The maiden Bengaluru Space Expo (BSX), 2008 kicks off in the presence of eminent personalities in the global space fraternity.

This event is being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with ISRO and Antrix Corporation in Bangalore. The Expo is scheduled from 29th November to 1st December 2008 at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), Bangalore. 

The event managed to get a huge response from international participants like Arianespace-France, Infinisat (USA), European Space Agency, Israeli Space Agency, Thaicom, Yuzhnove (Ukraine), ScanEx (Russia), Intelsat, Avanti Communications Group plc, MEASAT, Asia Broadcast Satellite (HK) Limited, Hong Kong, Spectrolab Inc. (a Boeing company), Space Key Components Inc. (USA), Thales Alenia, New India assurance, Sea International Space Brokers, Space Corporation (USA), United Space Alliance (USA), AON space,  Marsh Space Projects etc and many more companies.

BSX- 2008 had firms such as Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., Bharat Electronic., and ECIL chip in.

Delivering a  keynote address at the maiden Bengaluru Space Expo (BSX), 2008, the ISRO chairman, Madhavan Nair, pictured right, below,  said,  "In the next five years, the Indian space programme has an ambitious goal of launching several satellites for applications in communications, navigation, disaster management and all weather remote sensing,"

He said, "With this vibrant programme, there will be challenging opportunities for industries in India and abroad to provide equipment and services. These include many small and medium enterprises."

Nair also emphasised that if space has to remain as a major driver for growth issues like Conducive space environment, Reduction of the cost to access to space for growth, Global application of space technology to serve individual families and small communities throughout globe needs to be addressed.

Speaking at the inauguration, CII past president, said, "CII is delighted to partner with ISRO and Antrix in organising this event. BSX-2008 brings together industry with space agencies to jointly explore commercial and civilian applications. The Expo will highlight India's prowess in various areas of space, including manufacturing, launch services, communication, meteorology, and space sciences. It will increase the number of space nations through international collaborations and expand the vendor base."

He contined, "The Global space industry is now over $250 billion in size, ranging from satellite manufacturing and launching to imaging, navigation and telecommunications. Downstream spin-offs for design, engineering, research, and applications for vendors of all sizes are large, with the satellite industry itself projected to grow from $120 billion now to as much as $1.2 trillion."

Also present at the inaugural session of BSX 2008 were Vinay Deshpande, Past Chairman, CII (Karnataka); Sridhar Murthy, MD, Antrix Corporation; Y.S. Rajan, Principal Advisor, CII and Gurpal Singh, DDG, CII. X