Simonetta Di Pippo, from the UN to SDA Bocconi
Astrophysicist Simonetta Di Pippo is the new director of the Space Economy Evolution Lab (SEE Lab), the SDA Bocconi laboratory founded in 2018 by Andrea Sommariva (who died in August 2021) to study the economy of space and the economic repercussions of space activities. Since 2014, Di Pippo has served as director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), based in Vienna. "I will dedicate the next phase of my professional life to giving back to young people what I know about space," explains Di Pippo, who also assumes the roleof SDA professor of practice in space economy.
The space economy is expanding enormously, with the participation of an ever-increasing number of actors, and today stands at a value of about 400 billion dollars, destined to become a 'trillion economy' within a few years. SDA Bocconi, with the Space Economy Evolution Lab, is at the forefront of academic research on the economy of space. "The challenge is to make it a center of excellence on a global scale, experimenting with synergies and expanding the range of action to reach a growing number of users, leveraging the skills of a multidisciplinary team, unique of its kind" A center of excellence, the SEE Lab of the near future, which will become a center of accumulation of skills as a central node of a network of national and international collaborations."
The SEE Lab will combine long-term research strands, with particular reference to the most innovative frontiers of the space economy, such as the extraction of resources such as rare earths and platinum group metals from the Moon and asteroids (space mining), with strands showing high development potential in the short to medium term, with a focus on space and climate, in-orbit servicing and space for sustainable socio-economic development on Earth." SEE Lab will build the economy of the future based on spatial data and infrastructure. Our new motto: building up the economy of the future – we are building the economy of the future, in fact."
Simonetta Di Pippo holds a degree in Astrophysics and Space Physics from "La Sapienza" University in Rome, plus an honorary degree in Environmental Studies and an honorary doctorate in International Affairs.
During her career she has held important leadership positions in the space sector, accumulating national and international experience. She has written two books and contributed to many others, is the author and co-author of numerous international articles and has always supported the importance of awareness of the benefits of space activities.
Prior to her tenure at UNOOSA, she was Director of Human Flight at ESA, Director of Universe Observation at the Italian Space Agency and led the Observatory for European Space Policy at ASI-Brussels.
She is an academician of the IAA (International Academy of Austronautics) and a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on space since 2016 and its co-President since 2020. Throughout her career, Simonetta Di Pippo has been active in trying to balance the gender presence in the STEM world and in the aerospace sector. In 2009, she founded the networking platform Women in Aerospace Europe, of which she is now Honorary President, and in 2017 she became UN International Gender Champion.
In 2008, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) awarded the name 'dipippo' to asteroid 21887 in honor of her contributions to space activities and in 2006 she was awarded the title of Official Knight of Merit by the President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. She was the first woman to receive the Hubert Curien Award.