Successful visit of European Space Agency at Materize lays the foundation for future cooperation

On April 7, 2022, representatives of the European Space Agency (ESA) visited the Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia (ISSP UL) with the aim of establishing closer contacts between the two institutions for future cooperation. Materize was heavily involved in the organizing of this meeting as well as participated to emphasize the institute’s desire to move towards the industry and to show previous experience in various fields of the industry.

During the visit ESA met with LU CFI scientists and management, as well as got acquainted with various laboratories, main research directions, implemented projects, cooperation partners, infrastructure and research and development opportunities. Ongoing Materize and ESA projects were discussed as well as possibilities of future cooperation between the two institutions evaluated. During the discussions several fields of research emerged as the best applications for ESA and the space industry.

With Laboratory of Kinetics in Self-Organizing Systems there were touching points regarding space weather, Laboratory of Materials for Energy Harvesting and Storage established communication regarding new materials for batteries and Micro and Nanodevices Laboratory has potential in the fields of microfluidics and biotechnologies.

The EKA delegation included support engineer and responsible for cooperation with Latvia and Slovenia Karol Brzostowski, sales manager for new, associated and cooperating countries Stephen Airey and industrial coordinator of EKA in Latvia Dāvids Štēbelis.

Stephen Airey was pleased with the successful visit and the meaningful discussions, as problematic issues were raised and opportunities to address them were sought. He was glad that LU CFI and Materize already have a successful ESA project. The guests appreciated both the modernized infrastructure of LU CFI and high-class scientists – the main prerequisites for a close and growth-oriented cooperation between EKA and Materize in the future.