Argentina: Knowledge Economy allocates $950 million to strengthen the national satellite and aerospace industry

By Ministry of Economy

This is a machine translation of the original press release issued in Spanish

The Ministry of Economy of the Nation, in charge of Minister Sergio Massa, will allocate a total of $950 million for projects to strengthen processes and services in the satellite and aerospace industry that provide greater dynamism to this strategic and key sector of the Argentine economy. for international competitiveness. Those interested in applying to the second call of the 'Promote Satellite and Aerospace Industry' program will be able to access Non-Reimbursable Contributions (ANR) to acquire machinery, equipment, furniture, supplies, manage certifications and hire professionals, among other benefits.

The Secretary of the Knowledge Economy, Ariel Sujarchuk, affirmed that "this program, which is already in its second version, was discussed from the beginning with all the actors, both public and private, to find out what the needs of the sector were and to be able to diagram policies that really have a positive impact by generating quality employment, foreign exchange, substituting imports, and of course, making our productive matrix increasingly intensive in the use of knowledge”.

Potenciar Satelital y Aeroespacial 2023 has a total budget of $950 million and will provide Non-Reimbursable Contributions (ANR) for $36 million for individual projects and $81 million for associative projects in which the applicants work together or collaboratively. In addition, if they meet gender perspective criteria, the figures may increase up to $38 million and $85 million, respectively.

The program is open to public, private or mixed companies from all over Argentina that want to carry out schemes to strengthen processes and services in the satellite and aerospace industry; oriented to the development of technological products or services for the productive chain; of productive scaling oriented to the modification of processes, and projects destined to the generation of technological platforms.

In the first call, in 2021, 15 initiatives were financed for $314.28 million, among which the following stand out: the development of a low-orbit satellite project for a university laboratory in IoT telecommunications technologies (Internet of Things); the development of new generation antennas for earth-space communications links, and the deployment of a satellite earth station.

The call will remain open until the limit of the allocated resources is reached. Those who are interested in applying for the subsidy may register their projects through the Distance Procedures (TAD) system.

Argentina has 300 aeronautical SMEs, 130 space SMEs and 134 aeronautical repair shops. This represents more than 3,400 formal jobs, with salaries that are above the industrial average and it is a sector that has a high demand for specialized personnel.

Our country, together with China, the United States, India, Israel, Japan, Russia and the European Union, is part of the small group of nations that have developed their own telecommunications satellites.