The International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2025) in Sydney has blasted past expectations with an estimated $47 million boost to the visitor economy, more than doubling original forecasts.
The global space gathering is officially the largest international conference held in Sydney since the COVID pandemic.
Visitor numbers broke records, with more than 7,400 delegates, including international space agencies, industry leaders, and academia from around 100 countries, descending on Sydney for the five-day event at the International Convention Centre (Sept 29 – Oct 3).
“The success of IAC 2025 showed the importance of high-value events to the state’s visitor economy,” said Minister for Jobs and Tourism, Steve Kamper.
“With over 7,400 delegates from more than 90 countries, IAC 2025 has delivered a significant boost to the NSW visitor economy, filling hotels, restaurants and attractions.
“High-value events like the IAC are critical to the NSW Visitor Economy strategy, and it’s goal of $91 billion in visitor expenditure by 2035 — supporting local businesses and jobs, and fostering industry collaboration and growth.”
More than 12,000 members of the public, including many NSW school students, registered for the Congress’ ’Space Day – Powered by LEGO® Play’ on Friday, 3 October, where families and students got the chance to step into the shoes of space explorers and innovators.
In total, more than 19,000 people participated in IAC 2025 and Space Day, which showcased Australia and NSW’s cutting-edge space industry on the global stage.
More than 450 companies, institutions and governments from all over the world showcased their innovative solutions on the event’s huge 19,000sqm exhibition floor. This included more than 60 organisations from NSW.
“As the biggest international conference held in Sydney post-pandemic, the IAC in Sydney has been a transformative moment – not only for businesses within our space ecosystem to pursue new growth opportunities, but also for inspiring the next generation to explore futures in STEM,” said Minister for Industry and Trade and Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology, Anoulack Chanthivong.
One of the standout NSW innovations showcased at the IAC was ‘Charlotte’ – a fully autonomous 3D printing robot designed to support lunar exploration and deliver low-cost, low-carbon housing solutions here on Earth.
Crest Robotics – part of the NSW consortium that developed Charlotte – has signed an MoU with US space exploration company Intuitive Machines. The partnership will explore opportunities to integrate Charlotte’s technology into future lunar missions, leveraging Intuitive Machines’ expertise in Moon landings and space systems.
The NSW Government thanked the International Astronautical Federation for partnering to make the 2025 Congress a success, and acknowledges its co-hosts, the Space Industry Association of Australia and the Australian Space Agency.
“When we secured this event four years ago, coming out of the pandemic, our estimates of what it could bring to the state were understandably conservative. Reaching this participation milestone is a credit to the collaborative efforts of state and federal governments working hand in hand in glove with industry and the academic community in a shared drive to achieve great things for Australia’s future,” said Business Events Sydney (BESydney) CEO, Amanda Lampe.
“Over and above the $47 million economic injection into the visitor economy, IAC 2025 has advanced science, fostered innovation, catalysed trade and investment and shone the light on our city as the best place to live, work, study, advance research and do business.”
The baton has been passed to Atalya in Turkey, which will host next year’s IAC.
