SmartSat CRC, an Australian government supported Cooperative Research Center based in Adelaide, South Australia has announced that it has created Australian Space Industry Start-up Company (ASISC). The purpose would be to provide a platform to the smallest members a voice and more opportunities to participate in SmartSat CRC projects and activities.
SmartSat CRC comprises of 99 industry and research partners including 13 global companies, 20 local companies, 17 educational institutes and more than 40 start-ups. ASISC will become a collective Core Partner in the CRC and will follow a membership model. Initially 12 months free membership will be given to asses the value.
Industry Director for SmartSat CRC Peter Nikoloff who is also the co-founder of Adelaide defence and space company Nova Systems, said this was loosely based on a model used by the former Spatial Information CRC. He also said, “Because we’ve got so many it’s quite difficult to manage them individually so by establishing one company it gives them experience to work on the board of a bigger organisation, but the chair of the board will be the voice for all of them so we’ve got one point of contact. The start-ups are the ones we’re trying to motivate to drive growth in the space sector and SmartSat CRC’s prime objective is to grow the space industry, so we really need to make sure we’re hearing from them about what their issues and challenges are as part of the CRC.”
