Events - 04/03/2008

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Futron Corporation introduces its Space Competitiveness Index: A Comparative Analysis of How Countries Invest in and Benefit from Space Industry

On Thursday, April 3, Futron Corporation will introduce its first annual Space Competitiveness Index at 1:30 PM in the Murrow Room of the National Press Club in downtown Washington, DC.

The 2008 Space Competitiveness Index (SCI) is an in-depth comparative analysis of the 10 nations currently leading in space and space-related activity. These 10 nations, determined through a detailed investigation of space competitiveness, are Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, India, Israel, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.

Futron's 2008 Space Competitiveness Index evaluates these nations across 40 individual metrics that represent the underlying economic determinants of space competitiveness. These metrics assess national space competitiveness in three major dimensions: government, human capital, and industry.

A key finding of Futron's 2008 Space Competitiveness Index is that while the United States is currently the leading space participant, its space leadership is increasingly challenged. The advantages that the United States has historically enjoyed in all three major dimensions of space competitiveness-government, human capital, and industry-are being narrowed by a robust Europe, a resurgent Russia, an emerging China and India, a steady Japan, and by the continued investment of smaller participants, such as Brazil, Canada, Israel, and South Korea, in space policy, space expertise, and space infrastructure.

In addition to its country-level analysis, Futron's 2008 Space Competitiveness Index provides a detailed examination of the competitive dynamics of three global industry segments of particular interest to the space community: military space, positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), and Earth observation (EO). Futron's 2008 Space Competitiveness Index ranks the relative competitiveness of the 10 leading space nations in each of these three segments, and also surveys the broader strategic challenges and opportunities that each global industry segment presents.

Futron Corporation plans to follow this inaugural edition of its Space Competitiveness Index with subsequent annual versions of the study, as well as future interactive workshops and panel discussions designed to engage leaders from the civil government, military, and commercial space arenas in an ongoing dialogue regarding pivotal strategic questions about space competitiveness.

A complimentary executive summary of Futron's 2008 Space Competitiveness Index will be made available to the press and attending officials.

Embargoed copies of the full report are available to the press in advance of the briefing.

The full version of Futron's 2008 Space Competitiveness Index is available for purchase from Futron Corporation at www.futron.com.