EU financing of space activities
The European Commission is increasing its expenditure on space. For the period 2007-13, it has earmarked over €2.6bn to space applications and activities, of which €1bn is earmarked for the Galileo 
satellite navigation programme. In addition, a further €2.4bn was approved in December 2007 to ensure Galileo's full deployment.
EU countries are investing just under €3bn each year through the European Space Agency (ESA) and a similar total amount is being allocated to the various individual national space programmes across Europe.
Schemes that can pool the requirements of a variety of public bodies for space services may provide economic benefits and attract extra public funding and private investment. Appropriate intergovernmental and EU funding may also be available for relevant programmes at national and regional level, for example, via the Structural Funds.
Seventh Framework Programme
The allocation for the space element of the European Commission's Framework Programme for Research (FP7) is €1.43bn for the period 2007-2013.
It is anticipated that the vast majority of this funding (85%) will be allocated to research projects that relate to space-based applications at the service of European society. This is principally the GMES initiative, including funding for dedicated space infrastructures.
The remaining funding will be used for strengthening space foundations and cross-cutting issues. Annual funding commitments to space activities will increase steadily during the course of FP7.
Sixth Framework Programme
The total budget allocated to space research in the European Commission's Sixth Framework Programme for Research (FP6), which covered the period 2002-2006, was €235m. Space activities were organised within the joint thematic area of ' Aeronautics and space'. Three main areas of work covered:
- Galileo - developing the radio-navigation system, its applications and services across a wide range of sectors. Approximately €100m of funding was allocated for this work.
- GMES - some €100m was given to research on GMES, including work on the integration of data and models in processes to deliver information to users and improving information quality across a range of application fields.
- satellite communications - validating SatCom technology that complements 3G mobile-phone technology. Work on integration and convergence of technologies was also undertaken. The budget allocated to this area was €35m.
Other sources of finance
In addition to resources allocated from EU research and ESA budgets, the Galileo programme has received substantial funding via the Enterprise and Energy Directorate General's Trans-European Transport Networks ( TEN-T) programme. Galileo will make a substantial impact on transport operations in the air, and on the sea and ground.
