Last month at Space-comm Expo, I attended a panel session titled The Emerging Space Technologies Driving Space Innovation. The discussion brought together some of the sector's sharpest minds to examine the breakthrough capabilities set to define the next wave of global competitiveness, covering propulsion, sustainability, strategic positioning, and the challenge of reducing cost without compromising performance.

I left energised, and curious to delve deeper into how procurement in the space sector needs to evolve. In particular, a perspective shared by Luc Piguet, CEO and Co-Founder of ClearSpace, on supply chain and industrialisation sparked a train of thought that has compelled me to write about it. What follows is my attempt to build on that conversation and share where it has taken me.

The talent is there. Is the infrastructure keeping up?

One of the themes that surfaced during the panel, and that resonated deeply with me, was the gap between the quality of Europe's engineering talent and the industrial systems built to support it. The sector has some of the world's most sophisticated engineers, world-leading research institutions, and intelligence capabilities that others rightly admire. That foundation is genuinely exceptional.

But listening to Luc in particular, affirmed my view that although the space sector is brilliant technologically, it lags behind commercially. Luc's comments ignited an important question: are the supply chains, procurement processes, and industrial frameworks around that talent evolving fast enough to keep pace? It's a question I don't think has a comfortable answer yet, and one I believe the industry needs to sit with seriously.
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From bespoke to productised

The panel discussion touched on how much of the sector still operates through single-mission thinking; bespoke solutions, built from scratch, optimised for one specific context. That approach made sense in an era when launches were rare and extraordinarily expensive, and caution was the only rational posture.

What struck me in Luc's contribution was the implication that this mindset, however well-intentioned, risks becoming a constraint in the new space economy, where volume, speed, and cost-efficiency are competitive imperatives. The shift toward productised, repeatable, scalable components isn't just a manufacturing question. It's a strategic one. And it's where I believe the most meaningful progress is there to be made, if the industry chooses to pursue it collectively.

Propulsion, sustainability, and the full lifecycle

The panel also turned to propulsion. Thomas Clayson, CTO of Magdrive, made the case compellingly: propulsion should no longer be treated as a premium capability but as a baseline requirement for every spacecraft. A spacecraft that can manoeuvre is one that can avoid collisions, respond to changing orbital conditions, and ultimately deorbit safely, reducing the debris burden that threatens the long-term viability of key orbital environments.

This connects to a broader point: security and sustainability are not competing priorities. They are, increasingly, the same priority. An industry that plans seriously for the full lifecycle of every mission, from first customer through to end of life, earns the trust of regulators, investors, and the public in a way that short-term thinking simply cannot.

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The time is now

The geopolitical context adds real urgency to all of this. Europe is asking serious questions about strategic autonomy in space; about launch access, communications infrastructure, and the defence and intelligence capabilities that depend on orbital systems. Those questions can only be answered convincingly if the industrial base beneath them is strong, resilient, and fit for the demands of the next decade.

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There are also significant commercial opportunities ahead, including in fast-growing markets such as India, for those who get industrialisation right. The organisations that invest now in deeper, more scalable supply chains will be best placed to capture that demand as it materialises.

What I took from Space-comm, and from Luc's contribution in particular, is that the European space sector has everything it needs to lead. The engineering talent is world class. The research is exceptional. The vision is there. What the panel reinforced for me is that the moment to back all of that with better processes, stronger supply chains, and genuine industrial ambition is not somewhere on the horizon. It is right now. The place is here. The time is now.

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