CNES And AASO Join Forces – Africa Enters The ActInSpace Fold

ActInSpace is an international competition organized by CNES and ESA that gives contestants competing in teams of two to five people from around the world and from all horizons 24 hours to invent future products and services based on satellite data and space technologies. Since its first edition in 2014, ActInSpace has led to the creation of 35 start-ups in its various host nations. For this fourth edition, more than 50 countries and some 100 cities will be taking part on all five continents, each organizing their own ActInSpace event simultaneously on 24 and 25 April.

The partnership between CNES and AASO will enable ActInSpace to continue extending its international reach, notably in Africa, and thus promote access to space solutions for all and generate new business. AASO’s aim is to create the conditions and provide the aeronautics and space resources required to drive the sustainable development of the African continent. The new agreement signed today will help to promote and set up joint development projects in the fields of aeronautics and space sciences while leveraging local skills and expertise.

After the signature, Jean-Yves Le Gall commented: “With this agreement, ActInSpace is entering a new phase in its development and I thank AASO for its support in promoting the event. ActInSpace is helping to spur new space-related activities on all five continents, and in Africa, which last year formed the African Space Agency (AfSA), it illustrates the intention of African nations to be among the players that count in a sector whose ambitions are growing all the time.”

This partnership agreement was announced on 11 March 2020.