Politiken kring svensk rymdverksamhet : Transkript av ett vittnesseminarium på Tekniska museet i Stockholm den 17 januari 2018

• The  witness  seminar  “Politiken  kring  svensk  rymdverksam-het” (Politics relating to Swedish space activities) was held at Tekniska museet on January 17, 2018, and was led by Lennart Nordh,  assisted  by  Johan  Gärdebo.  The  seminar  focused  on  the relationship between Swedish space activities and various forms of politics, from the 1960s until the 2000s. The discus-sants  presented  various  definitions  of  politics,  recurrently  re-turning  to  the  question  whether  or  not  Sweden  ever  had  a  comprehensive space policy or not. According to the partici-pants,  Swedish  space  activities  have  been  linked  to  their  real  or  perceived  contributions  to  other  policy  areas—research, technology,  foreign  policy,  regional  policy,  and  European  in-tegration—but without a clear overriding political vision per-taining  to  space  specifically.  Initiatives  were  characterized  as  “management  by  opportunities,”  which  implies  making  full  use of opportunities arising in- or outside of the space activi-ties.  In  addition  to  this,  policy-makers,  whether  within  the  Swedish  National  Space  Board,  the  Swedish  Space  Corpora-tion, or the Swedish space industry, have called upon allies in other European governments, organizations and industries, as well  as  individuals  within  the  Swedish  establishment  to  exert  pressure  on  the  Swedish  Government  at  critical  moments.  On other occasions foreign pressure was exerted without any proposals  from  Swedish  actors.  It  was  noted  that  regional  support  for  Kiruna  has  been  important  since  Swedish  space  activities began in the 1960s, and the Esrange space range was established.  The  seminar  identified  several  examples  of  how  policy-makers  within  the  Swedish  space  sector  negotiated  with  governmental  officials  to  gain  support  for projects  and  to expand the scope of space activities into other policy areas. Telecommunication,  remote  sensing  and  meteorology  were  discussed as the main areas in which space technology found operational use—although research and geographic surveying was  also  mentioned.  Since  the  1990s,  the  main  changes  have  been  driven  by  the  Swedish  integration  into  the  European  Union,  the  reduced  Swedish  ownership  in  major  industrial companies, and the increased commercialization of space ac-tivities.  The  previously  dominant  state  funding  was  comple-mented by increasing private financing, and new start-ups be-gan   to   compete   with   previously   established   companies.   Meanwhile, the ability of Swedish state actors to influence the future of Swedish space enterprises has diminished.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Teknikhistoria (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- History of Technology (hsv//eng)

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