It might be the youngest space cluster in the UK, but Space East is already transforming the way local firms do business. BETHANY WALES found out why companies in East Anglia have set their sights on the stars to solve some of their toughest challenges.
Once upon a time, space was the preserve of governments; you had to be a trillionaire – i.e. a country – to afford access.
But a seismic shift has occurred during the past decade.
Private companies are now at the forefront of our extra-terrestrial ambitions, with 89pc of sector investment coming from non-government sources.
Since 2015 the UK has overtaken the rest of Europe to become the most attractive destination for private investment in space after the US, according to a study by PwC.
Nine of the largest UK venture capital firms have invested in space in the past few years, with 63pc of investors new to the sector in 2021.
And it’s not hard to see what they find so attractive.
The space sector has defied the wider UK economy trend – which declined by 7.6pc from 2020 to 2021 – instead growing 5.1pc to £17.5bn in the same period.
It now directly employs around 48,800 people, supporting a further 78,000 indirect and induced jobs across a range of different industries.
These high skilled roles range from manufacturing to sales to software design, and account for about 0.15pc of the country’s workforce.
But the space sector does not exist in a vacuum.
The incredible investment over the past 10 years has been thanks in no small part to an increasing demand for space-powered technology in the business world, as companies look for innovative solutions to the ever-more complex challenges they face.
Historically, connecting these firms with the right technology has been tricky.
Many business owners don’t realise there’s more to the space sector than astronauts and alien planets, far less that the work happening within it could be the key to overcoming their industry-specific issues.
Enter the UK’s newest space cluster, Space East.
WHAT IS A SPACE CLUSTER?
The UK currently has 15 space clusters across the country – local hubs of space activity offering networking opportunities, access to shared facilities and funding support.
Our local cluster, Space East, was launched in March last year, making it the “baby” of the group, according to managing director Stuart Catchpole.
He said: “Our job is to help people to share knowledge, expertise, and capabilities, both in terms of working within the sector and harnessing its power.
“We work with the local community to understand what opportunities there are, how they could benefit from the space sector, and to bring academics and businesses closer together to deliver new ideas, products, and solutions and services.
“There’s not a single industry out there that can’t benefit from what’s happening in the space sector, so the idea is that we help business owners realise that potential.
“Our job is to make sure everyone knows who’s good at what and how they can collaborate to help the entire region level up.”
Despite its infancy, Space East has already attracted more than 130 members, across industries including agri-tech, renewable energy, and transport and logistics.
Mr Catchpole said: “We’ve had to build this from the ground up, and our biggest challenge has – and will continue to be – raising awareness about what we can do.”
TO EAST ANGLIA… AND BEYOND
While our region is home to several companies creating the tools to get us into space, a much larger role is played by those providing service to and benefiting from the satellites already in orbit.
Space applications – AKA the use of satellite data and signals for things like weather forecasting, television signal and GPS – are by far the biggest contributors to the space sector’s net worth.
Here in East Anglia, this type of tech is being used across a multitude of industries.
Mr Catchpole said: “Satellite data allows companies to make better, more-informed decisions.
“This often leads to cost avoidance as problems are detected earlier and so can be dealt with more quickly.
“For example, in agriculture, satellite images of crops allow farmers to detect diseases more quickly and treat fields in a targeted way, saving money on pesticides and avoiding the costs associated with failed crops.
“Locally, there’s opportunities for us to come up with solutions to the nutrient neutrality crisis, thanks to new technology that uses satellite images to identify and monitor the spread of algal blooms.
“You can imagine the impact that would have on the construction industry.”
And according to Mr Catchpole, there’s even scope for space-based tools to help local tourism.
He said: “Our visitor economy is set to benefit from satellite Wi-Fi, which is patching connection gaps in rural East Anglia.
“It’s opening up the region to allow people to set up businesses in previously untapped locations.”
Despite the huge success of its first year, Mr Catchpole said Space East had so far barely scratched the surface of its potential.
In the coming year, the cluster has a packed programme of events and initiatives to encourage more businesses to join its network, and take advantage of the £63m pledged by the UK government to fund space innovation in 2024.
Mr Catchpole said: “This awareness-raising will carry on over the next 12 months.
“We’ve got to remember we’re still young and things move fast, so we have to recognise people might not know about us yet.
“We’re going to keep building on the incredible cluster we’ve created so far, and continue our mission to establish East Anglia as a leading space hub.”
