Bengaluru Space Expo 2024 concludes

The Bengaluru Space Expo 2024 concluded on Friday with over 160 exhibitors and 10,000 visitors taking part in the three-day event.

The Bengaluru Space Expo 2024 concluded on Friday with over 160 exhibitors and 10,000 visitors taking part in the three-day event.

Apparao Mallavarapu, chairman space committee, Confederation of Indian Industries, said: “This is the eight Bengaluru Space Expo in the last 16 years. The theme this year was accelerating tomorrow and that is exactly what happened in the last three days. We have grown from strength to strength. We have had about 160 plus exhibitors and overall we have had about more than 10,000 visitors which is amazing for space.”

ISRO chairman S. Somanath said Bengaluru Space Expo is growing in its prominence, size, and its impact. “What we are looking for is to have a space and industry connection and showcase the economic aspect of space activity. When I looked at some of the stalls, I was really impressed by the work done by some of the industries who have been able to bring reasonably high end technology to India and develop them here,” Mr. Somanath said.

He added this year there was a huge footfall of visitors from industries and that Bengaluru Space Expo has become an international event through the participation of partner countries like Australia, U.K., Sweden, Italy, and Russia.

To question on Karnataka government’s plan to come up with a comprehensive space policy, Mr. Somanath said ISRO Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) is actively working with various states who want to develop space ecosystems.

“Space policy initiatives are being taken not only by Karnataka, but also other states like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and so on. They are all looking at creating an industrial ecosystem in the state to support space activity in terms of new companies starting there, how to incentivise their activity etc,” he said