Measuring the
impact of space
The European Space Agency is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capabilities and ensure that investment in space continuously supports the competitiveness of the European industry and delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
For this purpose, ESA monitors the economic value of the space sector, and of Europe’s competitiveness and measures the socio-economic impact of its activities. This has been done by relying on close collaboration with Member States and international bodies such as the OECD.
What we do
As part of ESA’s Directorate for Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness (CIC), the Space Economy team:
Monitor
Monitors the evolution of the space sector globally, measuring Europe’s competitiveness and providing the different stakeholders of ESA Member States’ with key figures and trends;
Share knowledge
Promotes the exchange of best practices on space economy and the harmonisation of methodological approaches through both close internal collaboration with ESA programmes and external strategic partnerships such as with the OECD, Eurostat and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), and CERN;
Impact
Evaluates the social, economic and environmental impacts of Member States’ investment in ESA programmes;
ECSECO
Runs the European Centre for Space Economy and Commerce (ECSECO). ECSECO serves as a European platform for interdisciplinary discussions and research on space economy and commerce, offering activities such as workshops, networking events, and collaborative research connecting stakeholders from the entire European space sector.
The Space Economy team is coordinating and harmonising ESA’s efforts to assess the social, economic and environmental impact of its programmes, notably in support of programme proposals submitted for decisions at ESA Council meetings at Ministerial level.
Continuously strengthening this capability is an enabler to pilot and steer the European space industry and scientific R&D activities to respond to critical societal needs and to maximise the positive contribution of space towards Europe’s sustainability, competitiveness, leadership and strategic autonomy.
The Space Economy team is coordinating and harmonising ESA’s efforts to assess the social, economic and environmental impact of its programmes, notably in support of programme proposals submitted for decisions at ESA Council meetings at Ministerial level.
Continuously strengthening this capability is an enabler to pilot and steer the European space industry and scientific R&D activities to respond to critical societal needs and to maximise the positive contribution of space towards Europe’s sustainability, competitiveness, leadership and strategic autonomy.
The Team
The team ensures the secretariat of ESA’s Inter-Directorate Working Group (IDWG) on Space Economy. Since 2014, the group gathers representatives from all ESA directorates and provides a forum for cooperation, discussion and knowledge sharing.
The Space Economy team is also the official ESA point of contact for other national and international institutions in charge of measuring the space economy (e.g., the OECD Space Forum), with the objective to foster the development of a European expert community in the space economy domain.
The research
The flagship product of ESA Space Economy team is the “Report on the Space Economy”, annually presented to ESA Industrial Policy Committee and to ESA Council. The objective of the report is to provide an annual update on the status and trends of the space industry globally, monitoring Europe’s competitiveness.
Since 2024, a public version is made available.
The team also leads the research on the impact of space activities, supporting ESA programmes in the measurement of their impacts since 2014. The objective is to provide Member States with an overarching view of the socio-economic impacts of their investment in ESA programmes. Since 2022, the impact of ESA on Europe’s environment and sustainability has been added in the scope of ESA impact studies. The research builds on a first ever cooperation between ESA’s Space Economy team, ESA’s Clean Space team, and ESA’s Climate and Sustainability office to ensure compliance with ESA’s Life Cycle Assessment framework and full integration within ESA’s Green Agenda.
Prepared by ESA Space Economy team in support of ESA Ministerial Council 2025, the "Space Benefits for Earth" presentation highlights selected examples from the benefits to Europe of public investment in space, and in ESA programmes.
