UKspace, the trade association for the UK space industry today welcomed the Government response to the Space Innovation and Growth Strategy as an important first step to achieve the growth targets.
In the Government’s response to the Space Innovation and Growth Strategy (IGS) published on 10 February 2010, the Department of Business Innovation and Skills BIS announces its support for this wealth generator for the nation by taking forward the strategy’s recommendations.
Industry particularly welcomes Government’s commitment to establish a UK Space Agency and to invest in the International Space Innovation Centre (ISIC) in Harwell. The UK space sector has seen a steady growth of 9 per cent per annum for the past decade, supporting over 68,000 jobs, and has continued to grow through the recession.
The target of the IGS is to grow our share of the global market to 10%, creating a domestic industry worth £40bn per year and creating 100,000 new jobs by 2025. Few UK industries have such a platform of success on which to build, or such strong revenue potential. Making the most of this unique opportunity, however, requires a closer and more proactive working relationship between Government, industry and academia. Government has today signaled its long-term commitment to working with the satellite technology and services sector to deliver this vision, announcing a number of important first steps.
Richard Peckham, the Chairman of UKspace said:
“Space is a high growth, high technology, high value market where the UK already excels. We have genuine world-class capabilities in a number of key areas that deliver around £7 billion per year for the UK economy and support almost 70,000 jobs.
The announcements today underline the future potential that exists to grow this sector aggressively in a competitive global market, where our skills and innovation can place us as global leaders. The announcement that the Government will create a powerful space agency to deliver demanding policy objectives, complemented by measures to fund a Space Innovation Centre at Harwell are crucial first steps in enabling the space industry to be a real engine for growth in the economy, creating jobs and wealth.
To achieve the growth targets set out in the IGS report, it is clear that government will need to invest more; but more importantly it is about smarter ways of buying services, leveraging public sector procurements and industry, academia and government working closely towards common goals. The private sector has an appetite to invest strongly in space and in export, but the government must set up the right environment and provide the necessary underpinning support. Industry will work tirelessly with the newly created space agency to deliver the IGS growth objectives”.
ENDS
For more information please contact:
Paul Flanagan, Secretary General UKspace. Tel: +44(0) 7879667001. Email: secgenukspace@btinternet.com
About UKspace:
UKspace is the trade association of the UK space industry, with a mission to promote the best commercial, political and public environment for the UK space industry. UKspace is sponsored jointly by A|D|S and Intellect encapsulating both the upstream and downstream nature of the space sector.
For more information on the UK space industry see www.ukspace.org.