Building the Space Nation
By chance or by design?
Australia's space ambition
The Australian space ecosystem is brimming with the capability needed to be world class.
But we won’t get there by chance; it will be by design.
Australia can choose to have the capacity and capability to contribute to the global space economy.
New Space calls for us to be agile and dynamic compared to legacy spacefaring nations. As an emerging player, we have a time-limited opportunity to position ourselves as leaders in the next generation of space.
To get there, industry development in the New Space paradigm must be different, and it requires an ecosystem mindset.
The space ecosystem
Characterised by multiple interdependent systems, organisations operating in the space environment resemble a complex and evolving ecosystem. There is no leader in an ecosystem, like government, dictating the actions of others. Rather, each member of the ecosystem is responsible for its own actions and future.
This may seem like there is an absence of responsibility or direction. However, it’s not command and control – an old space mindset – that results in a highly successful, innovative industry.
Instead, the ecosystem is organised around a shared vision for the future, acting as a magnet to draw in organisations and present opportunities for cooperation and collaboration across seemingly unconnected networks. The level of sophistication of the ecosystem that forms around successful enterprise will fundamentally rely on the quality of these complex networks.
Collecting the voices of our ecosystem
Over the course of two months, we gathered perspectives from ecosystem players on where we’ve been, what we’re doing, where we’re going and how we should get there.
These perspectives are inevitably diverse, but they share common undertones. Here, we present the voices of the ecosystem across four recurring themes: talent, building our value proposition, commercialisation and cohesion. Holding up a mirror, we provide an overview of what the ecosystem is thinking and experiencing today, and how this might inform the ecosystem of tomorrow.
Australia’s space ecosystem: where to next?
Looking ahead and outside of our own ecosystem, space has a significant role to play in Australia’s future as both a security and an economic priority. Space is going to play a leading role in solving big, complex, global problems like climate change.
So, for an ecosystem like ours, we implore you to think laterally: how are you going to leverage others in the ecosystem that are on the same journey as you? And because this is a two-way street, how can you also help others on their journey?
This is how we will build the space nation – together.
