A number of important organizational decisions were made at the general meeting of the Association of high-technology companies and organizations of Ukraine “Cosmos” that took place on 21 September at the National Academy of Sciences in Kyiv.

The participants of the meeting discussed the Declaration of the Association, the main areas of its activities and approved the working schedule and the budget of the Association for 2018; they also elected the Council of the Association. Alexander Degtyarev, General Director of Yuzhnoye SDO, was voted in as one of the councilors. Vadim Vasiliev, President of the Supervisory board of Elmiz PLC, was appointed as Director of the Association. The participants of the meeting appointed the heads of the regional offices, elected the Auditor of the Association, and approved the logo and the procedure of membership fee payment.

To date, the Association of high-technology companies and organizations of Ukraine “Cosmos” consists of 37 members, including 33 full members and 4 associate members. The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is represented by 6 institutes, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine is represented by 3 universities, the State Space Agency of Ukraine is represented by 4 companies, including Yuzhnoye SDO, UkrOboronProm State Concern is represented by 4 companies, and the other 16 full members are Ukrainian corporations and private enterprises.

The Association’s objectives for 2018 include forming of the committees, adoption of the working schedule for the board of directors, consideration and approval of the 2019 working schedule.

The Association’s Committee for space politics and legislation plans to draft a proposal for forming the conceptual principles of the space politics, to prepare the changes to the Law of Ukraine “On the Space activities” and organize the discussion of these issues, to support and draft the changes to the Law of Ukraine “On Satellite Navigation”  and the relevant by-laws.

The Committee for aerospace joint projects is to monitor the market of space services, discuss the joint projects of the lunar base and orbital spacecraft, and define the Partnership program for the members of the Association.

The Committee for scientific, technical and industrial cooperation shall investigate the possibilities to interchange industrial and technological resources, prepare propositions to increase the existing cooperation in producing the space-rocket hardware, prioritize the technological modernization and re-equipment for the members of the Association, and list the critical technologies for import substitution.

The regional offices have a task to establish connections with the related companies, unions and associations and to attract new members.

The Representative office in Europe shall establish business contacts with the related organizations in the European Union.

The Association’s board of directors is to solve the numerous organizational questions, including the creation of the Association’s website, preparation of the general meeting to discuss the work in 2018, and establishment of the connections with the related organizations in Ukraine etc.

The adopted Declaration of the Cosmos Association states that the main tasks of the activities are to identify the areas and priorities of the space industry of Ukraine, establish partnership, facilitate the cooperation in the joint space projects, develop the national market of space services, and integrate into the international space market.

The Declaration emphasizes that space activities in Ukraine need an innovative approach to develop the new space strategy and fields of application, find new projects and partners as well as expand the international cooperation. This approach implies the joint activities of the companies and organizations that are interested in the progress of national astronautics. Therefore, the Association shall provide conditions for such activities so that the space industry becomes the object as well as the subject of its own development while the union of its members creates a new image of the space industry.

It should be reminded that the decision to establish the Association of high-technology companies and organizations of Ukraine “Cosmos” was made at the coordinating meeting that took place on 5 April 2018 at Yuzhnoye SDO. On 31 July the Meeting of the Association founders adopted the Charter of the organization.