Opportunities and Challenges for Start-up Entrepreneurship in the Space Industry of Finland

The private sector of the space industry has been developing for the last several decades, forming a new period of space exploration. The period is known as New Space and is characterised by cooperation and healthy competition between countries and companies that aim to accomplish own scientific, military, or commercial goals and ultimately achieve a self-sufficient space economy. Recently, more private entities of New Space started to appear in Finland, boosting innovations and attention to the local space activities. Since development of the national space industry is dynamic and more space-related start-ups are expected to emerge in the upcoming years, the research on the favourable factors and problems local entrepreneurs may encounter was conducted. The study had two objectives. The first was to identify possible opportunities and obstacles entrepreneurs could face entering the space industry of Finland, and secondly, to provide recommendations on the obstacles overcoming. The study was qualitative and had an exploratory purpose. Secondary data was analysed to build comprehension of the space industry, its background and specifics, and to define funding sources and growth acceleration entities available for Finnish entrepreneurs. Primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews with representatives of the Finnish space industry. The sample was chosen purposively to ensure richer insights, and therefore it included Finnish space entrepreneurs, representatives of government, and members of other public sector actors. In total, eight respondents were interviewed. The interview process was finished when data saturation was reached. The study was implemented under interpretivist philosophy, applying inductive approach. The findings showed that the main opportunities space entrepreneurs have in Finland are public and government support, geopolitics, and the local space community size and attitudes. The obstacles are receiving funding, work organization, network building, and identification of market and customers. Based on the results, recommendations on avoidance or overcoming of the obstacles were provided. In addition, directions for further research on the subject were presented