63rd edition of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC)

The city of Naples will host the 63rd edition of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC). The decision was taken at the end of the Korean edition by the Committee chaired by Mr. Willekens, Executive Director of the International Astronautical Federation.
 
Over the past one and a half years, Naples City Council, with the support of the Central Government and in close cooperation with the Campania Regional Government, the Province of Naples, airspace enterprises as well as the Universities of Naples - notably the Department of Engineering of the University Federico II - and the Research Centres (CARN. CIRA, etc.), have spared no effort to effectively back the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana's (ASI) proposal to candidate the city of Naples as venue of this event.

IAC, also known as the Space Exhibition, is the major world event of the airspace industry. About 5000 participants, including delegates from the different International Space Agencies, students, university faculty members, Government officials and representatives of High-Tech companies will convene in Naples in early autumn 2012. The IAC/ Space Exhibition will hopefully open up new opportunities to a flourishing airspace industry which, yet, is inevitably being affected the economic crisis.

 The number of employed in the airspace industry exceeds 10,000, 70% of whom are based in the Province of Naples. Well-known leading businesses of the industry are in fact based in the city of Naples and in its metropolitan area, i.e. Alenia, Avio, Fiat, Ansaldo, Selex. This forms a widespread and innovative industrial network consisting of over 100 SMEs, 40 of which are based in the High-Tech district located in the Eastern part of the city which will soon host the "Free Zone", i.e. an Urban Network of Social Enterprises (N.O.S.E) as well as other business settlements that will benefit from a number of advantages and incentives.