Italy is one of Europe’s leading space-faring nations. With San Marco 1 in 1964, it became the fifth country to operate a satellite in orbit, and it remains one of ESA’s three largest contributors. Italy has broad industrial strengths in space transportation, earth observation, telecommunications, exploration infrastructure and downstream services, including through the Vega/Vega-C launcher family and dual-use earth observation capabilities. ESA’s earth observation centre, ESRIN, is located in Frascati and supports earth observation mission operations, data exploitation, Vega-related activities and planetary defence functions.
The Space Economy at a Glance 2026
Italy also hosts the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts’ data centre in Bologna and has expanded its start-up support network to five ESA Business Incubation Centres, in Turin, Rome, Milan, Padua and Brindisi. In June 2026, Italy ranked seventh globally for active satellite ownership, 53% of which was commercially operated, and sixth for satellites launched since 2019.
In constant EUR and USD million (base year=2015)
Note: Budget estimates include national activities and contributions to the European Space Agency, Eumetsat and as well as estimated contributions to the European Union Space Programme. 1. Break in series.
Source: OECD analysis based on institutional sources.
In 2025, the Italian civilian space budget reached USD 2 224.1 billion (EUR 1 968.2 billion), an increase from 2023-24 in real terms and above pre-COVID levels (Figure 5.13). This reflects major policy developments, notably the 2022-26 post-COVID-19 economic recovery package, higher commitments to the European Space Agency and new national initiatives. Earth observation was the biggest budget heading in 2025 – Italy is currently deploying its IRIDE earth observation programme, involving observations from six different constellation families. In 2025, the country adopted its first comprehensive space law, providing safeguards for technical, financial and environmental security. The legislation also established a space economy fund, endowed with EUR 35 million for 2025, to support industrial growth and innovation.
IP5 patent families, by priority date and applicant's location, using fractional counts
Note: IP5 patent families correspond to patent families filed in at least two offices worldwide, including at least one of the Five IP largest offices (IP5, i.e. the European Patent Office, EPO; the Japan Patent Office, JPO; the Korean Intellectual Property Office, KIPO; The China National Intellectual Property Administration, CNIPA; and the US Patent and Trademark Office, USPTO). Patents related to space-related technologies have been identified by the EPO using the EPO-PATSTAT 2025b data (https://www.epo.org/patstat).
Source: OECD, STI Micro-data Lab: Intellectual Property Database, http://oe.cd/ipstats, June 2026.
Based on Italy’s space economy thematic account launched in 2025, the Italian space economy generated EUR 8 billion in output in 2021, employing some 23 000 workers. This represented EUR 2 billion in gross value added, constituting 0.1% of Italy’s GDP. Italy’s space industry ecosystem comprises more than 350 companies, ranging from large system Integrators and mid-cap companies to small- and medium-sized enterprises, alongside a rapidly growing start-up community. The capabilities, products, services and technologies developed by the national space sector are showcased in the Italian Space Industry Online Catalogue (available at https://italianspaceindustry.it) . In addition, a new web portal will soon be launched to further highlight the space-related expertise and competences of Italian research centres and academia.
Italy accounted for 1.7% of global space-related patents applications in the 2020-23 period, the same share as in 2010-13 (Figure 5.14). Italy has a negative revealed technological advantage (RTA), meaning that its share in space-related patenting is smaller than its share in overall patenting activities. Nevertheless, Italy’s relative specialisation in space-related patenting has improved compared with 2010–13, reflecting a positive evolution in the country's patenting activity in space technologies.
Fractional counts
Note: Perimeter of documents based on filtered journal titles and All Science Journal Classification codes in the Scopus database.
Source: OECD calculations based on Scopus Custom Data, Elsevier, Version 1.2026, April 2026.
In terms of space-related scientific production [hereafter ‘space literature’] and excellence, Italy’s production, measured in fractional counts, has increased steadily since 2009 and is above the OECD average (Figure 5.15). The share of internationally co-authored papers has remained stable over the period, at around 60%. When looking at citations, a common proxy for scientific excellence, 12.8% of Italy’s space literature was in the top-10 percentile for citations in 2024. This is above the OECD average of 12%. Italy’s normalised citation score, comparing citation patterns within specific scientific fields, is above the world average in the All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) categories “earth and planetary sciences” and “physics and astronomy”.
Between 2010 and 2023, Italy provided USD 5.4 million in space-related ODA (expressed in constant 2023 dollars), with the majority of funding directed towards environmental protection initiatives (Figure 5.16).
In constant USD million (base year=2023)
Source: Calculations based on OECD (2025[1])), “Creditor Reporting System (CRS)", OECD.stat (database), https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=CRS1 (accessed July 2025).
References
[4] Istat (2025), The space economy in Italy: Anno 2021, https://www.istat.it/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Information-note-space-economy.pdf.
[3] McDowell, J. (2026), Jonathan’s Space Report, https://www.planet4589.org/index.html (accessed on 23 June 2026).
[2] OECD (2026), STI Micro-data Lab: Intellectual Property Database, http://oe.cd/ipstats (accessed on June 2026).
[1] OECD (2025), Creditor Reporting System (CRS), database, https://data-explorer.oecd.rg.