On the initiative of Bremen the German Länder organized a series of three events in Berlin to promote the network and increase its visibility towards the national and regional level.
The key event was a Parliament Evening dedicated the German and European space strategy with the title: “regional contributions to the space strategies of Germany and the EU”. The German government had recently published its policy priorities to shape its future engagement in space and defined the fundamentals of how the high-technology space sector is to develop over the next few years at a national level and in so doing, how it must respond to changing political and societal conditions on the domestic as well as international stages. Please find more information on the German space strategy.
Taking place in the Berlin based representation of the Hanseatic City of Bremen almost 160 participants (representatives from politics, national and regional administrations, industry and German NEREUS-network community) attended the event. The evening consisted of two parts: two key note speeches introducing the German and European space strategy for the next years and a moderated panel discussion with political high-level representatives of the six German NEREUS member regions. Bremen’s Senator Martin Günthner welcomed the participants and was followed by Parliamentary State Secretary Peter Hintze, Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. Hintze who represented the national federal level addressed the pivotal areas of the German space strategy and explained the different paths with which the German government intends to safeguard the future of the German space industry. Stressing the immense benefits of space for science and society he also underlined the economic implications of space as a driver for attractive jobs and growth.
The European Commission was represented by Ms. Kainz-Huber (deputy head of unit space policy) who reflected on the European approach to a strategy development regarding the future space activities of the Union and explained the procedures and restraints of the European Commission when shaping strategies.
While space strategies are made at European and national level, policies and projects are often implemented at regional level. Following the key notes the high-level political representatives of the NEREUS-member regions engaged in an exchange referring to the national space strategy they highlighted priorities and activities in their regions. The NEREUS-member regions were represented by:
- Baden-Württemberg – MinDirig Günther Leßnerkraus (head of department in the economics ministry)
- Bavaria – Secretary of State Katja Hessel
- Brandenburg – Minister Ralf Christoffers
- Bremen – Senator Martin Günthner
- Hesse – MinDirig Klaus-Dieter Jäger (head of department in the ministry for economics, transport and urban development)
- Mecklenburg-Vorpommern – MinDirig Gerd-Rüdiger Reichel (head of department of the ministry for economics, work and tourism)
Apart from that a separate meeting was organized to present and discuss NEREUS with the ministerial federal level. Following the invitation of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technologies representatives of different German federal ministries gathered in the afternoon of 19 January 2011 to learn more about NEREUS. The German network community gathered the morning on 20 January 2011 for an up-date on NEREUS-activities and to exchange how to enhance the interregional collaboration via NEREUS. On this occasion the Coordinator of the DORIS_Net Volker Schumacher took the opportunity to present the main features of the first GMES-project that was mobilized on the NEREUS-platform
