The first official visit of the delegation of the European Space Agency to Montenegro: A wide range of cooperation benefits

The high delegation of the European Space Agency paid the first official visit to Montenegro today, presenting the programme and activities implemented by the Agency at the workshop that took place at the Rectorate of the University of Montenegro, with a view to involving scientists from Montenegro in the projects of this prestigious scientific research institution.


VIDEO: Minister of Science Sanja Damjanovic - statement
VIDEO: Frederic Nordlund, Head of External Relations Department - statement


- We are aware of the wide range of benefits that Montenegro can obtain through cooperation with the European Space Agency. These benefits would be enjoyed by the scientific community, as well as by our industry and economy in the long run. The delegation of the European Space Agency will help us find ways to integrate the relevant ideas of Montenegrin scientists into this great scientific-technological organization, Minister of Science Dr. Sanja Damjanović said.

The delegation – Frederic Nordlund, Head of the External Relations Department, Mariangela Cataldo from the Science, Applications and Climate Department, Ferdinando Tonicello from the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality, and Anabelle Fonseca from the External Relations Department – presented the projects implemented by the Agency in a number of areas, from meteorology and environmental protection to satellite navigation and robotics.

Frederic Nordlund, head of delegation, said that cooperation between Montenegro and the European Space Agency could bring many benefits to our country and its citizens. Data collected by the Agency on a daily basis is utilized to additionally explore the environment and anticipate the events that have a tendency of causing damage to it.

- We want to define concrete projects that the European Space Agency can work on with scientists from Montenegro. All the satellites owned by the Agency, i.e. the data they collect are essential for the field of meteorology, telecommunications, etc. and can be of great benefit to Montenegro, Mr. Nordlund said to the journalists.

The status of the scientific activities currently implemented in Montenegro, the priority areas of research and the potential projects on which Montenegro could cooperate with the Agency were presented by the Director General of the Directorate for Scientific Research Activities at the Ministry of Science, Dr. Darko Petrušić.

The workshop was attended by representatives of the Montenegrin scientific research community, the University of Montenegro, i.e. the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, and the Metallurgy and Technology Faculty, the Centre of Excellence, the University of Donja Gorica, the Mediteran University and the Geological Survey Office, who had the opportunity to meet the members of the delegation and to openly discuss and put forward their proposals for future research between this prestigious organization and Montenegrin scientific institutions.

Countries that are not members of the European Space Agency cooperate with this scientific organization through the so-called “cooperation agreements”, which is one of the ways to include Montenegro. Our scientists would also have the opportunity to use the Agency’s open and available data.

The second workshop with representatives of the European Space Agency, including a lecture on ESA programmes of Earth observation, image processing, engineering and technology, will be held on 5 April in the building of the Rectorate of the University of Montenegro.

European Space Agency is an international organization with 22 Member States. About 2,200 scientists from all Member States work for the ESA.

The budget of the Agency for 2017 amounted to EUR 5.75 billion, 80% of which is invested in the industry.