FOCUS FEATURE
THE SPACE INDUSTRY Downstream employment is dominated by broadcasting
at 74%, with BSkyB being the biggest employer. The second- and third-largest employment shares are supported by the communications (8%) and defence subsectors (6%). The UK remains the key market for the UK space
industry, with 65% of turnover coming from domestic customers, but this share is falling. The composition of customer location is changing, with the corresponding share in 2010/11 being 78%. With a drive by Government to quadruple the value of
the sector over the next 14 years, the potential for growth in the East Midlands is, pardon the pun, astronomical. To realise this objective, UK space sector turnover would
have to increase at an average of 8.1% a year, ie, 0.3 percentage points lower than the actual growth observed between 1999/2000 and 2012/13, according to London Economics. However, the target is unlikely to be achieved by the current space industry members alone as broadcasting is unlikely to be able to deliver the growth needed. Some of the current applications, on the other hand,
space transportation and satellite navigation, could deliver growth over and above the required rate to 2030. In all likelihood, however, the space industry needs to expand into new markets in terms of applications to realise the targets
OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH The UK Space Agency’s most up-to-date information shows just 12 companies across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire involved in manufacturing for space, six in space operations, 13 in space applications and seven in ancillary services – but it didn’t identify the firms and cautioned that many “may be working in multiple domains”. Colin Baldwin, UK Space Gateway Programme Manager at
the UK Space Agency, said: “We believe there are significant growth opportunities in the space sector – in particular as space is an enabling technology that can support growth across a range of other sectors that are of strategic importance across the UK. The East Midlands is currently recognised as a growing cluster within the sector, largely based on the expertise residing in the Universities of Nottingham and Leicester. Both of these universities have experience of delivering projects to support the sector.”
CASE FOR SPACE In July last year, London Economics published an independent report called The Case for Space. In its summary it said the UK space economy was strong and continues to grow thanks to highly-developed space organisations that offer innovative services to professional and private users. It said the UK Government supports the space economy through national space missions, incubator support, funding opportunities and membership of the European Space Agency. “The ambitious growth targets appear feasible for a
growing space economy but it is likely that further Government support is necessary to achieve the goals. Government space investment is just 0.015% of GDP, putting the UK in the bottom third compared to other OECD countries,” it said. London Economics predicted that a “host of game-
changers will affect the UK space economy over coming years and their successful exploitation will be essential to obtain the share of the market desired”. Among the “game- changers” will be a commitment to build a spaceport. In order to improve understanding of the operation and
impact of the space economy in the UK, the following research activities were recommended by London Economics:
• Understanding the role of space in the UK - the UK economy and most of its infrastructures are reliant on space services and most sectors, if denied access to space services, would suffer disruptions. To gauge the proliferation of space services and to measure the true societal value of space to the UK, it would be necessary to identify the full range of applications, the
importance of the contribution of space-enabled services to each application and the value of the economic benefits to the end-users.
34 business network June 2016
• Space-specific spillovers - space economists are hampered by available knowledge and limited to
providing heavily-caveated valuations based on generic ‘science and innovation’ impact parameters. As a
high-tech industry, space R&D is conventionally expected to generate large spillovers, and NASA and
ESA spin-off publications suggest that many products or processes have been invented in the field of space exploration. The study would investigate the extent to which space R&D generates returns to the innovating company and society as a whole as this result would be informative from the perspective of public support to the space economy.
• Return on investment - researchers would interview companies that have received public support and ask
questions related to counterfactual, spin-off products and productivity gains. The study would seek to estimate the productivity improvements enjoyed by professional and consumer users of space services and estimate the contribution to the Exchequer. The main finding of the study would be the answer to the question: “How much does the UK get in return for a £1 investment in space?”
REGIONAL INFLUENCE Although not listed among the stars in the space sector, the East Midlands is not without influence. Since 2001, Leicester has been home to the National
Space Centre – an educational charity and the UK’s largest visitor centre devoted to space science. It has welcomed over two million visitors since it was launched. At its heart is the UK’s largest planetarium, named after Sir
Patrick Moore, an amateur astronomer who hosted the BBC’s The Sky at Night programme from 1957 until his death in 2012, President of the British Astronomical Association, co-founder and President of the Society for Popular Astronomy and author of over 70 books on astronomy. Part of the National Space Centre is the National Space
Academy, which was created to develop the next generation of scientists and engineers. It works with a range of science organisations worldwide and has been running curriculum-focused masterclasses and teacher training since 2008. The academy has been accredited with improving
physics, chemistry, biology and geography support across the East Midlands and beyond. In March, the UK Space Agency announced it was
expanding its support for business incuba tion centres across the country, providing funding to enable a network of incubators to support start-up companies in the sector. The funding will be used to grow the
space sector in the regions by providing a supportive business environment to assist entrepreneurs to develop small companies - an important part of realising the Government’s ambitions to achieve a ten per cent share of the global market by 2030. The funded incubators,
located in the East Midlands, the North and North Wales, will provide small businesses with access to facilities and resources and will be part of a network of incubators that will collaborate on events and initiatives.
Tim Peake, the first British ESA astronaut
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