Satnews events organised the first edition of SmallSat Europe event in Amsterdam on 27 and 28 May, 2025. With 1,200 participants, nearly 150 exhibitors and 3 stages, this event has become a must-attend for the sector, and confirms the need for Europe to position itself and assert its sovereignty in space, and therefore also for the development of European NewSpace.
If there were a must-attend NewSpace event, it was until now mainly in the United States of America, with the Small Satellite Conference, the 39th edition of which will take place from 10 to 13 August 2025 in Salt Lake City, and, from a more North American angle, the annual CubeSat Developers workshop, which this year took place from 22 to 24 April 2025 in California. In Europe, the European Space Agency (ESA) offered the Cubesat industry days forum, which for its 7th meeting was integrated into the SmallSats Europe conference, the first edition of which has just been held on 27 and 28 May 2025 in Amsterdam. Alongside this forum, the programme also featured more business and technical-oriented stages and an exhibition of more than 150 stands, attracting major international players in NewSpace.
The first lesson to be learned from this year’s conference is that it was a great success, with over 1,200 people in attendance, which should very probably make it a structuring event for NewSpace in the future. The abundant response from players in the sector may also potentially reflect the need for European sovereignty over space. A second observation is the impressive Italian presence on the ESA cubesats scene, reflecting a clear national strategy on the part of the Italian Space Agency to position itself as the European leader in space situation awareness. This proactive national policy plays a fundamental role in creating synergies between industry and universities, but also in attracting highly experienced players to facilitate the development and maturation of scientific nanosatellite projects. If ever there was a need to demonstrate that a national strategy is fundamental and decisive, the proof is here: all roads lead to Rome.