City to host space tech centre
INCUBATION SITE FOR START-UPS
THE European Space Agency (ESA) has picked Leicester to launch a branch of its Business Incubation Centre (BIC) for space tech startups.
The agency is extending what has been called the biggest programme of its kind in the world to Space Park Leicester, the £100 million research and business facility being built in the shadow of the National Space Centre.
Space Park Leicester joins a UKwide ESA BIC programme, alongside the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire, Sci-Tech Daresbury in the North West and the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh.
The first part of the space park to open will mainly be used for research into Earth observation, such as how satellite data can be used for anything from studying air pollution to helping the transport and logistics sector.
Global players such as Lockheed
Martin, Thales Alenia Space, Hewlett Packard, Airbus and Amazon have already signed up to phase two of the space park, to be called the Manufacturing, Engineering, Technology and Earth Observation Research Centre – Meteor. It will work on the practical applications of satellite technology and the data they capture.
At its other sites, the ESA incubation programme – a collaboration with the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the UK Space Agency – has already helped 87 start-up companies turn ideas into viable products and services.
Of those, 73 have graduated from the centre and raised more than £72 million in investment.
Companies joining the programme will have access to the University of Leicester’s research and development capabilities in areas including Earth observation, environmental monitoring, high performance computing, data science, AI and space engineering.
Other benefits include a cash incentive for design, prototyping, IP protection and market studies of more than £40,000, access to STFC’s test facilities, laboratories, workshops and technical expertise, business development support and networking and collaboration. ESA BIC UK operations manager Dr Sue O’Hare said: “UK start-ups are increasingly using space technologies to create game-changing products, as well as technologies for use on spacecraft and satellites. However, taking a product from an initial idea to manufacture and market is a massive challenge.
“The UK is the leading funder in Europe for space business applications, and the addition of Space Park Leicester to our business incubation programme provides an exciting opportunity to widen our support for start-ups across the vibrant and growing East Midlands space cluster and beyond.”
Grant Bourhill, chief executive of Leicester Science Parks and interim director of research and enterprise at the University of Leicester, said: “The space sector already underpins burgeoning commercial markets in communications, location based services and earth observation, and the ESA BIC will support new entrants to these and other space-enabled markets.
“This is an exciting step forward for the East Midlands.”
For more information about the ESA BIC UK, see: