A Canadian Space Agency (CSA) internal report on the InvestmentSpace 2019 conference states that the 166 participants gave the first time event a 8.7 rating out of 10 and that it should be a recurring event. Using the government’s Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) service, SpaceQ received the very lightly redacted report.
SpaceQ was present at the event and wrote our take on it and while the CSA internal report, available below, doesn’t provide a lot of new information on the event, it does clearly reinforce the idea that the event needs to happen again.
“Participant were quite thrilled to see the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) organize such a grand-scale event that 99% of the survey respondents see value in continuing this event in the future. It should be noted that over half of the respondents expressed the need to schedule such continuing events in other provinces as well.”
And with that the CSA did indeed plan to hold another InvestmentSpace conference this year. It was originally planned for February but was postponed until later this year, though no season was given at the time. Then the pandemic hit. Now, it’s unclear when the conference might happen. And while it could be scheduled virtually, this type of event is better suited as an in-person event. As it stands now there is no decision on when or how the event might happen next year.
When it does happen, participants suggested that more “players” be in attendance “to enhance the network building including representatives from:”
- CSA Space Technology Development Program (STDP)
- Other industry stakeholders (i.e. life sciences)
- Small, medium and large corporations in equal proportions
One other suggestion we heard was that the investors be consulted on the format. This would increase the efficiency in evaluating potential companies and might attract more investors.
Former Canadian Space Agency President Sylvain Laporte told SpaceQ just before he left the agency that he was very pleased with the event and that afterwards they were getting more calls from investors with their thoughts and suggestions on future events.
InvestmentSpace 2019 – A Complete Review