To improve and develop the skills and expertise of SMEs, and to help them meet the challenges of space requirements, ESA’s SME Unit is organising four training courses this year.

‘Writing a good proposal for an ESA ITT’ and ‘Financing innovative projects’ are the two first courses taking place in June with a registration deadline of 25 May.

Since 1999 ESA has taken a number of measures in support of industrial competitiveness in general and of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in particular. The dynamism, flexibility and innovative capabilities of high-technology SMEs are of high value to Europe’s space industry and the Agency’s actively encouraging this industrial group to become involved in its space programmes through its SME initiative.

Helping SMEs improve their technical skills and competence through training and technical assistance is a key part. To scale up the support to SMEs, ESA and the European Commission launched in 2005 a new project called Space Intelligence, Engineering & Quality Network (SineQuaNet), specially aimed at providing hands-on support and training to SMEs.

This year’s training programme is organised within the framework of the SineQuaNet project. As part of SineQuaNet a dedicated ESA SME website (http://www.esa.int/SME) has been created and an expert database is being set up which will provide better opportunities for SMEs to find the best expertise and facilities needed to improve their skills and make them more competitive.

Industry training 2007

The programme for this year includes four courses:

• 4-6 June 2007: Writing a good Proposal for an ESA ITT
• 7-8 June 2007: Financing Innovative Projects

The deadline for registration for these two courses is 25 May 2007.

• September 2007: Components Engineering
• September 2007: Quality Assurance

These courses will take place in the first half of September, but the exact dates are still to be finalised. Registration will be opened in July.

The training courses will take place at ESTEC, the European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, and are open to all companies belonging to one of the ESA Member or Co-operating States with priority given to SMEs.

For more information visit the 'ESA Training Programme for Industry 2007' web site.