Norway-Japan Space Seminar

Norway and Japan have a long-standing tradition of international space cooperation in research, technology, business development and the use of earth observation. This space seminar will raise awareness among both the Norwegian and Japanese authorities about our cooperation, common interests, and future opportunities for joint space activities. The seminar will encompass fruitful discussions on several levels, from hands-on space technology development, infrastructure and applications to policy analysis and international cooperation.    

The seminar will explore the existing cooperation, investigate the scope for strengthening cooperation, as well as discuss new areas of joint interests, focusing on government, science, research and commercial opportunities. An important purpose of the seminar is to explore opportunities for the Norwegian space industry and Japanese space technology companies as well as cooperation within space research, earth observation and sounding rocket projects. 

Japan has recently been strengthening its space program in many areas including maritime domain, industry development is strong, highly encouraged and supported by Japanese Government and international cooperation is an important part of the development plans. Japan and Norway shares many of the same challenges and have been partners for a long time.  

KSAT has been working with the Japanese space community for many years. Due to developments in Japan and in Asia as a region, it has decided to expand and set up an office to further strengthen cooperation and seek joint activities in Japan. This is a clear sign of the opportunities for Norwegian space and research communities in Japan.   
  
The Norway-Japan Space Seminar will draw on lessons learned from the successful Norwegian-American Space Seminar held in Washington, D.C. in November 2023.  
  
We encourage participants to organize side events or visit institutes or businesses on the third day. We may also organize a visit to JAXA.  

The seminar is open to interested actors in both Japan and Norway, including but not limited to governmental agencies, research institutions, and space industry. 
  
There is no registration fee to participate. The program will be updated on this web page regularly.

This seminar will be in English only.

Preliminary Program

2 October Wednesday

09:30 Registration and coffee/tea                                                                                      

10:00 Welcome and introduction

10:00-10:10: Welcoming words: Kristin Iglum, Ambassador of Norway to Japan. 

10:10-10:20: Welcoming talks: Christian Hauglie-Hanssen, Director General Norwegian Space Agency (NOSA) & President JAXA. 

10:20-10:30: Keynote: Space collaboration between Norway and Japan – a historic overview, by Pål Brekke, NOSA.

10:30 Session 1: Norwegian – Japanese space collaboration in the spotlight

Chaired by Pål Brekke, NOSA.

Confirmed high-level speakers for this session include Rolf Skatteboe, President and CEO of KSAT, the Norwegian Mapping Authority, and Prof. Taro Sako and Prof. Yoshifumi Saito from JAXA.

11:15-11:30 Coffee break

Session 1 continued.

13:00 Lunch on site

14:00 Session 2: Emerging challenges in the space domain and prospects for reinforced NO-JP partnerships 

Chaired by Per Høyland, NOSA.

Confirmed high-level speakers for this session include representatives from Astroscale, Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace, and NOSA.

15:30-16:00 Coffee break

16:00 Session 3: Space as a strategic asset

Chaired by Per Høyland, NOSA.

Confirmed high-level speakers for this session include representatives from NOSA and Andøya Space. 

17:00 Session 4: Panel discussion - How to strengthen Norway-Japan collaboration in space?

High-level speakers to be confirmed.

18:00 Reception on site

Expected to end at 20:00
 

3 October Thursday

09:00 Registration and coffee/tea

09:30 Opening of the 2nd day

09:00-09:15 Opening words, by Simon Flack, Innovation Norway.

09:15-09:30 Recap of day 1, by Christian Hauglie-Hanssen, NOSA

10:00 Session 5: Space science and sounding rockets

Chaired by Pål Brekke, NOSA.

Confirmed high-level speakers for this session include Kolbjørn Blix from Andøya Suborbital, Kristian Lium from NAMMO, Prof. Keisuke Hosokawa from Univ Electro-Communications, and Wojciech J. Miloch from the University of Oslo.

11:45 Lunch break

12:45 Session 6: Maritime Domain Awareness 

Chaired by Per Høyland, NOSA.

Confirmed high-level speakers for this session include representatives from NOSA and Kongsberg Discovery.

14:15 Coffee break

14:30 Session 7: Leveraging space through industrial cooperation

Chaired by Simon Flack, Innovation Norway.

High-level speakers to be defined.

15:50 Closing remarks

By Christian Hauglie-Hanssen (NOSA) and Rolf Skatteboe (KSAT).

16:00 End of program