An expressed need for public-private partnership in space and a transfer of state-only rights on space activities to privately-owned commercial entities are moving from the stage of scattered disputes to coordinated discussions on a potential action plan. A round-table on Current Problems of Ukraine’s Space Industry Innovative Development which was organized by The State Finance Institution for Innovations, Silk Road Association of Ukraine, Dnipro Space Cluster, Hub 4.0 and Institute for Digital Transformation NGO on August 29 2018, confirms clear intentions to join such efforts. The results are still too early. However, the participation of all potential stakeholders, like public authorities, legislature, national and international non-governmental organizations, and commercial companies – gives certain confidence that such an action plan will be accomplished.
At this stage, the critical task is to create a new legal platform for space activities in Ukraine and to define goals and objectives of a new national space program, which will focus on short- and medium-term projects that meet market needs and deliver tangible results.
It is important to understand, foreign space communities are far from being interested in fostering a competitor on the space market, and if such, its activities will be reduced to a status of minor contractor or a sub-contractor. Therefore, the Ukrainian space industry should offer innovative solutions on conditions that are more compelling for potential customers, that is ‘cost-time-quality’. In the past space projects, the ‘time’ turned out to be most vulnerable, leading to failures in achieving promising ideas. Therefore, the task of the state is to define ‘rules of the game’, while implementers are to bear responsibilities for projects in hand.
