Press review: Article in Luxembourger WORT on Friday 30th of June 2017: “More international cooperation on space needed, Schmit says”
Press review: Article Chronicle.lu: “Romanian Astronaut and SpaceResources.lu Address Romanian Chamber on Eve of Asteroid Day”
Feedback from the event:
On the 29th June 2017 took place the 7th gathering of Romanian Entrepreneurs Network from Luxembourg and the Greater Region, an initiative of Romlux asbl. This time, we had the honor to have two exceptional speakers: Mr. Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu, the first Romanian Astronaut and Mr. Georges Schmit a prominent Luxemburgish civil servant member of the advisory board of the SpaceResources initiative.
In the eve of Asteroid Day the two speakers made us dream about incredible journeys and further development of Space exploration. Mr. Prunariu made a summary of European space endeavor and told us the story of his own space travel experience. He told us about the preparations, hard work and risks but also about the beauty of seeing the Earth from space and having the luck to land safely back on it. Mr. Prunariu is the ambassador of Asteroid Day, an initiative intending to bring awareness about asteroids, scientific research and facts about them, dangers and much more. More info can be found here: https://asteroidday.org
Mr. Georges Schmit introduce the audience on the topic of the Luxembourgish vision related to exploration of opportunities of Space resources, the investments and innovation relating to this area as well as the pioneering work of promoting it in the world.
The event attracted more then 100 participants and it was sustained by Romlux in collaboration with Da Vinci Association of Engineers, Architects, Scientists and Industrials, the American Chamber of Commerce and the Luxembourg Brazil Business Council.
This event was part of the Romanian Entrepreneurs Network project initiated by ROMLUX Asbl in 2013, having as purpose to enhance the synergies in the Romanian entrepreneurial community and to increase the business exchange with other entrepreneurs. The main goal of this initiative is to connect people and ideas, build bridges between people, projects, companies, both from Luxembourg and Romania.
We understand by “entrepreneur” any individual owning or steering a company or a business value added service, provider of services and goods, free-lancers, doctors, lawyers etc in Luxembourg and Greater Region. Further more we include also representatives of companies that even though are not owned by Romanians they have activities connected with Romania or have Romanian employees.
About our speakers:
Mr. Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu
Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu accomplished an 8-day space flight on board Soyuz-40 spacecraft and Saliut-6 space station in May 1981. Prunariu is a member of the Board of the Romanian Space Agency and an expert with the Romanian Association for Space Technology and Industry – ROMSPACE. He is also a retired Lieutenant-General of the Romanian Airforce.
Prunariu is one of the founding members of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) back in 1985. Between 2011 – 2014 Prunariu served as elected president of ASE International, serving also as president of ASE Europe between 2010-2016. Since 2005 he has been a member of the ASE Committee on Near Earth Objects (NEO).
Prunariu was also a member of the task force elaborating a report on Space Security for Europe in the framework of the European Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), issued in 2016.
Prunariu is a co-author of several books regarding space technology and space flight, has published numerous scientific papers and delivered a large number of scientific lectures to audiences all around the world. He earned a degree in aerospace engineering from the University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest (1976) and a Ph.D. in the field of space flight dynamics (1999). Prunariu is a Honorary Citizen of several cities and Doctor Honoris Causa of several higher education institutions from Romania, Republic of Moldova and USA.
Since 1992 Prunariu works closely with the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS) and was elected as Chairman of this committee for the period of June 2010 – June 2012, accomplishing successfully his duties. In 2017 an asteroid was given the name of the first Romanian cosmonaut, respectively “Asteroid 10707 Prunariu”.
Mr. Georges Schmit
Georges Schmit, is one of the most prominent senior civil servants of recent decades spending more that 35 years in Government with a focus on innovation policy, economic development and international trade promotion.
He joined the Ministry of the Economy in 1981 and held the highest positions, including that of DG Industry, Secretary-General or responsible for DG Enterprise, Economic Development and Foreign Trade. Between 1995 and 2002, he chaired the National Credit and Investment Corporation (SNCI)and represented the State in many companies where the State was a shareholder.
From 2000, Mr. Schmit helped design and promote a startup culture in Luxembourg, successfully implementing promotion and funding programs towards innovative entrepreneurs and their companies.
In 2009, he became Consul general and Executive Director of the Luxembourg Trade and Investment Office in San Franciscoand worked tirelessly to bring the innovative American companies closer to the Grand Duchy.
Officially retired from the civil service in 2016, he continued to be very active and became a member of the advisory board of the SpaceResources initiative. He is now Special Envoy of the Government of Luxembourg to SpaceResources.lu
In March 2017 he joined the University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Center for Security, Reliability and Trust as a Research Fellow to help with the Center’s Strategy implementation in Technology Transfer and University-Business Research Partnerships.
Invitation to the past event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/romanian-entrepreneurs-network-7th-edition-29-june-2017-registration-35197911902
