Ministerial Commissioner for Space Research Dr. Orsolya Ferencz visited Singapore on 6-7 February 2020 as the head of the first Hungarian space industry delegation, to represent Hungary at the Global Space and Technology Convention (GSTC), a major space industry conference.
In her speech, the Commissioner emphasised: “Hungary’s decades of space research experience, as well as its private sector and academic expertise, are also highly competitive in a developed country such as Singapore”.
The GSTC is the most determining forum for the sector in Asia, and the region’s highest-level technology companies, start-ups and investors appeared at the event, as well as representatives of higher education and research institutes.
At the event, in representation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Dr. Orsolya Ferencz signed a cooperation agreement with the President of the Singapore Space and Technology Association, which attracted major media attention. The agreement concerns the fields of earth observation and climate change analysis, research & development, robot-based space exploration, and the development and export of space telecommunications equipment.
A Hungarian space technology trade success was also achieved at the event; Managing Director of Bonn Hungary Electronics Ltd. János Solymosi presented the CEO of global corporation Singapore Technologies Engineering with the space industry telecommunications instrument the company had ordered.
As the close of the series of programmes, the delegation visited the space research development centre of Singapore’s leading technology university, Nanyang Technological University, where discussions were also held on the launching of joint research projects and a student exchange programme with the participation of the Budapest University of Technology’s representative Levente Dudás, who presented the PocketQube project at the conference, which was developed and send into orbit by the University, and is the first of its kind in the world.