IAF Space: the Big Picture Initiative
Since its creation in 1951, the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) has made every effort to turn its motto, “connecting all space people,” into a reality.
Over the years, the space community has broadened, and as space technologies have become an inseparable part of national economies—serving as effective tools to tackle environmental challenges and protect our societies—the range of stakeholders shaping the global space ecosystem and benefiting from its achievements has significantly expanded.
To reflect these changes, in 2025 the IAF launched the Space: The Big Picture (SBP) initiative. This platform aims to directly engage stakeholders who, despite not being part of the traditional space community, are increasingly connected to it.
At the beginning of the last year, the IAF Vice President for Global Membership Development, Michal Brichta, together with the IAF Secretariat, worked to identify leading global organizations that either benefit from space technologies or provide essential tools for the development of the space sector. These organizations included large technology companies, financial institutions, organizations focused on sustainability and security, major users of satellite data solutions, and many others. They ranged from pharmaceutical companies testing products aboard the ISS to institutions financing innovative space companies; from international organizations that rely on space data for their programmes to IT companies enabling critical space technologies.
Representatives of these organizations were invited to join the Space: The Big Picture Engagement Group, which convened multiple times throughout the year to help its members:
- Connect with the global space community through various tailored networking opportunities
- Get even more added value from space technology by direct access to leading global experts
- Advocate and educate about the importance of space technology internally within their organization
IAF “Space: the Big Picture” Initiative (IAF SBP) Summit
This occasion also marked the beginning of preparations for the IAF SBP Summit, held within the framework of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2025) in Sydney, Australia. The summit aimed to advance the initiative by bringing together the leadership of non-traditional space organizations and members of the IAF Community.
The final programme of the summit featured leading space organizations such as the European Space Agency (ESA), Axiom, Thales Alenia Space, UNOOSA, OSTIn, and BryceTech, who were invited to engage in dialogue with representatives of entities working in sectors not traditionally linked to space but nevertheless closely connected to it.
The first IAF SBP Summit focused on two central questions:
- Why does the space economy matter, and who shapes it?
- How can we benefit from space technology?
The results of the Summit highlighted the importance of the SBP platform and the activities it plans to conduct in 2026, namely, cross-sectoral networking, knowledge sharing, and collaboration creation, as well as awareness building and outreach outside the space sector. The initiative also plans to significantly broaden the spectrum of engaged organisations and turn part of its activities public to build up an important link between the space community and the ever-growing number of stakeholders across relevant sectors.