Guest Speaker
Kevin M. O’Connell, Founder and CEO, Space Economy Rising
Former Director, Office of Space Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce (2018-2021)
Moderator
Quentin Verspieren, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo
Date/time
Tuesday, 18 October 2022, 10:00 – 11:30
Venue
Hongo Campus, The University of Tokyo (in-person only)
*Exact location to be sent to the registrants before the event
Language
English (no Japanese interpretation available)
Host
Science, Technology and Innovation Governance (STIG) Program
Organized in conjunction with the Governance of Space Activities and Space Development and Public Policy courses
Registration
https://forms.gle/gXZhxc1uJVS4xBKc8
Due to the capacity of the venue, registration may be limited to around 50 participants. Selected registrants will be contacted shortly after the registration deadline, with priority given to students and staff of The University of Tokyo.
– Program –
[10:00-10:10] Opening remarks
Quentin Verspieren, The University of Tokyo
[10:10-10:55] Lecture on Advancing the Space Economy
Kevin M. O’Connell, Founder and CEO, Space Economy Rising
[10:55-11:25] Questions and Answers
Moderated by Quentin Verspieren, The University of Tokyo
[11:25-11:30] Closing remarks
Quentin Verspieren, The University of Tokyo
About the Speaker
Kevin M. O’Connell is a recognized expert on space commerce, the global space economy, global intelligence activities, and U.S. national security matters. For almost four decades, he has focused on space commercialization and technological competitiveness and how to advance them in global markets. He has also focused on how these innovations impact U.S. and allied national security.
Mr. O’Connell is the CEO of Space Economy Rising, a firm that provides advisory services to space companies, related high-tech companies, and stakeholders in the space economy. In this capacity, Mr. O’Connell provides strategy and finance advice, helps investors and others assess space market trends, and identifies new opportunities for increased participation in the space economy.
Mr. O’Connell’s prior role was as Director of the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) within the U.S. Department of Commerce, from 2018-2021. He was the principal architect of outreach to U.S. private space companies to facilitate innovation and encourage increased market growth. He focused on the growing role of the private sector in space, encouraged new space partnerships, worked to ensure the competitiveness of the U.S. commercial space industry, and advanced American leadership in space safety and sustainability. Mr. O’Connell testified before Congress on space policy and regulatory issues, U.S. space competitiveness, and the growth of space commerce. He was awarded the Vice President’s Dedicated Service Award for his support to the National Space Council.
Mr. O’Connell also expanded international outreach on space commerce issues with a wide range of U.S. allies and partners, especially on regulation, to encourage new partnerships and to advance space safety and sustainability. His overseas space activities involved participation in the U.S.-Japan Comprehensive Space Dialogue, member of a Space Delegation to Luxembourg, and high-level discussions with the EU, India, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Commonwealth partners.
Prior U.S. government assignments include roles in The Department of Defense, The Department of State, The National Security Council, Office of the Vice President, and Office of the Director of Central Intelligence. Within the private sector, Mr. O’Connell was a senior research analyst at RAND and the first Director of RAND’s Intelligence Policy Center. In 2007, he founded Innovative Analytics and Training, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in assessing high-tech market areas including geospatial markets, cloud computing, and cyber analytics.
Mr. O’Connell is a recognized expert on the policy, security, and commercial aspects of satellite remote sensing technologies and markets. He served as the Executive Secretary of the Independent Commission on the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) in 2000 and later as an advisor to the Director, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He was a long-standing member of NOAA’s federal advisory committee, ACCRES, including as Chair between 2012 and 2016.
Mr. O’Connell has been a regular author on space commerce issues. He wrote the foreword to “Space Policies for the New Space Age: Competing on the Final Economic Frontier,” by Bruce Cahan and Mir Sadat (NewSpace New Mexico, December 2020). He also co-authored Commercial Observation Satellites: at the Leading Edge of Global Transparency (ASPRS/RAND, 2000), which foreshadowed the roles that commercial satellites would have on security matters. He has an active TS/SCI security clearance with additional accesses.
Mr. O’Connell has over twenty years of experience teaching graduate courses in Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the RAND Graduate School. Today, he is a frequent lecturer on space and space commerce at academic and research organizations around the world, including MIT, SDA Bocconi, The George Washington University, and Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Contact:
Science, Technology, and Innovation Governance (STIG) Program
Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo
STIG@pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp
10.06.2022