On 11 October the European Committee of the Regions adopted an opinion that positively assesses the Space Strategy for Europe proposed by the European Commission. Władysław Ortyl, Marshal of the Podkarpackie region and ECR Group Member, led the work on smart specialisation and regional investment.

Marshal Władysław Ortyl, ECR Group's shadow rapporteur for the opinion on the EUs space strategy underlined the importance of taking into account the regional dimension of space policy for its success noting that investment in space policy could save tax-payers billions of Euros.

"I am glad that all our amendments were successfully adopted. The Space Strategy for Europe can only really succeed if we take into account the regional angle of the policy. The way we shape the policy will have a direct impact on the development of firms in this industry and therefore our regional economies. The way we design the policy will impact our ability to attract and keep industry in our regions. It is through such a regional approach that aviation and aerospace have become the leading smart specialisation in my region in Poland." he said.

The document drawn-up by the members of the Committee of the Regions will now be forwarded to the European Commission as the official position of the local and regional authorities of the EU.

"The EUs space strategy can help save billions of Euros of tax-payers hard-earned money", said Marshal Ortyl. He added that "between 2002-2012, disasters were responsible for 80 000 deaths and cost around 95 billion Euros in the EU alone." As stated in the opinion, space technologies can be useful, inter alia, in the public sector. They can be used, for example, for day-to-day monitoring of an area or evaluating the status of natural resources (water, air etc). Advanced technologies can also be used for reviewing the subsidy system and for early identification and prevention of illegal construction. Furthermore, space technologies can be harnessed for improving the energy efficiency of buildings and can help warn against and monitor the effects of natural disasters.

In the adopted document, the EU local and regional elected representatives underline the importance of the role played by the regions in implementing the EU's space policy. "We believe that regional authorities should be coordinators of regional space policy. In this context the activities of regions that have joined the Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies (NEREUS) should be highlighted. The aim of these activities is to harness the potential of space technology", said Mr Ortyl. The Podkarpacie region joined the Network in May of this year.

The Marshal also underline that the creation of European Space Agency business incubators in the regions should be supported, with the aim of encouraging entrepreneurship in this sector. On 9 May 2017, the Podkarpackie region co-hosted the Aerospace and Defence Meetings, which were attended by 150 companies from more than 20 countries. The aim of the event was to bring together business partners and to facilitate the sharing of experience between world leaders from the aviation industry.

Between 2014 and 2020, the European Union will have invested over EUR 12 billion in space programmes.