Luxembourg satellite operator SES and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) on Tuesday signed a new partnership agreement with a view to transform basic research into innovative space applications.

This marks yet another move in Luxembourg’s developing space industry, encouraged by the country’s government, trying to push this sector through its spaceresources.lu initiative.

The new cooperation framework with LIST complements an already existing partnership agreement between SES and the University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT).

‘Disrupt’ the market

Under the agreement, SES and LIST will cooperate through their international network of research partners with valuable expertise in satellite communications (SATCOM), to transform basic research into innovative space applications.

Fernand Reinig, Chief Executive Officer at LIST, said: “SES’s expertise in the space industry and our research and development activities organically complement each other”.

LIST will therefore become a close technology partner of SES in the development of pioneering SATCOM commercial products and services to inspire or ‘disrupt’ the market with new satellite platforms, analysis tools and innovative ground infrastructure.

SES is hoping that the new partnership agreement will help to further enhance Luxembourg’s technology ecosystem by attracting start-ups to develop their businesses in the Grand Duchy and that it will facilitate the transfer of new technologies stemming from national public and private research.

European Centre of Excellence

More specifically, SES and LIST are planning to concentrate on the so-called ‘Smart Space’ initiative. This includes research and development of applications in the context of High Performance Computing, aiming to establish a space ecosystem by building on Luxembourg’s competitive advantages, including global satellite communications and telecommunications networks, data centres and connectivity, and existing service providers.

Gerhard Bethscheider, Managing Director at SES Techcom Services said: “Our collaboration with LIST is a perfect illustration of how we can combine and augment our existing SATCOM knowledge in Luxembourg and increase the speed of innovation and to shape the future together”.

Furthermore, both parties want to develop a European Centre of Excellence to address societal challenges such as climate change, environment, green mobility, security and healthcare.

SES and LIST will also work on developing commercial applications in the areas of the Internet of Things, e-platform solutions and optical communications. In addition, SES and LIST will jointly assess the development of competences in other satellite-related application areas, such as connected cars.