The India Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai organised a session on ‘Space for Start-ups: Infinite opportunities in Space’ as part of the Space Week theme. The session, organised by the Department of Space, Govt of India, and FICCI, touched upon the available market opportunities in the space start-up sector and factors required to increase industry participation.
During the panel discussion on ‘Global Opportunities for Start-ups in Space Sector and Trends’, Dr Somanath S, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), ISRO said, “Space sector is on its way to becoming a trillion-dollar industry and the role of start-ups will be crucial in this journey. For start-ups to succeed, they must either reinvent existing technology to cause a disruption in the existing domain, generate new technologies and ideas into the sector, or use innovative ideas to put existing products or projects to new uses.” He also urged established companies and start-ups that have graduated into full-fledged businesses to give back to the sector by mentoring the new generation of start-ups.
Mr Ibrahim Al Qasim, Executive Director, UAE Space Agency said, “Recent developments in the cost of access to space has made it possible for mega constellation in space. However, there is a need to develop a more holistic and unified vision for the sector. More coordination and collaboration will be critical to ensure access to space. Going forward, focus of the UAE space sector will be towards building on the downstream sector, which will pull the upstream industry towards more opportunities.”
Highlighting the challenges for start-ups in the sector, Mr Rohan M Ganapathy, CEO & CTO, Bellatrix Aerospace, India said that the gestation period in space sector is very high and hence to make business sense, there is a lot of priority investment that must be put in first. To attract investment, he stated that before approaching investors, “Space products must have end-use on the ground.” Commenting on the inherent risks in the sector, he said, “If something fails in space, it fails. You can’t go to space to service or fix it.”
Mr Diego Nodar, COO and Co-Founder, Alén Space said, “The first step is bringing your business model to orbit and validating it would be the minimum viable product. You must be able to provide value at least to a group of users and get feedback from them, then go for the funding you need to scale up and transform your start-up in a stable and sustainable company.”
Mr Sanjay Nekkanti, CEO, Dhruva Space Pvt Ltd, India said, “India & UAE are actively collaborating in the field of space research and both countries can truly unlock the new space economy together.”
The session was also attended by eminent industry leaders including, Dr Sam Dayala Dev, Director, ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU); Dr Unnikrishnan Nair, Director, Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC), ISRO; Mr Sudheer Kumar N, Director, Capacity Building Program Office, ISRO Headquarters; Mr Sireesh Pallikonda, Lead- Business Development, Skyroot Aerospace, India; Mr Anirudh Sharma, Co-founder & CEO, Digantara, India; Mr Tushar Jadhav, Co-Founder & CEO, Manastu Space, India and Gp Capt. Raghavendra Aroor (Retd.), General Manager, Alpha Design Technologies Pvt Ltd.
