Turin try to carve out a role increasingly central to the new space economy and it does so by bringing industry, research and institutions around the same table. The conference took place at the Congress Centre of the Turin Industrial Union third Italian stage of the Regional Roadshow of the ESA Ambassador for Business Applications and Space Solutions for Italy, initiative promoted by the Turin Industrial Union and the E. Amaldi Foundation, With the collaboration of Piedmont Innova Foundation.
The event highlighted the opportunities offered by space technologies applied to terrestrial markets and confirmed the growing importance of the Piedmontese capital in a sector destined for further expansion.
Turin in the European space race
The event offered Turin's production system a comprehensive understanding of the European program dedicated to the development of innovative applications based on the integration of space data and technologies. In this context, theItaly strengthens its position in EuropeItaly remains the European Space Agency's third-largest contributor and the leading country in the ESA Access-Bass program. This figure demonstrates the strength of the national ecosystem and its ability to navigate the New Space Economy value chain.
The proceedings were opened by institutional greetings from Eleanor Faina, deputy general director of the Turin Industrial Union, and of Lorenzo Scatena, Secretary General of the E. Amaldi Foundation. Scatena himself emphasized the Foundation's increasingly broad role: "The Foundation is increasingly positioned as a strategic enabler along the entire innovation value chain, supporting companies on a comprehensive journey from initial idea to development and subsequent market scalability. From this perspective, we apply an end-to-end approach that begins with market data analysis and extends to support capacity building, matchmaking, and internationalization, through an integrated mix of direct and indirect tools, with the goal of concretely strengthening the competitiveness of the industrial system."
Aerospace as a lever for growth in the region
The message that emerged strongly from the roadshow is that Space is no longer just a technological frontier, but a true industrial engineThis was underlined by Giorgio Marsiaj, Confindustria's aerospace delegate, who linked the sector's growth to the transformations already underway in the Turin area and across Europe.
In a time of great transformation, space is proving to be an area of strong economic growth, with an estimated value of €1.6 trillion by 2035. The European Union's next Multiannual Financial Framework is expected to allocate over €130 billion to investments in the defense, security, and space sectors, five times the resources allocated in the previous programming period. Within this framework, aerospace has become and will increasingly become the true champion of Turin's growth. Imports have already increased from €500 million to over €1 billion, representing almost 50% of all of Northern Italy. Overall, Turin's sector has grown from €2,0 billion in 1998 to over €4,8 billion last year. The success factors are the presence of major players, an ecosystem of specialized SMEs, investments in research and development, and a stable collaboration with the European Space Agency. As a country, we are a leader in a sector that will grow further globally, as demonstrated by the ongoing consolidations between major European groups, but also by the ongoing consolidations between major European groups. even the recent announcements about the return to the Moon projects. Aerospace, therefore, demonstrates that Italy, and therefore Turin, win when they combine historical specialization, innovation, and competitiveness."
On the resources front, the ESA Bass programme will be able to count on a total budget of 33 million euros allocated by the Italian Space Agency during the last ESA Ministerial Meeting for the next three years. The aim is to make land concrete tools To transform technological content into scalable solutions, targeting startups, SMEs, and large companies, with the ambition of fostering cross-sector collaboration and accelerating the adoption of space technologies in non-space-related fields.
From space to terrestrial markets, how the ESA Bass challenge works
In discussions with Enrico Spinelli, Business Applications Engineer at the European Space Agency, and Eleonora Lombardi, ESA Bass Ambassador for Italy, the program's access procedures and the role of the E. Amaldi Foundation as a liaison between ESA, ASI, and the national manufacturing community were explored. Thus, data and technologies developed for space can generate immediate value on Earth, opening up new industrial opportunities.
“With the ACCESS-Business Applications and Space Solutions program, we work to promote theapplication of space technologies in terrestrial contexts, supporting companies and organizations in the development and validation of innovative solutions. The goal is to transfer skills, data, and technologies from space—such as Earth observation, satellite telecommunications, and navigation—to practical applications that generate value for users and society at large. The use of space, in fact, opens up new opportunities for the creation of advanced services and innovative applications in various sectors, including the environment, mobility, agriculture, security, and smart cities, contributing to economic growth and technological progress. We have already supported successful activities with companies in the Turin ecosystem and thanks to the renewed Italian subscription to BASS, we can welcome new projects in various market sectors" explained Spinelli.
The projects and the Turin model
Also giving substance to the debate were the specific cases already activated in the industrial fabric. Fabrizio Dominici, Head of AI, Data & Space for the LINKS Foundation, presented CAPRI – Cooperative Autonomous Platform for Reliable Inspection, a €1,4 million project that focuses on the integration of satellite navigation data, advanced positioning technologies, and artificial intelligence to enable fleets of cooperative drones to perform automated, high-precision inspections of infrastructure, even in complex or signal-deprived environments, with significant implications for safety and efficiency in predictive maintenance.
Accanto a questo, Vanina Fissore and Andrea Lessio from Ithaca presented SAiBEES, an initiative focused on evaluating the technical and economic feasibility of a digital tool for sustainable hive management. In this case, Earth Observation data, integrated with artificial intelligence, is being used to improve bee health and productivity, addressing critical environmental issues such as climate change, pollution, and parasites.
La final round table, dedicated to the opportunities and development paths for local businesses in the space economy, reiterated one point: the space is increasingly a transversal enabler, capable of transferring innovation to other production sectors and generating new business models. And it is precisely here that Turin is attempting to make the leap, playing its game on a combination of industrial expertise, specialized supply chains, applied research, and networking capabilities.
