Taiwan Young Space Professionals Program.

The development of the modern space ecosystem has a long history startingfrom geopolitical competition between the eastern and western blocs of the ColdWar, bridging geopolitical boundaries through the pursuit of scientific discovery,extending through the gradual commercialization and democratization of spaceservices and the modern New Space economy. From satellite navigation, weatherand environmental observations, geoinformatics, and communications, the use ofspace technology and space platforms now plays an ever-increasing role in modernsociety, even in countries without national space programs. Space technology,particularly as it pertains to Beyond 5G (B5G) Communications has been identifiedby Taiwan as an important economic opportunity, leveraging the traditionalstrengths of Taiwanese industry in contract electronics manufacturing and massproduction, as well as the growing importance of the aerospace and defensesector. Development, incubation, and growth of the public and private spacesectors in Taiwan requires a diverse array of talent familiar with the background,applications, and potentials of this sector, ranging from science and technology, topolicy making, and business. Being able to build, leverage, and participate inrelated international organizations and efforts will also strengthen Taiwan’s spacecapacity. To these ends, we propose the development and implementation of aTaiwan Young Space Professionals Program (TYSPP), geared to instill students andyoung professionals across a wide range of disciplines with an understanding ofpolicies, developmental background, applications, and future directions of publicand private space efforts in Taiwan and on a global scale, using a hands-onapproach. The students will also be trained to represent Taiwanese interests atinternational space conferences and symposia, with the ability to network with theirinternational peers. On the short term, TYSPP will provide students with a handsonlearning experience, while also serving as a selection process for representativesto the 2022 Asian Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) annualconference. On the long term, the objective will be to enhance connectionsbetween government, industry, and academic space communities, while incubatinga new generation of political, business, and technical professionals with anappreciation and understanding of space technology, industry, and policy inTaiwan and globally.