Name: WSIS+20 High-Level Event 2025
Start: 2025-07-07T07:00:00+02:00
End: 2025-07-11T23:00:00+02:00
Location: Palexpo

How a growing space ecosystem can be better leveraged to achieve the SDGs?

International Telecommunication Union

Session 475

Friday, 11 July 2025 ∼ 09:00–10:00 (UTC+02:00) Physical (on-site) and Virtual (remote) participation Room K, Palexpo Emerging Technologies High-Level Dialogue

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Physical (on-site) and Virtual (remote) participation

Space innovation as a lever for sustainable development

Satellite technology is now very often quoted as having a crucial role to play in providing connectivity and bridging the digital divide.

The Plan of Action adopted at the end of the first session of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in December 2003 was already recognizing this role by calling “to develop and strengthen national, regional and international broadband network infrastructure, including delivery by satellite and other systems, to help in providing the capacity to match the needs of countries and their citizens and for the delivery of new ICT-based services”.

Since 2003 however, thanks to innovations from the satellite industry in various areas ranging from the use of lower orbits to the ability to seamlessly integrate with terrestrial systems or to the creation of entirely new markets, satellite applications have considerably evolved and morphed into a distinct space ecosystem. The session will feature two companies offering such new services.

But all these initiatives and innovations are in vain if they can not be deployed, used and commercialized in a peaceful and stable environment. An expert from UNIDIR will provide the audience with a panorama of the space security issues and a lawyer with a long practice in space-related matters will explain how sound legal frameworks will be indispensable to foster the development of a true space economy.

While satellite technology was initially considered to promote the provision of global high-speed satellite services for underserved areas such as remote and sparsely populated areas, service innovations and new technologies now offer promises of the implementation of a comprehensive space ecosystem, who will offer more solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The session aims at providing the audience with:

relevant successful cases of new satellite technology or innovative connectivity solutions,
an understanding of potential security challenges posed by the growing usage of outer space,
insights into the key legal challenges to create a true space economy.

Expected Outcomes:

Enhanced understanding of innovative satellite technologies: participants will gain a deeper understanding of how diverse satellite technologies are, extending well beyond the large broadband connectivity satellite systems making the headlines of the specialized press and of how they can play a critical role in achieving the SDGs.
Better appreciation of the future security and legal challenges: attendees will learn about constraints and changes framing the space ecosystem now and in the next decade.

Mr. Alexandre Vallet Chief, Space Services Department, Radiocommunication Bureau International Telecommunication Union, Switzerland Moderator

Alexandre Vallet is the current Chief of the Space Services Department in the Radiocommunication Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), since November 2017. As such, he leads the team responsible for the maintenance of the international registry of satellite radio frequencies, which allows all countries around the world to coordinate their use in order to avoid radio interference in outer space.

Alexandre Vallet began to work in 2000 in the R&D center of Orange dealing with communications satellites. In 2006, he joined the satellite operator Eutelsat where he was in charge of regulatory matters. From 2007 to 2017, he was the Head of the Regulatory affairs and Spectrum/Orbit Resources Department at the French Agency in charge of radio spectrum management (Agence Nationale des Fréquences – ANFR).

Ms. Almudena Azcárate Ortega Researcher, Space Security & WMD Programmes United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), Switzerland Remote Panellist

Almudena Azcárate Ortega is the lead Space Security Researcher at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR). She has published widely and briefed UN Member States on the topics of space security law and policy and has presented her research in multiple fora. She has led UNIDIR’s participation in several multilateral discussions, including the 2022-2023 UN Open-Ended Working Group on Reducing Space Threats Through Norms, Rules and Principles of Responsible Behaviour, established pursuant to UN General Assembly resolution 76/231.

Almudena is also an Academic Fellow with the Center on National Security at Georgetown University, where she is currently working on her doctoral dissertation on space security law. She holds an LL.M. in National Security Law from the same institution, where she was the recipient of Georgetown’s Thomas Bradbury Chetwood, S.J. Prize for the most distinguished academic performance in the programme. She received her LL.B. from the University of Navarra, Spain.

Ms. Assia Bahri Director of Regulations and Spectrum Affairs Kinéis, France Remote Panellist

Having near 20-year international working experience in mobile, satellite and tech industries, Assia has worked on regulations and licensing issues ranging from 4/5G to IoT whether space or terrestrial. She has spent 6 years at the French telecom regulator and completed her professional experiences within various telecom operators (SES, Sigfox and Kinéis). She has then an in-depth practice of public policy within international organizations (ITU, CEPT, European Institutions, BEREC, etc.) and the private sector.

Dr. Ingo Baumann Partner, Head of the Space & Satellite Team BHO Legal, Germany Remote Panellist

Dr. Ingo Baumann is a founding partner of BHO Legal. a boutique technology law firm based in Cologne, Germany. He specializes in national, European and international high technology projects, mostly in the space industry. His clients include leading stakeholders such as the European Commission, European Space Agency, German Space Agency, large satellite operators, SME and NewSpace start-ups. Dr. Baumann studied law in Münster and Cologne. He received his PhD from the famous Cologne Institute for Air and Space Law under Prof. Dr. Hobe on the international law of satellite communications.

From 2001 to 2007, Dr. Baumann was in-house lawyer at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). He was then head of DLR´s Galileo Programme Office and administrative CEO of the DLR Gesellschaft für Raumfahrtanwendungen mbH, an affiliate of DLR for the establishment and operations of the German Galileo Control Center.

Dr Baumann is member of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) and the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL). He acts as mentor for space start-ups within SpaceFounders, the French Starburst BLAST and other accelerators and incubators. He chairs the legal/regulatory working group of the BDI NewSpace Initiative, and organizes yearly legal sessions or workshops at the Munich NewSpace Summit, the Munich Satellite Navigation Summit or Space Tech Expo Bremen.