Cooperation between the space industry, academia, investors, and public institutions; the state of the sector in Italy and Croatia; and shared areas of interest for strengthening bilateral cooperation in space research and the development of space technologies were discussed and presented at the Scientific Colloquium European Space Perspectives, held on 11 December 2025. The event was organized by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER), the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth of the Republic of Croatia, and the Embassy of Italy in Zagreb.

We brought together leading representatives of the Croatian and European space ecosystem: Hrvoje Meštrić, PhD, Director of the Directorate for Science and Technology at the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth, Karol Brzostowski, the European Space Agency (ESA) Delegate responsible for Croatia, Francesco Soldovieri, PhD, Director of the Institute for Environmental Remote Sensing of the Italian National Research Council, H.E. Paolo Trichilo, Ambassador of Italy to Croatia; professors from Politecnico di Torino, Italy’s leading faculty in the field of space technologies; and representatives of companies operating in the industry.

The host of the event, Prof. Vedran Bilas, PhD, Dean of FER, emphasized that the Faculty, as one of the academic pillars of the ecosystem, organized the colloquium with its partners to present the opportunities that European initiatives open up for Croatia, as well as Italy’s experience as a technologically strong EU member state.
"Our mission is the technological development of Croatia. We want to motivate stakeholders in academia and industry to cooperate at the European level, as well as to engage more strongly in education, research, and entrepreneurship in the field of space technologies", said Bilas.

H.E. Paolo Trichilo, Ambassador of Italy to the Republic of Croatia, highlighted the strong bilateral cooperation between Croatia and Italy in the field of research and innovation.
"Today’s event is a clear example of the strong willingness to strengthen scientific and academic cooperation between Italy and Croatia. As confirmation of this commitment, at the beginning of this year a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the aim of enhancing cooperation in priority areas for both countries, including artificial intelligence, the blue economy, and renewable energy sources, in line with our new bilateral strategic plans. However, our cooperation is not only bilateral, both countries share interests and contribute to various research and scientific projects, such as promoting the new Einstein Telescope and, ultimately, supporting the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility", Ambassador Trichilo stated.

"Croatia is actively strengthening cooperation with the European Space Agency through national projects in the field of Earth observation, and we are pleased that particular emphasis has been placed on strengthening partnerships in Earth observation, where Croatia and Italy have significant capacities. To date, Croatia has submitted more than 100 project proposals, 55 of which have been financed by ESA and successfully approved and implemented. We hope that the exchange of experience and knowledge between our and Italian colleagues in this field of space technologies will enable even more joint projects", said Hrvoje Meštrić, PhD, adding: "Recognizing the need for continuous work in this area, we will also prepare a national space strategy, which will be adopted next year."

"Croatia currently has PECS status in the European Space Agency, meaning it is a European Cooperating State and not yet a full member. This is a national call that we implement for Croatian entities with the general goal of developing competencies and capacities that will enable companies and the academic community to be more competitive when Croatia becomes an ESA member. Croatia’s capacity is growing, and the number of companies or institutions involved in the development of space technologies is increasing every year, as the figures show. Croatia also has strong ambitions and plans, and we hope it will become a member in approximately three years", said Brzostowski, the ESA Delegate responsible for Croatia.

Industrial development of space technologies through concrete practical applications was presented by Sandro Panagini, Senior Partner from the International Business Development Department of the Italian company Leonardo S.p.A., Filip Novoselnik, co-founder and CEO of Protostar Labs, Dragan Divjak, co-founder and CEO of List Labs, Ivana Barić Ćurko, Head of the Customer Solutions Department at Amphinicy Technologies, and Assist. Prof. Ivan Tomljenović, PhD, Director of the Oikon Institute d.o.o.

Photographs from the event can be found in the gallery here.