Report on the ESA industrial audit of the Czech republic

In connection with current negotiation process of accession of the Czech republic (CR) to the European Space Agency (ESA) convention there was an ESA industrial audit held between 10.-12.October 2007. The aim of the audit was to assess the capacities of Czech industry and research to participate in ESA space projects.

The result of this survey is the key indicator of capacities of any audited country to cope with very high demands on high-tech technologies and top-class products and services required for space appliences, as for utilising space applications on Earth. The result of industrial audit - a report of Director General to ESA Council prepared by auditing Task Force team - will have a great impact on negotiation of ESA Member States (MS) about the access of CR to ESA convention. To successfully access ESA, an unanimous vote of all ESA MS for accession is required.

The organisation of the audit was prepared by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports with a substantial support of the Czech Space Offices (CSO). The audit was performed by a five-member ESA Task Force team. The auditing process itself consisted of presentations and visits of industrial companies and research institutes selected from CSO internal database and organisations proposed by addressed ministerial and scientific bodies.

As a result of the selection process, 26 companies (19 industrial and 7 service providers) and 3 research institutes were presented to ESA Task Force team in three days, while the second day was devoted to visits of 4 companies' production sites. The Task Force team visited Aero Vodochody, Aeronautical Research and Test Institute (VZLU), The First Machinery Plant in Brno - Velka Bites and Frencken Brno. 14 of the total 26 companies were members of the Association of Aviation Manufacturers (ALV).

Visit in VZLU

The agenda for the three-day audit was very demanding and both ESA Task Force team members and organisers from the Ministry and CSO put a lot of efforts into its successfull and efficient completion. According to the Task Force team leadre Mr. Pedro Baptista, the visit of ESA team and the whole audit was well organised and successfull. The team received most of the required information, needed for the preparation of report for ESA Director General, Jean Jacques Dordain. Some missing points and details has CSO collected within the two weeks after audit and sent back to ESA.

The next important step of accession procedure will be the ESA council (December 2007 / March 2008), when the ESA Director General will present the report of audit tho the Council.

Visit in Frencken Brno