Slovenia and Algeria strengthen cooperation in space technologies

The delegation was organised by the Slovenian Space Office, which operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Economy, Tourism and Sport, together with the SPIRIT Slovenia Public Agency, the Embassy of Algeria in Slovenia, and the Algerian Space Agency.

The delegation included representatives from leading space technology companies Bias Variance Labs, Comtrade 360, Dewesoft, GeoCodis, Paradigma Technologies, SkyLabs and Vesolje-SI. During the visit, a plenary meeting was held where the General Director of the Algerian Space Agency, Dr Azzedine Oussedik, and the Head of the Slovenian Space Office, Tanja Permozer, presented the space ecosystem of their respective countries. In the afternoon, in-depth workshops on space technologies and applications were held, as well as individual bilateral meetings between Slovenian and Algerian companies. The event was attended by around 25 Algerian companies, which showed great interest in cooperating with Slovenian companies. On the Algerian side, prominent companies or organisations from the space sector were present, including the Algerian Satellite Development Centre (Centre de Développement des Satellites – CDS), the Telecommunications Systems Exploitation Centre (Centre d’exploitation des Systèmes de Télécommunications – CEST), the Space Techniques Centre (Centre des Techniques Spatiales – CTS), the Space Applications Centre (Centre des Applications Spatiales – CAS), the Space Telecommunications Operations Centre (Centre des Opérations des Télécommunications Spatiales – COTS), BASSEER Technology Innovation SARL and a number of start-up companies. 

The Algerian side presented a proposal for a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of space sciences, technologies and applications for peaceful purposes between the Algerian Space Agency and the Slovenian Space Office, to be signed at the time of the upcoming visit of the Algerian President to Slovenia.

The Slovenian delegation also visited the Telecommunications Systems Exploitation Centre (Centre d’exploitation des Systèmes de Télécommunications) and Algeria Venture, the first state-owned start-up accelerator in Algeria. Its team is planning to visit Slovenia in early March in order to network with the Slovenian start-up ecosystem and relevant stakeholders.

The Head of the Slovenian Space Office, Tanja Permozer, also met with the Algerian Minister of Water Resources, Taha Derbal, and the Algerian Minister of Knowledge Economy, Start-ups and Micro-enterprises, Noureddine Ouadah. The latter gave a brief overview of the Algerian start-up ecosystem, which has similar objectives to Slovenia's, thus offering even greater opportunities for cooperation between the two countries. A meeting between Algerian start-ups and Slovenian companies was also organised, as well as a visit to the National School of AI.

The visit showed that there are many opportunities for establishing and deepening cooperation between the two countries in the field of space technologies.

Impressions from participants 

Federico Pergolesi, Paradigma Technologies: "During our visit to Algeria, we were impressed by the significant progress made in the satellite sector and the country's strong commitment to the further development of this industry.  The traditionally public sector in Algeria is now also opening up to private companies through accelerator programmes and innovative start-ups. Investment in advanced technological education and training for new generations stands out in particular, with a strong emphasis on gender equality. At Paradigma Technologies, we have identified promising synergies in the development of small satellite platforms equipped with high-performance, high-data-rate radio systems. These solutions can play a key role in improving connectivity in remote and desert areas of Algeria, providing vital data for applications in agriculture, urban development, soil monitoring and disaster management. We have already started productive technical discussions and trust that these will develop into concrete collaborations in the near future."

Dragi Kocev, Bias Variance Labs: "Participation in the delegation's visit to Algeria, organised by the Slovenian Space Office and SPIRIT Slovenia provided an excellent opportunity to exchange experiences with leading experts from the Algerian Space Agency and the start-up ecosystem and to learn about their challenges and needs in space technologies and artificial intelligence. We took the opportunity to present our work to date in developing state-of-the-art AI solutions to support spacecraft operators at the European Space Agency, and our research in Earth observation, focusing on crop yield prediction and detection of cultural heritage using satellite imagery. The bilateral meetings enabled us to establish first direct contacts with our Algerian counterparts and outlined the first steps towards a long-term, sustainable cooperation between our company, the Algerian Space Agency and the local industrial sector. We would like to thank the Slovenian Space Office and SPIRIT Slovenia for the excellent organisation of the business delegation's visit, which provided us with extremely useful links and insights into the Algerian space sector."

Tomaž Rodič, Vesolje-SI: "We are impressed by the infrastructure, know-how and experience of the Algerian centres dedicated to the development of satellite technologies and applications.  They have offered us excellent opportunities for high-level technological collaboration, where we could combine the capabilities of their Alsat1 and Alsat2 satellites with our Nemo-HD for the advanced acquisition of video and multispectral Earth observation data. We could also combine our ground station capabilities for satellite communications to increase the volume and timeliness of data transmission from our satellites, thereby improving the quality of our services in support of water, food and energy resource management, and disaster response. Algeria was hit by severe torrential floods last year, which indicates that Algerians and Slovenians have similar needs in terms of finding solutions to climate change adaptation and environmental problems and that there are many opportunities to work together for the benefit of both countries."