The International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2025) in Sydney has blasted past expectations with an estimated $47 million boost to the visitor economy, more than doubling original forecasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The global space gathering is officially the largest international conference held in Sydney since the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Visitor numbers broke records, with more than 7,400 delegates, including international space agencies, industry leaders, and academia from around 100 countries, descending on Sydney for the five-day event at the International Convention Centre (Sept 29 – Oct 3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 12,000 members of the public, including many NSW school students, registered for the Congress\u2019 \u2019Space Day \u2013 Powered by LEGO\u00ae Play\u2019 on Friday, 3 October, where families and students got the chance to step into the shoes of space explorers and innovators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In total, more than 19,000 people participated in IAC 2025 and Space Day, which showcased Australia and NSW\u2019s cutting-edge space industry on the global stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 450 companies, institutions and governments from all over the world showcased their innovative solutions on the event\u2019s huge 19,000sqm exhibition floor. This included more than 60 organisations from NSW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the standout NSW innovations showcased at the IAC was \u2018Charlotte\u2019 \u2013 a fully autonomous 3D printing robot designed to support lunar exploration and deliver low-cost, low-carbon housing solutions here on Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crest Robotics \u2013 part of the NSW consortium that developed Charlotte \u2013 has signed an MoU with US space exploration company Intuitive Machines. The partnership will explore opportunities to integrate Charlotte\u2019s technology into future lunar missions, leveraging Intuitive Machines\u2019 expertise in Moon landings and space systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IAC 2025 marked a significant milestone for NSW\u2019s space sector, elevating our local innovation on the global stage, opening new pathways for international commercialisation, and showing the world that NSW is not just participating in Australia\u2019s space economy, but is a global leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NSW Government thanks the International Astronautical Federation for partnering to make the 2025 Congress a success, and acknowledges its co-hosts, the Space Industry Association of Australia and the Australian Space Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The baton has been passed to Atalya in Turkey, which will host next year\u2019s IAC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minister for Jobs and Tourism Steve Kamper said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe success of IAC 2025 showed the importance of high-value events to the state\u2019s visitor economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith over 7,400 delegates from more than 90 countries, IAC 2025 has delivered a significant boost to the NSW visitor economy, filling hotels, restaurants and attractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “High-value events like the IAC are critical to the NSW Visitor Economy strategy, and it’s goal of $91 billion in visitor expenditure by 2035 \u2014 supporting local businesses and jobs, and fostering industry collaboration and growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister for Industry and Trade and Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology Anoulack Chanthivong said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvents such as the IAC are magnets for talent and investment. They fuel our knowledge economy and showcase Sydney\u2019s capacity to host world-class events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re proud to have welcomed thousands of international delegates, industry leaders and space enthusiasts to our city \u2013 the event has exceeded all expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe might not always think about it, but space and satellites keep our world spinning – powering everything from crops to commerce – so it\u2019s vital that we continue to inspire the next generation of scientists who will keep building the Australian space industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs the biggest international conference held in Sydney post-pandemic, the IAC in Sydney has been a transformative moment \u2013 not only for businesses within our space ecosystem to pursue new growth opportunities, but also for inspiring the next generation to explore futures in STEM.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Business Events Sydney (BESydney) CEO Amanda Lampe said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen we secured this event four years ago, coming out of the pandemic, our estimates of what it could bring to the state were understandably conservative. Reaching this participation milestone is a credit to the collaborative efforts of state and federal governments working hand in hand in glove with industry and the academic community in a shared drive to achieve great things for Australia\u2019s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOver and above the $47 million economic injection into the visitor economy, IAC 2025 has advanced science, fostered innovation, catalysed trade and investment and shone the light on our city as the best place to live, work, study, advance research and do business.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2025) in Sydney has blasted past expectations with an estimated $47 million boost to the visitor economy, more than doubling original forecasts. The global space gathering is officially the largest international conference held in Sydney since the COVID pandemic. Visitor numbers broke records, with more than 7,400 delegates, including international … Continue reading “Sydney makes a \u2018big bang\u2019 at record-breaking International Astronautical Congress”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35329,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35328\/revisions\/35329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}