The UK space industry has set out ambitious plans to capture 10% of the global space market by 2030, estimated to be worth £400bn, and to increase turnover to £19bn by 2020.
The target is the central goal of the Space Innovation and Growth Strategy…
The UK space industry has set out ambitious plans to capture 10% of the global space market by 2030, estimated to be worth £400bn, and to increase turnover to £19bn by 2020.
The target is the central goal of the Space Innovation and Growth Strategy action plan that was presented to the UK government on 14 November.
The plan was drawn up by a steering board comprising members of both the public sector and the private sector, led by UKspace, the UK space trade association.
The report outlines five main recommendations:
- Develop the high-value priority markets identified to deliver £30bn per annum of new space applicants by promoting the benefits of space to business and government and engaging service providers.
- Make the UK the best place to grow existing and new space businesses and attract inward investment by providing a regulatory environment that promotes enterprise and investment in the UK.
- Increase the UK’s returns from Europe by continuing to grow the UK’s contribution to European Space Agency (ESA) programmes and securing greater influence in large European-funded programmes.
- Support the growth of UK Space exports by launching a National Space Growth Programme and defining an international policy to improve collaboration, enhance the country’s completive edge and enable targeted and market-led investments in technology.
- Stimulate a vibrant regional space SME sector by improving the supply of finance, industry support and information.
To achieve the first, the report identified 15 priority markets, including maritime surveillance, low-cost access to space, environmental services and fixed satellite broadband, where the UK has the greatest opportunity to enter the market and grow. Each market is estimated to be worth at least £1bn annually to UK-based suppliers within 20 years.
The Satellite Applications Catapult, an organisation created in 2011 to help develop small space-focussed businesses, will lead the majority of the actions in this area.
To improve the country’s regulatory environment for space, the UK Space Agency is to create a Space Regulatory & Spectrum group that will look at options to reform satellite spectrum licensing criteria as well as support the UK in international regulatory meetings.
In addition, the report recommends that UK Space Agency revise its guidance and due diligence process for Outer Space Act licences, such that applicants or their parent groups must carry out their licensed operations substantially from the UK, and hold their primary tax base from these operations in the UK. Further to this, the communications regulator Ofcom is advised to prioritise the interests of UK satellite companies in matters relating to ITU filings.
In order to secure greater influence on EU space policies, the report suggests the UK Space Agency creates a European Space Engagement plan, promote increased use of ESA PPPs and secure a British Operational Director position at ESA.
Increasing exports was one of the key directives of the report. It states, “Today, exports make up 22% (£2bn) of the space sector. This strategy targets 60% by 2030, or around £25bn.”
To achieve this it envisages forming a National Space Growth Programme that would help the UK exploit bi-lateral collaboration with other nations. More intriguingly it suggest that the programme should include a provision for repayable investments, similar in principle to the civil aviation ‘repayable launch investment’ scheme that provides support for innovative platforms, payloads, services or applications.
It also acknowledges companies’ need for greater support from the government, advising a greater role for UK export credit, export licensing or ministerial support missions.
Finally, the report states that in order for the country to achieve these ambitious growth targets, it needs to increase the number of SMEs in the sector. To do so, it suggests creating a commercially-focussed facility to aid SMEs with regulatory licensing processes, a potential business opportunities service for overseas opportunities and more help in navigating the UK government’s generic and space finance grant schemes for SMEs.
The report is now with the UK government, which will assess what it can and cannot implement. The Space Leadership Council (SLC), which had full oversight of the development of the report, will be the forum in which the UK Space Agency and other branches of government will respond to the proposals.
Responding to the report, UK Universities and Science Minister David Willetts, said: “I share the Space Leadership Council’s vision to encourage billions of pounds worth of new exports, to create up to 100,000 skilled jobs and contribute to a vibrant regional small business sector spread across the UK, ensuring we remain competitive in the global space market.”
Willets called on the UK space industry to do more to bring about a wider appreciation across both the private and public sectors of what space can do for them. He said UK businesses are currently sitting on around £800bn of cash, adding that the question is how to get them to spend some of this.
The Space Leadership Council (SLC) has had full oversight of the development of the report and will be the forum in which the UK Space Agency and other branches of government will respond to the proposals.
A UK space port by 2018?
One of the more left field recommendations from the report was the suggestion that the UK Space Agency should champion the establishment of a UK space port by 2018.
It points out that the UK Space Agency, Civil Aviation Authority, Department for Business Innovation & Skills and the Department for Transport are already researching a framework for safe commercial space plane operations in the UK. This study will report by July 2014.
Responding to a question as to where such a space port might be located, Willetts said there would be trade-offs, but added: “You could imagine a location in Scotland, where there are RAF bases that they are moving from, there you could launch space planes over the North Sea.”
However, he did not commit the government to anything.
