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Chiara Manfletti announced this Friday that she will cease to be president of the Portuguese Space Agency. On September 14, at the agency’s general meeting, an interim president will be appointed and on September 15, an international competition will open for a future president, who should be appointed for the summer of 2021.
The announcement of the departure of the presidency was made by Chiara Manfletti workshop “Space Systems and Innovation: Portugal in Europe 2020-2030”, attended by Manuel Heitor, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, who confirmed this announcement. “We take advantage of this meeting in which we gather the entire industry to announce it and take stock of the last two years of the agency,” Manuel Heitor tells PÚBLICO.
Of Italian and German nationality, Chiara Manfletti was the first president of the Portuguese Space Agency. Previously, she was a program advisor to the director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), Johann-Dietrich Woerner. She assumed her duties at the Portuguese Space Agency on March 25, after being named at the agency’s first general meeting. At the time, the term was said to be five years and renewable.
Chiara manfletti
Daniel Rocha
Regarding the reasons for his departure, Manuel Heitor indicates that, when Chiara Manfletti arrived in Portugal, he already had a contract with ESA that he “still has” and that it had only been “transferred” to Portugal until the end of 2020. “He had return to ESA before the end of the year and ESA invited her to accelerate her return. It was about combining the agenda here with her own at ESA ”. And she highlights about the displacement of about two years: “When she arrived in Portugal it was only until the end of 2020 and she anticipated a few months.
The minister has a “positive” view of Chiara Manfletti’s mandate as president of the Portuguese agency. “Portugal has grown a lot not only in projects at ESA but also through structural funds. In the last three years we have doubled our investment in space and have opened a series of new activities ”. For this reason, he says that he took the opportunity to award Chiara Manfletti a medal of scientific merit from the Ministry of Science, which is generally awarded to Portuguese or foreigners who have made important contributions to science and technology in Portugal. “I think his contribution was important and today I decided to give him the medal of science [esta sexta-feira] the morning after announcing that he was leaving. “
Requirements and challenges
On September 14, at the general assembly of the Portuguese Space Agency, the members of the agency will appoint an interim president. The next day, the international competition for a future president will open. Manuel Heitor says that this will have a model similar to the one recommended by ESA and used in other space agencies.
The terms of reference of the contest will be available that day on the page online of the Portuguese Space Agency. Nominations will be open until early 2021. The interim president will serve until July 2021 and the new president will take office at that time.
And what profile will you have to have? “It will be a profile following the one who was Chiara Manfletti, with international experience in the area of space and who can continue projecting Portugal in a European context”, responds Manuel Heitor. The minister added that a person with international experience in the management and promotion of space activities is being sought, from the launch area, through satellites, and moving on to Earth observation businesses. It also adds that it is intended, above all, a person who knows the international markets of the space so that he can better position Portugal, its companies and institutions in international networks.
And will knowing the Portuguese context well be a factor to take into account? Manuel Heitor says that “of course this is interesting”, but that it is not a requirement. “We want a person to help us grow, naturally that growth will be in Portugal, but our goal is for more and more Portugal to get involved in the European space industry,” he says, noting that it is also a goal “to have more European industry in Portugal. working “. “Space is a sector with growth potential in Europe and in the world, and Portugal wants to be part of that movement.”
Regarding the challenges of the future president, the Minister of Science says that he will have the “great challenge” of multiplying the space sector by ten, as indicated in the national space strategy (Portugal Espaço 2030). If in 2019 the space sector had a turnover of around 40 million euros in Portugal, it aims to reach at least 500 million euros in 2030, says Manuel Heitor. “This is a challenge for the next decade.”
