On June 6th, the Swedish National Day, a Swedish delegation leaves Stockholm for a visit to NASA Ames in San Francisco. The group, including Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang, is made up of 14 representatives from the Swedish business, academia and entrepreneurial communities. Cecilia Hertz, CEO of Umbilical Design, is the leader of the delegation.

The Swedish delegation was invited by NASA to meet with experts in such fields as artificial intelligence, green building and sustainable cities. The purpose of the visit is to initiate a cooperation with the aim to identify sustainable solutions for space technology that also have applications on earth. The delegation will visit NASA's new complex, Sustainability Base, to see how the technology used could be applied in Sweden.

"The visit to NASA is part of our ambition to create a technology exchange between the U.S. and Sweden. Commercializing new technology is something the U.S. excels at, and I hope we can learn something from you when it comes to increasing the speed in bringing new ideas to market," says Cecilia Hertz.

Joining the visit to NASA on June 10-11 are representatives from the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce in Arizona, Skanska, the Swedish Travel and Tourism Industry Federation and The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, among others. At NASA Ames the group will meet with experts in different areas to combine competencies within sustainability, business development, design and space technology.

"Technology developed for space serves as a driving force in developing sustainable solutions for earth. Space technology transfer is a potential growth engine for Sweden and an innovative force for Swedish industry. My goal is that within five years Sweden will be the primary European node for developments in space technology and sustainable solutions. The Swedish visit to NASA is an important step forward towards strengthening Sweden's position in this field," says Cecilia Hertz.

An important project that will be presented at the NASA visit is the project Down to Earth. Down to Earth, a project initiated by Umbilical Design, is an international collaboration between universities, industry and space agencies to commercialize space technologies for global sustainable development.

The UN World Tourism Organization (WTO), together with the Swedish Travel and Tourism Industry Federation (RTS), here represented by RTS President Mr. Jan Lundin, have together with Umbilical Design started the new initiative Down to Earth for Tourism. This important initiative will also be presented during the NASA visit.

Contact: Cecilia Hertz, CEO of Umbilical Design, cecilia.hertz@umbilicaldesign.se, Cell. +46-70-575 46 51.

Umbilical Design AB was founded in 2001 by aerospace designer Cecilia Hertz. Umbilical Design AB is contracted by the European Space Agency (ESA) as one of 13 companies in Europe, to develop technology transfer from the space sector to Swedish industry. Umbilical Design is a company with focus on design and architecture for space and extreme environments. One of Umbilical Design's goals is to facilitate human life by integrating space materials and technologies in commercial everyday products. http://www.umbilicaldesign.se

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Swedish aerospace delegation heading for NASA Ames