UKSA boosts funding for regional space clusters
Image courtesy ESA/NASA
These regional hubs, known as space clusters, will support new and growing companies, building on local expertise and catalysing investment into the space sector.
Over £600,000 will go towards supporting activities that create jobs and growth, including recruiting space cluster managers, to strengthen local space sector leadership groups and developing new business opportunities.
The funding comes as the Government unveils its Levelling Up White Paper today, setting out a plan to transform the UK by spreading opportunity and prosperity to all parts of it.
Space plays a pivotal role in our daily lives and is already a vital part of the UK economy, worth over £16 billion per year. However, the balance of investment and jobs is skewed towards certain regions.
The government recently launched its National Space Strategy which outlines its long-term plans to grow and level up the space sector across the UK.
Dr Paul Bate, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said: "The National Space Strategy sets out a vision for ensuring we have a thriving, resilient and well-connected space ecosystem across the whole of the UK.
"We are building on our strengths in space such as satellite manufacturing, while supporting emerging markets like in-orbit servicing, to unlock the growth in the UK space sector and help level up the economy."
Will Whitehorn, President of the trade association UKspace, said: "Additional grants of this nature are hugely important in helping to communicate the potential for the growing ‘New Space’ economy. Monitoring and understanding our world from space has already become crucial to our survival. Now industrialisation in space will be driven by the need to get to Net Zero and mitigate climate change by shifting more and more carbon generating digital activities outside the atmosphere, and even producing solar power in space. The opportunities these activities will bring to the UK should not be underestimated, from space launch to digital services and even infinity and beyond.
"There is also an urgent need for continuing significant investment by government and the private sector if these goals are to be achieved and the UK is able to move into the top tier of nations leading the industrial revolution in space."
Funding has gone to the following organisations in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland:
Cornwall Development Company - £51,000 Cornwall space cluster will use grant funds to hold a series of workshops and events to showcase local business capabilities to academic and industry partners across the UK to stimulate new opportunities for research and innovation. The CDC will also use funds to create a new cluster website, undertake research for a local skills strategy and refine the local space proposition for the region.
West of England Combined Authority - £97,500 The West of England region will use grant funds to build and deliver on the recommendations from the West of England Space Strategy. Funding will support a range of activities to raise the profile of the region’s space sector, including attracting inward investment and hosting a regional showcase event.
Northern Ireland Space Office - £72,000 Northern Ireland will use grant funds to undertake a series of cluster development activities that build on the recommendations from the NI Space Market Insight Report. Activities include the formation of a NI Space Leadership Council, undertaking stakeholder engagement to further mature the cluster and define a business case for sustainable cluster development.
Aerospace Wales £34,000 Wales was funded to appoint a Space Wales Development Manager. The individual appointed will lead the implementation of the Wales space sector strategy as embodied in the document “Wales –a sustainable space nation” and development of the Space Wales network and cluster.
Midlands Aerospace Alliance £64,000 West Midlands region will use grant funds to promote the West Midlands cluster, identify business opportunities, connect businesses to academia and space suppliers including non-space companies that can pivot into both the upstream and downstream sectors. The MAA and the University of Birmingham will also use funds to hold workshops to showcase the expertise within the region.
Leeds University £73,000 Space Hub Yorkshire will use grant funds to appoint 2x Cluster Development Managers that will drive and take forward recommendations from Yorkshire’s regional space strategy. Funding will also be used to initiate and deliver a programme of events, which will be continued and sustained beyond the lifetime of this grant through in-kind support from regional universities.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise £38,000 Space Hub Sutherland will use grant funds to undertake cluster development activity around the proposed site of a spaceport and launch facilities at Sutherland.
Open University £43,500 As part of the Arc for Space Group, The Open University will use grant funds to support and coordinate regional space sector growth ambitions in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc. Work will be delivered in close collaboration with industry, academia and regional organisations. World-leading research programmes will be mapped to develop commercial and funding opportunities for the region to enable businesses to participate and commercialise R&D projects.
Scottish Space Group (Space Scotland) £64,500 Scotland will use grant funds to appoint a cluster development manager to build and deliver on recommendations from the Scottish Space Strategy. Other activities will include identifying opportunities in the downstream sectors, scaling of regional STEM activities and undertake a series of stakeholder engagement activities to promote the cluster.
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC; part of UK Research and Innovation) Daresbury Laboratory £61,000 This grant funding is being used to establish a North West of England Space Cluster, that connects with and empowers the UK’s global space Ambitions. It brings together all five bodies of the North West (Cumbria, Cheshire and Warrington, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Liverpool City Region) with local, regional and national stakeholder organisations. Through building the shared understanding of the regions sizable space-related research, innovation and business assets, the added value the space sector can bring to other industrial sectors and the opportunity for greater national and international connection, a vision and strategy for this cluster can be co-created. Hosted by STFC, a North West Space Cluster Leadership Group has been established, to enable and ready this cluster for launch later in 2022.
Each organisation will use the funding to support locally led space sector activities in their region. This will include business case development and evidence gathering for local authorities and economic development bodies.
The new funding for regional space clusters follows £500k awarded to seven space hubs across the UK in 2020 to bring together local authorities, expertise and businesses to create a strategy for how their area can take maximum advantage of the commercial space race.
The UK already boasts a thriving space sector employing over 45,000 people in highly skilled jobs – from space scientists and researchers to engineers and satellite manufacturers.
The National Space Strategy looks to harness these strengths and support British companies to seize future opportunities, with the global space economy projected to grow from an estimated £270 billion in 2019 to £490 billion by 2030.
The UK Space Agency is working with local partners, Devolved Administrations, universities and industry to encourage more space businesses to start, grow and connect with the UK’s wider UK space ecosystem.
