The business conclave organised as part of the International Astronautical Congress-2007 saw the participation of several space idealogues and industry representatives. The conclave explored the business prospects and stressed the importance of international cooperation and partnership for space business to flourish.

The business conclave was held for the first time in the 57 years of the existence of International Astronomical Congress. It was conceptualised by the IAC 2007 organisers and aims to bridge the gap between the industry and space agencies and bring collective focus to address the tremendous new opportunities that are increasing in the civil, commercial and military aerospace markets.

Speaking at the inaugural session, Dr Madhavan Nair, Chairman-ISRO & President- ASI said “After a modest beginning four decades ago, Indian space industry is maturing and one would witness ISRO’s increasing participation in collaborative projects with space agencies and international companies. Launching of commercial satellite for telecommunications and earth observations is huge business. India is emerging as an important partner for launching satellites. We have today built capability to launch at affordable costs at about 70 to 80% of the International price. We will have more launches out of India.”

James Zimmerman, President, IAF, opined that there is a lot of scope for good business exchange among countries. For the business of space to be successful, global public private partnerships are crucial. Entrepreneurship and investments have to be encouraged. James also stressed the urgent need to induct youth into the industry.

Dr K.Kasturirangan, Member of Parliament and former Chairman ISRO, commented that space business should transcend national polices to be more useful to open up space markets. The space agency and governments should adopt global sourcing as much as possible. Francois Auque, Member of Executive Committee of EADS and Chief Executive Officer, Astrium, highlighted the business opportunity in the civil, commercial and military aerospace.

International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) of the US are a major hurdle in the growth of new space industry actors in the global market, said speakers from emerging space nations at Congress.