As the largest small satellite manufacturing centre outside of California, Glasgow is forging a leading role in the European space economy, a Scottish government minister said today.
Business minister Richard Lochhead paid tribute to Scotland’s biggest city as it takes a seat at the top table of the global space economy, with fast-growing companies driving a new area of industrialisation that is on course to deliver 20,000 high-skilled jobs in the next decade.
Mr Lochhead was speaking at the inaugural Space Comm Expo at the city’s SEC venue, on the banks of the Clyde, close to the shipbuilding yards that powered the city during the first Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries.
He said: “Scotland is famed for innovation, given our reputation for helping to invent the modern world, from penicillin to the telephone and television, and so on. But nowadays we’re continuing that tradition.
“We have got a one-year-old innovation strategy in Scotland, and that is now building on that legacy. Our ambition is to be one of the most innovative small nations by the end of this decade. And again, space has a huge role to play in enabling that ambition.”
Some of the objectives in that strategy are to support the energy transition, as well as digital, data and advanced manufacturing sectors, all of which will increasingly depend on the success of the space economy.
Emerging technologies and breakthroughs in photonics and quantum semiconductors are also supporting a high-growth ‘critical technology supercluster’ in Scotland, with 140 companies generating £3.6 billion in turnover, employing over 10,000 people, Mr Lochhead said.
He said: “These clusters of high-growth sectors are critical to delivering growth for our country. They are dependent on space for the next level of success, and the space industry in turn benefits from the technological innovations that these sectors deliver.”
He added that the small satellite payloads – many of which are designed and built in Glasgow – are increasingly being delivered into space and are helping to transform industries, from telecommunications, to agriculture and forestry to financial services.
According to the recent UK Space Agency ‘health and size’ report, the number of space companies now based in Scotland has increased by 25 per cent, with the sector’s total income rising by 65 per cent over one year.
Dr Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency, also spoke at the event, which featured exhibitors from not only Scotland’s space sector, but from around the world. Some of the Scottish success stories on show included Orbex, which operates the Sutherland Space Port and is headquartered in Forres. Others like satellite manufacturer AAC Clydespace were also featured prominently in the exhibition hall.
Dr Bate said: “We are strengthening Scotland’s space ecosystem by investing in sector development body, Space Scotland. Space Scotland are developing programs that will equip the space workforce with the expertise and the skills that are needed, and are building partnerships with Scotland’s leading adjacent sectors to unlock new market opportunities for space in fintech, agri-tech and robotics, photonics and others.
“Scotland can be the leading destination for small satellite launches in Europe. The SaxaVord and Sutherland spaceports are working towards hosting the first vertical rocket launches from UK soil next year to support the development of Scotland’s launch capabilities.
“We are as a space agency steadfast in our support for the Scottish space sector, but we have to do that work in collaboration, collaboration with businesses, with academia, with the Scottish Government as well as the Westminster Government.
“Yesterday, I met with representatives from the Scottish Government and space sector to mark the official opening of our first office in Edinburgh. A permanent presence will enable the agency to collaborate more closely with Scotland’s thriving space sector, to be more responsive to the needs of that sector, while also promoting the regional skills and the job opportunities to deliver increasingly ambitious missions and capabilities and to attract more investment.”
Recent UK Space Agency investments in Scotland include:
- £5 million for a suborbital rocket test at SaxaVord Spaceport by HyImpulse UK
- £3.5 million for a project led by Spire Global and supported by STAR-Dundee for further developments of a novel instrument that could improve weather forecasting
- £1.9 million for Smiths Interconnect to enhance its space qualification laboratory in Dundee. This has already catalysed £3.5 million in follow-on investment to date