ESA's Technology Support Program celebrates its 25th anniversary in Portugal

ESA's General Support Technology Program (GSTP) will celebrate its 25th anniversary on October 11 and 12 in Lisbon. The event GSTP: 25 Years Enabling Growth and Innovationsupported by FCT and Agência Ciência Viva, will bring together the European space community at the Pavilhão do Conhecimento to highlight the program's success stories and technological achievements, and to discuss the new technological challenges of R&D in space. The sessions will highlight the future of innovation and opportunities for cooperation throughout the sector's value chain. The event will also be a platform for the exchange of knowledge and networking between the various European players.

For the past 25 years, the GSTP has been supporting the European space industry in the development of cutting-edge technologies for space, capable of ensuring the competitiveness of the sector and supporting the missions that monitor and explore our world. GSTP has proved to be a successful program, which has become a key element in building knowledge and capabilities in the space industry, and a fundamental element for ESA to promote technological non-dependence and innovation. Thus, GSTP has become a permanent program whose budget has grown more than 10 times since its creation, having supported a total of more than 1,500 activities in the 24 participating member states.