Convergencia Research, Consultoría especializada en Latinoamérica y Caribe
Monday, July 25, 2022

The potential of Argentine start-ups lies in fleets for IoT, observation and communications.

There are at least seven Argentine start-ups participating in the satellite ecosystem. The greatest chances of participation are in developing constellations for IoT and for observation and communications. All of them have different degrees of maturity and face different technological, financial and commercial challenges.

Financing for start-ups in the space segment has just experienced a 2021 record worldwide, with contributions of US$ 15 billion: start-ups are playing an increasingly relevant role in providing specific services for traditional satellite operators.

Paulo Pascuini, economist and researcher at the Interdisciplinary Institute of Political Economy of Buenos Aires (UBA-CONICET), talked about the Argentine ecosystem related to satellite development during Satellite Map Day 2022. There are at least seven startups in different areas that struggle to enter and sustain themselves in this environment, arising from Arsat and Conae missions.

These results arise from the survey "Trends in space economy and Argentine potential", prepared by the Interdisciplinary Institute of Political Economy of Buenos Aires (IIEP), dependent on the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), with the support of the Servicio Satelital company. One of the main conclusions is that the greatest chances of insertion of local ventures are in developing constellations for IoT and for observation and communications. This is because this would be the most appropriate way to take advantage of Argentine human capital and because there are projects underway.

Among the start-up projects analyzed, there are two in launch services (Tlon, LIA Aerospace); one in full development and growing in Earth observation services (Satellogic); Innova Space with its plan of a constellation for IoT services; in laser communication we have Skyloom Global, based in the USA with two former Invap scientists; and Epic Aerospace, of space tugs.

"They all have different degrees of maturity and face different challenges of a technological, financial and commercial nature until they reach a stage where they are economically sustainable. The establishment abroad is one of their objectives because it facilitates access to financing, supplies for production and markets," Pascuini explained.

Obstacles. The demands of governments play an important role in boosting the growth of the private sector, but at the same time, he warned about the possibility that these demands could lock the research process into topics that do not fit in with the new trends in the development of space. The obstacles for entrepreneurs, according to Pascuini, are access to financing and imported components. There are also difficulties to articulate these projects with central actors of the scientific-technological system (Arsat, Conae, Veng, among other entities) that allow to take advantage of the scientific and human capacities accumulated in the last decades with the projects undertaken from Argentina, according to the researcher. "Although in some cases the managers of private projects have said that cooperation with local science and technology institutions could be very useful (to access the knowledge, capabilities and equipment of these institutions), there are no agile mechanisms for companies to interact," the study adds.

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