The future of space governance - a lookback on ESA X PSIA Tech Hub joint workshop

On 2 September 2026, in the lead-up to the International Space Summit in Paris, the PSIA Tech & Global Affairs Innovation Hub joined forces with the European Space Agency (ESA) to convene a landmark closed-door workshop on the future of space governance. Held under Chatham House Rules on the SciencesPo campus, the session — "Advancing Multistakeholder Governance in the Space Sector: Emerging Dynamics and the Case of Space Traffic Management" — brought together more than 40 experts for two hours of high-level exchange a pressing and complex policy challenge: how to safeguard the principle of universal and peaceful access to space, as new spacefaring nations, private operators, and critical infrastructures multiply in an increasingly crowded orbital environment..

Participants included representatives from European and national space agencies, policymakers and government officials, private sector actors spanning established operators, startups, and investors, academic experts in space law and policy, and civil society and think tank representatives. This crowd of experts was joined by a selection of students who acted as co-rapporteurs of the workshop. This breadth of perspectives was not incidental: it was the very premise of the workshop, designed to model the kind of inclusive, multistakeholder dialogue that participants agreed a more legitimate, long-term, and sustainable space governance urgently needs.

The workshop opened with introductory remarks from Constance de Leusse (SciencesPo) and Kai-Uwe Schrogl (ESA), describing how space governance, originally built for a handful of spacefaring states now straining under the weight of a genuinely multipolar, multi-actor landscape must evolve. Eric Morel de Westgaver, Director at ESA, followed by Thierry Cotelle, President of the Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies (NEREUS), set the stage for the conversation, contributing the perspectives of a trailblazing regional space agency and of an ecosystem of regions, cities, and local actors engaged in space activities both as contributors to the supply chain, as users of space services, and as sources of democratic legitimacy for global space governance.

Emerging Space Issues and the Transformation of Space Governance

Moderated by Pierre Noro (Tech & Global Affairs Innovation Hub, Sciences Po Paris), the first panel explored how industrial, environmental, and legal developments are reshaping the governance landscape. Bringing together Paul Wohrer (IFRI), Reka Gal (TUM), Claire Jolly (OECD), Marcelle Laliberté (Women in Aerospace), and Léa Ulusan (ECE), the panel examined the expanding role of the private sector, the rise of new spacefaring nations, the emergence of regional space agencies, and the urgent need for governance innovations capable of ensuring legitimacy, accountability, and fairness for all stakeholders, including academia, NGOs, and affected communities that are too often left on the margins of these conversations. While challenging given the sheer number and diversity of actors involved, multistakeholder governance emerged as a realistic and potent avenue to correct structural inequalities (gender-based, geographic, socio-economic, and generational) and build a more accountable and resilient governance of space activities.

Space Traffic Management as a Governance Test Case

The second panel turned to a concrete and increasingly urgent test case: space traffic management. Moderated by Kezia Wexøe-Mikkelsen (Think-Tank EUROPA), author of a policy brief dedicated to threats to GNSS with the Hub, the discussion featured Quentin Verspieren (ESA), Marceau Brigant (Eutelsat), Veronique Glaude (ITU), and Valerie Chartrain (EU foresight). Panelists examined how the multiplication of satellites in the Earth lower-orbit, generating a real risk of Kessler Syndrome (accumulating debris increase the risk of disastrous chain reaction in case of a collision), force us to reimagine the management of space traffic. The conversation surfaced concrete opportunities for progressive norm-building, on the model of the ESA Zero Debris Charter, evolutive regulations, similar to the ITU's Radio Regulation, and better information sharing through multistakeholder, polycentric processes can foster an ethics based, sustainable, long-term stewardship of space services.

PSIA Dean Arancha Gonzalez offered concluding remarks on the centrality of space governance today and the critical importance of 

From Dialogue to Recommendations

The workshop was not designed to keep its doors closed. The conversations fed directly into a set of findings and concrete recommendations for decision-makers: 

• Implementing incentives and regulatory tools to make a responsible and sustainable space sector the norm 
• Strengthening participation of regions, communities, and women as well as younger generations
• Developing data-sharing mechanisms and reporting standards. 

These recommendations will be submitted to the International Space Summit and future fora, extending the reach of this Paris conversation into the highest levels of global space policymaking.

The Tech & Global Affairs Innovation Hub extends his warmest thanks to all the participants, to Kai-Uwe Schrogl for the co-organization, and to our students co-rapporteurs: Ieda Giriboni de Mello e Silva, Chloe Mossberg, and Niklas Uhl.