ESA’s first Global Space Economic Forum was held at ESA's ESTEC technology centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands on 10 October 2018.

During a panel discussion, moderated by Luca del Monte, Head of Industrial Policy and SME Division at ESA, Melchiorre Conti, Director of Technology at Metalysis and Martina Caironi, ESA Grand Challenge Ambassador, presented the competition which was launched during the Space day at the  Farnborough Airshow 2018 with an agreement signed between Dr. Dion Vaughan, CEO at Metalysis, and ESA’s Director General, Jan Wörner.