discuss the听challenges and opportunities for space research, innovation and exploration with a view to desirable socio-economic impacts.听
IIPP also has an ESA-funded Phd student,听Angeliki Kapoglou.听听Currently based at the Human and Robotic Exploration Strategy Department at , her research is focused on applying Mission-Driven Innovation Models to the area of sustainable lunar exploration. A key focus of her听research is the strategic planning, mission design and the commercial partnerships for ESA's , which aims to produce drinkable water and/or breathable oxygen on the Moon by 2025.听Her research is also supported by听the听.
Further reading
"Mariana Mazzucato argues that publicly funded missions help turn economic uncertainty into calculable risk." Stephen Stanford (2018),听,听Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Mariana Mazzucato and Douglas Robinson (2017), Technological Forecasting and Social Change.
Mariana Mazzucato and Douglas Robinson (2016), 鈥�,听NASA book chapter.
Mariana Mazzucato and Douglas Robinson(2016), 鈥溾��,听ESA research.
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