Ugo
Celestino

Ugo Celestino, ‘Policy Officer’ at the European Commission’s DG DEFIS (Directorate-General for Defence Industries and Space), is in charge of R&D and support for start-ups & SMEs in the space sector, through the EU space programme’s CASSINI initiative.

The EU space programme includes satellite navigation (EGNOS/Galileo), Earth observation (Copernicus), secure connectivity and communications (IRIS2), space situational/domain awareness (SSA/SDA) and dual-use synergies. CASSINI accompanies entrepreneurs developing upstream space technologies or downstream services from the development of a prototype to market entry and access to capital (debt and/or equity) for development.
His previous managerial experience in the private sector started in 1994, in the FMCG sector, then in strategic consulting, and finally in the Internet/ICT sector, where he started the business of a NASDAQ-listed US company in Italy, and subsequently launched two digital entrepreneurial initiatives. He graduated in economics in 1994 from Bocconi University (Milan) and obtained an MBA from INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France) in 2000.