ESA’s Technology Support Programme celebrates its 25th anniversary in Portugal

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

For the past 25 years, GSTP has supported the European space industry in developing cutting-edge space technologies capable of ensuring the sector's competitiveness and supporting missions that monitor and explore our world. The GSTP has proven to be a successful programme, which has become a key part of building knowledge and capabilities in the space industry, and a fundamental element of ESA's drive to promote technology de-dependence and innovation. The GSTP has thus become a permanent programme whose budget has grown more than 10-fold since its creation, having supported a total of more than 1,500 activities in the 24 participating Member States.