Martin Jazbec: 
From advanced materials to space innovation management

Martin Jazbec is a 2024–2025 ASEF Research Fellow at Deakin University (Australia) and a Master’s student in Chemical Engineering at the University of Ljubljana. With a background in advanced materials, photonic crystals, and biomaterials, he is now focusing on the space sector and innovation management, exploring how smart materials and smart organisations can make future space missions safer, more efficient, and more sustainable.

Martin has worked on topics ranging from photonic crystal materials and hydrogels for stem cell cultivation to process automation and wastewater treatment in industry. This combination of laboratory research and real-world projects gives him a rare perspective: at his career level, he already has a significant understanding of both how new materials behave and what is required to move an idea from the laboratory bench to industrial application.

Outside the lab, Martin brings the mindset of a former professional ice hockey player: resilience, teamwork, and rapid decision-making under pressure. These are precisely the skills needed in the fast-moving “New Space” economy, where scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and investors must collaborate across borders and disciplines.

Martin’s gSPARK orientation: Smart materials and innovation pathways for sustainable space missions

In his gSPARK journey, Martin aims to explore how advanced materials and intelligent system design can improve space missions, both technically and in terms of business models and innovation strategy.

Key directions:

• Mapping where advanced materials and chemical engineering can have the greatest impact in the space value chain, from launch and in-orbit operations to life support and end-of-life equipment management.

• Learning how innovation management, technology transfer, and start-up creation operate in the global space sector.

• Identifying opportunities for Slovenian and European expertise to connect with the international “New Space” ecosystem.

How we support Martin:

Together with Knowledge Angels, Martin began using the landscape around IAC 2025 and the Australian space ecosystem as his initial “navigation map” of the global space community. We are helping him to:

• Identify whom to approach: researchers, start-up founders, ESA and national agency representatives, investors, and ecosystem builders who can challenge his ideas and open doors.

• Plan which sessions, start-up and innovation events, technical symposia, and side conferences to prioritise, so that each visit builds his understanding of both technology and business.

• Translate meetings into concrete next steps: potential research collaborations, internships, start-up projects, or follow-up proposals.

Through gSPARK, Martin is deepening his expertise in materials and process engineering for space and learning to think like an innovation leader by connecting people, ideas, and opportunities to help shape a more sustainable and collaborative future space sector.