4th from left: Franz Fayot, Luxembourg's Minister of the Economy; Credit: GLAE

On Tuesday 12 October 2021, the aerospace industry group, Groupement luxembourgeois de l’aéronautique et de l’espace (GLAE), celebrated its 15th anniversary in the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in presence of the Minister of the Economy, Franz Fayot, and industry representatives.

GLAE turned 15 already last year, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, celebrations only took place this year. The group was founded as a non-profit organisation in February 2005 within the framework of FEDIL - The Voice of Luxembourg’s Industry. The founding members of GLAE are POST Luxembourg, HITEC Luxembourg, LUXSPACE, SES and TELINDUS Luxembourg. The first GLAE meeting was held on 18 February 2005. The same year, Luxembourg became the 17th member of the European Space Agency (ESA).

GLAE has several missions and, among others, offers Luxembourg companies the opportunity to create synergies at the national and European level and seeks to be the interlocutor of the government for addressing all questions in relation to initiatives taken by the authorities in the context of ESA programmes and the establishment of a space policy in the Grand Duchy. GLAE is also a key partner of the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA), as well as a member of SME4SPACE, an organisation that aims to give a voice to space SMEs in a coordinated way and to facilitate access to space activities in general and ESA and EU programmes in particular.

Luxembourg's Minister of the Economy, Franz Fayot, commented: “Through the expertise of its member companies, GLAE has established itself over the past fifteen years as a privileged interlocutor of the successive governments. This continuous interaction has enabled the Luxembourg space sector to thrive”.

Yves Elsen, President of GLAE, added: “Our sector faces three major challenges in the coming years. The first is to attract and retain talent. The second is to develop vocational training. And the third is to promote the sector as well as public-private partnerships”.

During the 15th anniversary celebrations, invitees listened to a keynote speech by Marco Fuchs, CEO of OHB SE, as well as discussions during a round table about “Developments, trends and challenges in the Luxembourg Space Sector” with Mr Fuchs, Prof. Dr. Björn Ottersten (Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust - SnT), Marc Serres (CEO of the LSA), Ferdinand Kayser (Advisor to SES Management) and Julien-Alexandre Lamamy (Managing Director of ispace Europe). The round table was moderated by Lisa Burke.