ESA Director-General Mr J.J. Dordain, EDA R&T Director Mr C. Breant, EC DG-ENTR Director Aerospace, GMES, Security and Defence Mr P. Weissenberg and Eurospace President Mr E. Dudok.

A workshop on Critical Space Technologies took place in Brussels on 9 September 2008 bringing together more than 100 stakeholders from more than 20 countries, representing the European Commission, ESA, and EDA, their respective Member States, national agencies and European space industry.

The European Commission (EC), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Defence Agency (EDA) have agreed to join forces in order to develop critical space technologies in Europe. The aim is to ensure that Europe can rely on a technical and industrial capacity for accessing space, in particular in the area of the manufacturing of satellites and launchers.