India overtakes Canada in space competitiveness: report
12 Sep 2011
Montreal: Space experts in Canada are a worried lot with a report showing that India has moved ahead in space competitiveness and now holds the rank previously held by Canada. The report suggests that this vast North American country is also losing ground to other big players in space.
The 2011 Space Competitiveness Index, compiled by US consulting firm Futron, points a finger at government delays in activating a long-term space plan as responsible for Canada's decline in competitive advantage.
Futron's recently released analysis of the 10 leading space nations reveals Canada lost its sixth-place ranking to India in 2010.
The analysis compares how countries invest in and benefit from the space industry.
Futron's programme manager, David Vaccaro, says the index shows Canada has slipped behind India and is being challenged hard by Brazil, China, Israel, Japan and South Korea.
"My sense is that what's really happening is that as other countries start to move up, Canada has lost relative positional strength because other countries have started to advance faster," he said.
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