The Second Brazil-South Africa Space Industry Virtual Summit (SIVS) will take place on May 25 and May 26 this year, it has been confirmed. The first day will be composed of addresses and discussion panels, and the second day will be dedicated to one-on-one business-to-business (B2B) meetings. Because of the time difference between South Africa and south-eastern Brazil, the events on both days are scheduled to start at 14:00 South African time (09:00 Brazilian time).
The purpose of the SIVS is to facilitate the development of partnerships, collaboration and internationalisation between the space industries of the two countries. The first edition of the summit was held last year and received more than 400 registrations from more than 50 countries. Further, it hosted 45 one-on-one trans-South Atlantic B2B meetings.
The second SIVS has been jointly organised by a mixture of government and industry agencies in the two countries. These are the South African space industry group ZASPACE, the Brazilian Aerospace Cluster (which is managed by the Parque Tecnológico São José dos Campos, in São Paulo state), South Africa’s Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) and the Brazilian Embassy in Pretoria.
Currently scheduled to speak at the SIVS are leading figures in the space sectors of both countries. These include South African National Space Agency interim CEO Andiswa Mlisa, Brazilian Space Agency president Carlos Moura, ZASPACE chairperson Kamal Ramsingh, Parque Tecnológico São José dos Campos CEO Jeferson Cheriegate, TIA Information & Communication Technology head Thabang Mpye, and Brazilian Chargé d’Affaires in Pretoria Felipe Gastão Bandeira de Mello.