Out-of-this world opportunities for our space sector
When we talk about the North East’s future economy, we focus on sectors such as advanced manufacturing, energy, life sciences and digital technology.
The eclipse and the Perseid meteor shower got me looking to the heavens and reminded me there is another sector where the North East is quietly building a significant reputation - space!
The latest UK Space Agency figures show there are currently 81 organisations in the North East space sector, supporting more than 1,340 jobs and generating £171m in regional income.
That is already a significant economic contribution, but this might just be the start; the real opportunity is what comes next.
From NETPark in County Durham to universities and research centres across the region, we have the ingredients to build a world-class space cluster.
Companies such as Filtronic, NORSS and Kromek are demonstrating the breadth of capability already here, spanning advanced communications, satellite tracking, radiation detection and highly sophisticated engineering.
And this is not simply about putting things into orbit: space technology increasingly underpins everyday economic activity. This includes telecommunications and navigation to weather forecasting, environmental monitoring, maritime operations and the use of satellite data to improve how we manage our cities and infrastructure as the population ages and adapts to climate change.
This is a huge opportunity.
For the North East, such innovation is entirely in line with our proud industrial heritage and our ambitions for the future as set out in our policy plan: Unlocking the North East Economy. We have engineering expertise, advanced manufacturing capability, universities with internationally recognised research strengths and a growing technology ecosystem.
We also have a chance to create the kind of good growth that our region needs - highly skilled, well-paid jobs alongside opportunities for people with a wide range of qualifications and technical skills.
The skills agenda is critical here. Space needs engineers and data scientists, but also technicians, manufacturers, software specialists, analysts and people with expertise in areas such as cybersecurity and management of challenging projects.
We need to think about how our schools, colleges, universities, apprenticeship system and businesses can work together to ensure local people are equipped to take those opportunities. As a global industry, space is also a major export opportunity, and North East businesses are rightly looking beyond our regional and national markets.
Our region has a strong story to tell: innovative businesses, world-class research and a passionate workforce capable of turning ideas into tangible commercial opportunities. We need to make sure the rest of the world knows about it, so such good jobs and opportunities come our way.
Space may be about looking up, but for the North East its greatest potential could be in creating jobs, investment, innovation and sustainable growth on the ground.
