The future of Scotland’s space sector
Hear about the importance of future of Scotland’s space sector to the economy, society, and tackling climate change.
Scotland is a world leader in satellite production and an emerging key player in space initiatives. The sector has been identified as a key driver of economic growth, and Scotland has the potential to become a leading space nation.
From small satellite manufacturing to using data and new technologies to support biodiversity, the space industry can have a meaningful impact on protecting the planet and vulnerable communities from the effects of climate change.
Space sustainability is a key focus area of the Scottish Space Strategy, which aims to capitalise on current momentum, along with a recent report published by the Scottish Science Advisory Council highlighting future opportunities in this area.
This event will reflect on some of the core themes outlined in the report and consider opportunities to support development in the sector. Using the evidence to design forward-looking policies – from new technologies to skills development needs – will ensure Scotland is positioned for long-term success.
Chair
Speakers
Russel Griggs OBE
Suresh Kumar
Transcript
This transcript has been automatically generated so may feature errors.
Professor Julian Jones FRSE 0:00
Welcome to you all. Let me begin by introducing myself. I’m Julian Jones, chair of the Scottish Science Advisory Council and a professor at Heriot Watt University. I think we’re all looking forward to what I’m sure is going to be very enjoyable event and a stimulating discussion. Now this is the third year that Scottish Government and the Royal Society of Edinburgh have jointly organized events like this one as part of the Scottish Government evidence in policy program showcasing how their priorities are underpinned by science and evidence, and in collaboration with partners, this year, we’re focusing on the space sector. Please be aware that the views you’re going to hear today, they’re not necessarily the views of ministers. Now during the presentations, please submit your questions using the Q and A function on YouTube or anonymously through Mentimeter, the details of which will be provided in the YouTube chat. BSL interpretation will be provided throughout the event, and the event is being recorded and will be available on the RSE YouTube channel. So first, I would like to introduce my panel, so perhaps we could have the slides so Professor Craig Clark, he’s a visionary space engineer and entrepreneur. In 2005 he founded Clyde space limited, which in 2004 which launched Scotland’s first satellite recognized by the Queen’s award for enterprise. In 2017 he was awarded the MBE in 2013 He’s professor of space at the University of Strathclyde, and he has a long list of awards, fellowships and many other distinctions. Liz Connolly is principal and chief executive at West Scotland College, where she was formerly vice principal for corporate development. Liz worked for the Scottish Development Agency, and then Scottish Enterprise, where she became chief executive of three local enterprise companies and Operations Director for the West of Scotland. On leaving Scottish Enterprise, she had a diverse career in international charity projects and in project managing the creation of Glasgow Clyde College, before joining west of Scotland College. Russell Griggs chairs south of Scotland enterprise, and was previously the chair of the south of Scotland Enterprise Partnership. He also chairs the Scottish Government’s independent regulatory review. He has a portfolio of distinguished charitable and board appointments. He’s an honorary professor at the University of Glasgow, and he’s been an associate professor at Boston University. He was awarded an OBE in 2008 for services to Scottish industry. Suresh Kumar is Deputy Director of Innovation and industrial transformation for the Scottish Government. He has a PhD in biogeochemistry. He has had a distinguished career in university research and innovation, infrastructure and planning, and wide experience in policy provision to government ministries and agencies. Now each of us will offer you a short presentation. We’ll then have a general discussion in which we will endeavor to address your questions. So perhaps I could begin with a brief summary of the background to today’s event. Next slide, please. Last year, the Scottish Science Advisory Council, which I chair, published its report entitled Scotland space sector exploring potential future opportunities. I’d like to acknowledge the exceptional contribution made by my colleague and SSAC member, Graham Kerr who led the report team. And you can download the report from the SSAC website. Next slide please. The Scottish Government was stimulated to commission the SSAC report by the publication of the Scottish space leadership Council’s strategy in 2021 the strategy is complementary to other policy documents, including Scotland’s national innovation strategy, the inward investment plan, and The National Strategy for economic transformation. Also in 2021 the UK space strategy was published involving the UK Space Agency, the Department of science innovation and technology, and the Ministry of Defense. Next slide, please, an important element of the SS AC report was its SWOT analysis. Now an undisputed Scottish strength is in the manufacture of small satellites, where Clyde space is an exceptional example. Another strength is more generally in the support of the sector by academic research and enabling technologies. Scotland is well placed in developing launch facilities. For small payloads, and there are also strengths in exploiting information gathered by satellites by using data analytics, particularly in geoscience and Earth observation. However, the Scottish space sector is still relatively new compared with the sector globally, and relatively limited in traditional space applications, for example, in defense and large scale science. And there’s no obvious prime contractor in the sector in Scotland. So the Scottish sector is dominated by small and medium sized companies with scale up challenges. There’s a lack of relevant specialist venture capitalist resources in Scotland, notably in comparison with the Golden Triangle of the south east of the UK, leading to some SMEs relocating and leaving Scotland. So the opportunities for Scotland are clearly in smaller scale space technology and in making use of the data which satellite technology can provide. And so quite different from the traditional space sector. So the opportunities are in what’s rather often described as new space, a term which, ironically, has been in use for a good few years now. However, as new space is a growing commercial opportunity, there are consequent risks of competition from other parts of the world where greater resources are available. Next slide, please. Nevertheless, the Scottish space ecosystem has considerable scale, and in 2021 it represented 880 million pounds of gross value added with 254 million of income in 133 organizations providing 8000 jobs, which constitute 20% of the relevant UK total. The slide shows the distribution of relevant companies and organizations in small satellite space, and it shows broad geographical presence the target of the space Scotland strategy is growth to 4 billion of gross value added by 2030, next slide please. So perhaps I could conclude by summarizing the recommendations of the SS AC report, national contracts, public grant funding has certainly helped the creation of SMEs, but for scale up, a shift to government contracts would be appropriate and clearly relevant areas exist, for example, in satellite Earth observation and communications for delivery of services to support growth. Future research programs should be co created between academia, industry and relevant public and policy bodies. The enabling technologies include photonics, quantum robotics, communications, sensing and imaging. Interestingly, these overlap with the critical technologies cited in the DC framework document, and perhaps more importantly, with those in the technology Scotland’s recently launched critical technologies Supercluster. Inevitably, the most important collaborations are likely to be with UK partners. However, countries with a comparable scale of space sector and with similar interests in small satellites, mostly in Scandinavia and especially in Sweden, and therefore, the development of synergies would be positive. Interestingly, Luxembourg has pioneered the development of a legal and regulatory framework for the space sector, which will potentially attract international investment. Now a challenge for small companies is access to basic infrastructure and facilities, and therefore mapping to enable shared access is important. There are examples to consider, such as the National Manufacturing Institute, and it’s the related challenge of supporting infrastructure for the launch sector. But perhaps the clearest need is in the development of appropriate skills, a subject which my colleague Liz Connolly will address shortly. So strong opportunities for commercial developments based on the use of space data. Now they include agriculture, aquaculture, maritime urban planning and others, complementing examples in the Scottish Government national innovation strategy, and there are also opportunities in using satellite communications to deliver services. Achieving those opportunities could be supported by a Scottish Government program for space data startups, perhaps complementing existing initiatives such as entrepreneurial campuses.
Professor Julian Jones FRSE 9:49
As the sector grows, international agreements and legislation will develop now, there are already issues in sustainability and risks from space debris addressed by the Artemis. Boards which are non binding agreements involving the United States and others. So it’s therefore time for the Scottish Government to examine potential legislative developments and engage with relevant UK authorities, perhaps including the National Physical Laboratory and the British Standards Institute. I hope that what I’ve said is sufficient as a foundation to my colleagues presentations and to begin to stimulate our discussion, so perhaps I could now turn to my colleague, Professor Craig Clark. Thank you. Applause.
Professor Craig Clark FRSE 10:59
Sorry, I’ve muted myself there. Sorry. Great, start first, right? And so what I thought I’d start off with is just by highlighting the the engineering heritage that we have in Scotland and in Glasgow. We have the heritage of ship building, where they were building over 20% of those rural ships here in Glasgow, which shows this very, extremely strong engineering heritage and entrepreneurship and also innovation that we have in Scotland. And it still exists. And we have some of the most, the highest number of papers, academic papers coming from universities, lots of innovative projects, but we do struggle to transform them into industry and larger businesses. It’s just the nature of of where we are at the moment, but that’s something we’re trying to change. And next slide, please. So when it comes to space, um, historically, space is quite an interesting subject, because from an industry point of view, satellites tended to be very big, very expensive. So this is envisaged, I can see how big that is. It’s huge, costing, like hundreds of millions of pounds, taking decade plus to design and build and launch. But in today’s world, you know, we don’t technology moves so fast that by the time you’ve designed and built your satellite, the technology has moved on. Next slide, please. So this next graphic shows the dimensions of the various satellites, for example, that do ocean color. So on the right hand side is the satellite you just saw. On the far left is a satellite that clay space built called Seahawk, which was a collaboration with NASA and the University of North Carolina Wellington. So you can see the massive change and the size of these spacecraft. So what I’m going to do is show you a comparison between the data between the last two satellites. So sea West Sea Star with the name of the satellite is over 300 kilos, comparing the data to sea Hawk so the next slide, this is data taken on exactly the same day as the next slide I’ll show you from MODIS, and this is from Hawkeye. The resolution and the amount of data we can get from the exact same day or the exact same location is far greater. And this is from a satellite that’s about a 10th of or 100 times smaller, you know, it’s tiny, and it shows the the the transition of of technology and what we’re able to do these days. And this satellite was launched about five years ago, so it shows really how much more we can do with a much smaller satellite. And this is one of the reasons that the sector is changing so rapidly. Next slide, so this is Scotland’s first satellite. That’s me looking slightly younger and the team at Clyde space at the time, and that was a collaboration with University of Strathclyde, and we had also some support from the space agency and various other agencies like Scottish Enterprise. It was extremely challenging to build our first athlete. We were building lots of subsystems at the time, but we decided, let’s go and try to build our first satellite. It was quite an undertaking, but we managed to do it, and it worked, so which was really good, with lots of challenges along the way, but we got there, had lots of different payloads on board very interesting spacecraft, and that led, interestingly, that was that was launched in 2014 interestingly, led to a massive growth in The space sector. Hearing in Scotland, we started building lots of satellites after that. So the next slide shows some satellites we were building for Spire, and so we started building them in our new clean room. So we moved location at that point to where clay space is today. So spire, The next slide shows Spire, spire after a couple of years or. Of us building their satellites, decided to expand their business and build their own so they now have about 200 people working in Glasgow, and they build, don’t know the exact number, maybe about 70 satellites a year. And they’ve got their own data business. And alongside clay space and the next company in the next slide, which is a startup in Glasgow, to building even smaller satellites. Glasgow is now basically the home of small satellites in Europe. We build more satellites in Glasgow than anywhere else in Europe, and I think that shows a phenomenal example of how technology and innovation can basically create a sector that didn’t exist in Scotland before, and now we are one of the leaders in this area and the world. And the fact, the fact that spire came to Scotland to build their satellites, they were based in California originally. So they came to Scotland because of the innovation that was that was happening in Scotland, and that’s we’re now attracting even more companies to come to Scotland, and there’s even more startups coming from the companies that we do have. So I think that’s a great news story. But as Julian said, we need to take it further. There are lots of great things happening, like the next slide. So Julian mentioned that we are doing launch. So I’ve got some examples here of some of the launch companies. They make launch vehicles here in Scotland, a little dispute with one of Julian’s side. I come from Cumber old which has a Glasgow postcode, so I would call them west of Scotland, but I’ll let you off. So we’re building these launch vehicles here in Scotland, which is incredible. So we’re building satellites. We’re building launch vehicles. Go to the next slide. So we’re not only building the launch vehicles, we’re actually going to be launching them from Scotland. So that’s the entire, what we call the upstream part. So if you go to the next slide, sorry, please, the kind of upstream part of space is all happening here in Scotland. So this is an example saxophone. We’ve got other launch sites, but saxophone is most likely to be the first place we launch from in Scotland. And if you go to the next slide, we this is an example of companies. We now have the process data. We have quite a lot of companies that process data. Sorry, can you Next slide? So this company is called trading space, and basically what they do is they use satellite data to rubber stamp imports, like, for example, coffee beans or cocoa beans or rubber things like that, to ensure they come from sustainable sources. Because there’s new regulations that means that imports need to have, like this rubber stamp on them that says it needs to have, needs to come from a sustainable source. So there’s no deforestation things like that. So we have companies sprouting up that do that type of thing. Next slide please. When we talk Julian talked about the need for growth and scale up. I can see my slide, but I’ll talk about it anyway. We have what’s called the West of Scotland space city, and that’s encompassing amends, which is an advanced manufacturing and innovation district, which is next to Glasgow airport. They already have the National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland there. And this what we’ve just been this is selected. And I’ve got to say, at this moment, we’ve been selected at this moment, subject to confirmation, for a project called PRISM. And prism has three phases. So there’s the first phase is a lab which will be based at the University of Strathclyde, which will have secure facilities, which will allow small, small SAP developers, sub data providers, and also launch vehicle providers and the space ports to have conversations with defense agencies, which is something that wasn’t possible before. The next phase will be an advanced manufacturing facility which will have scale up opportunities for our current companies, but also places for inward investment companies to land in Scotland and to build payloads and satellites at a much greater scale and volume, and maybe even build larger small satellites. And what we’re building just now and then, this will have a secure connection to the launch site at saxavord as well. So we have the entire value chain there sitting ready for use, for commercial, civil and defense applications, which, as you know, you know, these are the main opportunities for our space sector to grow. So hopefully, this will allow our companies to. Grow, and hopefully ticks the box initially, and for these for the scale up opportunities for our companies. And so it’s great news for Glasgow. It’s great news for Scotland, and hopefully first of a major step of in the growth of the space sector here. And that’s me complete.
Professor Julian Jones FRSE 20:20
Very good. And thank you very much, Craig. And that is a remarkable set of slides that you showed us. And it’s very good to hear about Project prism, however, going to need a lot of skilled people to deliver that next stage of development. And I think that’s what Liz is going to tell us something about let me introduce Liz Connolly over to you. Liz
Liz Connolly FRSE 20:44
Julian, thank you very much. Good afternoon, everyone. As we’ve heard from both Craig and Julian, this is a sector that has immense opportunities for Scotland and immense opportunities for growth, but like so many other sectors, the real challenge we’re going to have in the future is ensuring that we have the right workforce with the right skills, as Julian rightly identified. What I want to try and do initially is just tease out what some of the particular challenges in this sector might be. And alongside many other sectors, there are workforce shortages and there are skills gaps. And within the space sector, there’s absolutely the need for skilled professionals across multiple disciplines, including engineering, software development, data analysis and manufacturing. One of the the challenges, I think, here though, is that we have a we have a mismatch, and the qualifications that are available. So many roles actually require practical industry relevant training, and that’s not always available in the current academic pathways. Another issue that’s facing the sector, I think, is limited awareness of the opportunities when you talk about space. Often the image that people have is what we all saw in the television last weekend when we saw astronauts coming back to Earth. And I guess a lot the opportunities are a perhaps identified, it would appear that they need advanced degrees and advanced qualifications. Yet, a lot of the activities that are going on in Scotland, such as building satellites and the use of space data, which are a huge part of the industry, offer a wide range of accessible careers with different levels of entry point. It’s also, as we saw from Craig’s presentation, an industry where there’s rapid technological evolution, and that demands continuous learning opportunities being available. It’s also an industry with many SMEs, many of whom report a need for skills, for training and skills, but they are unable to sustain particular courses because of individual levels of demand, so we need to find a way to aggregate that demand to make it cost effective and efficient to deliver the skills that are needed. And there’s also, again, as we were seeing, the sector that’s going across Scotland, but there’s a potential challenge around these emerging space hubs are outside the central belt and ensuring that they’re able to attract and retain the talent that they’re needed. And again, one of the things that things particularly, it’s not a particularly pertinent to this sector, but it impacts this sector, is that a lot of the practical vocational skills that are needed, I also needed another growth sectors in Scotland, such as marine and decarbonisation engineering and general. So there’s definitely something there about promoting the attractiveness and interest in this sector when the sector is competing for talent with others round about it. So if that’s some of the challenges, next slide please. What might some of the solutions be? There’s some work done in 2023 at a UK level, looking at the space sector skills strategy. And that also highlighted that while the sector is rapidly growing, the supply of skilled workers, particularly at technician and vocational level is not keeping up, is not keeping pace with the growth of the sector, and that these skills are indeed critical to that growth. And the report suggested that a solution could be the establishment of a centralized vocational training body for the sector, so something similar to the Construction Industry Training Board and such a body could be responsible for the things that are highlighted here, so developing standardized technician level training and certification that matches the needs of the industry, coordinating those industry academic partnerships to ensure that the training does actually and. Industry needs and supporting SMEs in accessing apprenticeships and funding for apprenticeships, which can be a challenge for small businesses, and then importantly, providing upskilling and reskilling courses for those mid career professionals who may be looking at changing industry or just needing to to refresh their skills. Now, the system in Scotland is different from the system in other parts of the UK and but I think these are, this is an interesting concept that could, and perhaps should be explored more in Scotland, and that could definitely be supported through the college sector, who have lots of experience in dealing with bodies such as being proposed and Next slide please. So I think some other potential solutions for us to consider could include offering short courses and micro credentials that align with evolving industry demand, such as coding for space applications, and these could be offered in different modes, so potentially online, and that would mitigate the risks of lower numbers attending courses, and hopefully make it something that was more accessible across the sector, across the country. And short courses, of course will be particularly relevant to people who are looking to transition from one industry to another. So they may have the base engineering skills, for example, but they would just need to to add on some models and some credentials that particularly relevant to the space sector. And that’s something, you know, I think could, could definitely move us forward. The other thing that is going to be really important is establishing an apprenticeship pathway that creates direct employment routes into the sector. There’s actually an existing space apprenticeship available that could potentially be adapted to sit with the new engineering frameworks that are being developed in Scotland and which provide much more flexibility in the context in which these apprenticeships are completed. One of the big issues, as I mentioned already, I think, is the the fact that we have a lot of SMEs, and not all SMEs, but a lot of SMEs in the country. So it’s thinking about innovative ways to aggregate that demand and support apprenticeships across the sector. There’s also, think an important role to be played in helping to embed space topics within STEM education at school level, so that we’re actually actually inspiring the next generation to think about space as a career and helping to highlight the range of space careers in Scotland to both young people and importantly, to the key influencers around them, their parents, their carers, their friends, their partners, whoever’s going to be helping them to think about their career choices. There’s also a real opportunity for us, I think, to work alongside the developing the young workforce partnerships and the dyW have coordinators in every school in Scotland. Their job is to help highlight and career opportunities that are exist now and into the future. So I think more work could be done there in helping to promote space as a very real and practical career for any young person, and then also as the main providers of practical vocational and technical skills. In Scotland, our college base has a very significant role to play here. So I think strengthening the partnership between colleges and industry and government is going to be important and how we move this forward and ensure critically, that the sector isn’t constrained by not being able to access the correct skills with the sorry, the correct workforce with the correct skills. Thanks very much. Thanks, Julie,
Professor Julian Jones FRSE 29:05
thank you very much. Liz and my word, what a broad and interesting range of issues that that you raised. Firstly, I guess in recognizing that technology skills are going to be particularly important in the development of Scotland’s economy generally, not just in the space sector, that training is important at every level, starting from inspiring interest in the subject at The school level, but with a considerable emphasis on apprenticeships and the contribution of colleges. You mentioned too that this wasn’t just an issue for the central belt, and perhaps that provides a little bit of introduction to one or two points, which I suspect Professor Russell Griggs will be raising in a moment. Russell over to you. You.
Russel Griggs OBE 30:00
Thank you. Julian. Um, as I was reflecting on putting this together today, I remembered my first, I suppose, introduction to the space sector, sector was back in the 1980s so yes, I am that old. And a company that I was chief executive at the time, we supplied Advanced Materials wiring to NASA and others. So I have satellites out there now, one of which is way, way out there, heading for who knows where. So in doing this, it was, it was interesting to reflect on how long space has been in our minds and in our industry. So this about the south of Scotland, and it’s an amazing region driven by a passion and as a mission. And as we south of Scotland, enterprise come up for our fifth anniversary, we are reaffirming our position as an intelligence led enterprise agency driven by innovation and entrepreneurial activity, as we work with our businesses and communities to deliver a green, fair and flourishing region. Next slide please. With that in mind, in building on our immense wealth of natural capital, we were officially designated as the national capital Innovation Zone by the Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes in 2024 the national capital Innovation Zone, positions our region as a living lab and a Learning Hub, a resource for the whole of Scotland and beyond. Through collaboration and co ordination, we are perfectly positioned to drive the well being economy for Scotland, deliver a climate and nature positive future and provide opportunities for our businesses and communities and also attract inward investment. And it’s interesting, since we became the national capital Innovation Zone, that we have over 50 inward investment and tree eyes inquiries. So real ones now are looking to come into the south of Scotland. Next slide please. So space is a key component of our ambitions, and we are building on the solid foundations of gold tier gallery, International Dark Sky Park, Scottish dark sky Observatory and the European lunar symposium held in Dumfries in 2024 which I’ll come back to in a minute, the increasing importance of space data and technology led us to produce a strategic space sector growth plan through the use of Earth observation data. We will focus on the assessment and management of our critical natural capital assets, ensuring policy decisions, excuse me, align with practical activity on the ground. And by growing our space activity, we will awaken entrepreneurial potential, inspire innovation and create jobs. The Space cluster program is our collaboration with space sector colleagues grew and we took up the challenge to join the space cluster program funded by the UK space agency. Joined the project exploring unlocking space driven data for agricultural opportunities across Scotland and East Anglia, in collaboration with space Scotland and with Scottish Enterprise, we brought a cohort of farming and space businesses, together with colleagues in the East Anglia to forge robust connections between regional space clusters. The program has led to a number of R and D partnership and has allowed so say, to establish a space advisory panel to showcase further opportunities. Next slide, please. This is a picture of all the people that were at the lunar symposium, and it was fascinating sitting listening to what they were talking about. And one of the big things they were talking about, which they genuinely fear what happened within the next 20 years is the industrialization of the moon and all the different types of buildings and machinery that you’re going to have to build to do mining and all sorts of other thing on the moon. And it’s not any more an idle thought. If you listen to some of the presentations and what industry is doing out there, it really is becoming a reality. Next slide please. The Galloway International Dark Sky Park is truly one of the jewels in the crown of natural capital assets located within the Galloway and southern Ayrshire UNESCO biosphere and Galloway Forest Park and supported by two dark sky Rangers, it provides opportunities for education, Astro tourism and scientific explanation, allowing people to experience darkness. And if you’ve never done it before, it really is worth immersing yourself in darkness and seeing what you can see when you don’t have other ambient light about and you get there, your sense of place in the. Of us. So the Scottish dark sky observatory, next slide, please. Sorry. This amazing facility was located near lockdown in East Ayrshire, but sadly, burned down in 2021 since then, the Scottish dark sky Observatory has been seeking an alternative site to the Cape to and this is them as it’s an important education and visitor attraction. Next slide, please, happily, we’ve now found a new site for it at clatter clattering Shaws, and we have supported the Scottish dark sky observatory with a with some money to fund towards the purchase of the visitor center there, and to relocate the observatory in the south of Scotland and then the natural capital Innovation Zone. It will also build a direct connection with the cocoobury dark sky planetarium, designed and developed to be a fun, educational and encouraging experience for the whole family, and that’s what we try to do, is get young people to define space and what it brings to them in so many ways beneficial. So we’ve got a lot of Next slide please. So we’ve got a lot of stuff still going on. There are a number of activities in development. From the first of April, we’ll have a dedicated space lead formalizing the work so she has been driving for the past 15 months and allowing us to develop the delivery program for our space cross plan. In collaboration with space space Scotland, we are currently developing a 12 month project to explore one of the outputs of the space cluster program. The project will focus on peatland management and restoration of farmland, using Earth observation data to understand the challenges and other technology tools to manage the applied solutions. But our approach at soci is to see space as not just an industry for development, but also for facilitating our wider understanding of the modern world and for problem solving as we work towards our vision of a green, fair and flourishing region, one of the under principle, underlying principles of the National Capital Innovation Zone, is culture and creativity and space is a perfect conduit to explore that intersection between art and science. Next slide, please. We are currently exploring a truly inspiring project called cotton us, which means how far proposed by Max Alexander, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, it’s an interstellar installation that would be strategically located at clattering shores that helps us understand the vastness of space. If we imagine the Sun as the size of a grain of sand at this scale, the nearest star system, ALPA Alpha Centauri would be four miles away. Quantinus consists of two monoliths, each about the size of a large door. The Embedded telescopes in the primary monolith allow the viewer to see across four miles to the matching monolith across the loch, the overall structure and optics act as a metaphorical portal to a more visceral understanding of the immensity of space, and critically, it puts gallery at the center of the universe with wider ambitions to connect at scale with other sites across the UK and beyond. Next slide please, and that shows you the connectivity that we’re looking for and have in place already. Thank you.
Professor Julian Jones FRSE 38:54
Thank you very much. Russell, that was a that was inspiring on so many levels. Thank you. We should quickly turn now to Suresh Kumar, Suresh over to you,
Suresh Kumar 39:09
and can you all hear me?
Suresh Kumar 39:16
We can hear you. Fine. Okay, good.
Suresh Kumar 39:20
Thank you, everyone. Thanks, Julian, to giving me this chance to be part of of this panel, perhaps the most illustrious speaker have all speakers have said quite a lot about space, so perhaps in front, compared to them, I pale in comparison. And I’m sure mine will be rather dry. Just to reiterate what we as a government try to try to do, do for the space, space sector. So I’ll just try to what you call, bring in few elements that are currently happening in the space sector, so it is a key driver for economic growth. And technology, technological advancement, and I also see it is embracing sustainability. That’s something which we should be very proud about. The space sector in Scotland, and of course, I don’t have to reiterate and repeat at the same time that we are becoming a leading hub for small satellite manufacturing, we are second to California. It was also reflected by some of the speakers there. And this sector, in a way, quite very much aligns with the government’s economic and innovation strategies, offering significant opportunities for research, development and commercialization. You know, the triple helix, working with companies and public bodies and businesses to make sure that technology can be transferred and can be put to better use for a variety, wide variety of reasons. The the latest size and health report of the UK space agency, particularly focusing on the space Scottish space sector, has has kind of identified in a rightful manner, is that it has increased by 25% in the number of space companies compared to the past year, and the revenue has grown around 65% over the same period just for over a year. And we currently employ around 6000 people across 220 companies. So this sort of an endeavor on the journey of this is a joint partnership with industry partners. And we published the first, what you call the Scottish based strategy in 2021 and we got the ambition for the sector to reach 4 billion pounds share of the global space market and have around up to 20,000 jobs over the next decade. I think that’s an ambition in the right way and in the right place. And I think that’s, that’s the what you call the government is very committed to this sort of growth. The second thing is also, Scotland has space, sports and development, and government will be working towards supporting the goal of establishing a complete end to end supply chain in this one. So this is work in progress without going further details into it. Now, how are innovation and strategic priorities played within the space sector? Is that space plays a very critical role at the moment in data and digital technologies need I say how important it is. But it’s also about, how do we leverage strengths of AI and informatics that we can make sure that Scotland becomes a unique place where they not only we have space, we have data, we have AI, and that integration is happening here, and we have the opportunity to do it. So again, there’s another one called energy transition supporting Net Zero targets through climate monitoring and sustainable practices. That’s something which is constantly in every policy makers and the back of their mind, how do we have that net zero targets being met in one of the way? And secondly, how do we become an advanced manage manufacturing hub, developing cutting edge materials and technology for space applications? As we speak, the UK government is in the process of publishing an industrial strategy and Scotland with its with the suite of companies we are, we might what you call we have essentially a greater role to contribute to that permanent space has been identified as one of the priority sectors. And rather than calling it a sector, I would say, I want to advance it by saying that as a space cluster as well the that that’s the focus. So we are prime in what you call in the in the poll position to take advantage of the upcoming industrial strategy and see further advances of economic growth technology and applicability and adaptability of of what space can do for Scottish economy and Scottish populations. And in addition to that, the swatch government also has this the tech scale program, with 42 million funding annually, and it’s fostering growth in space related software and digital innovation. So that’s one of the things, which is on an ongoing thing, as I just want to reiterate, why sustainability is very, very important. The government is committed to making space a sustainable industry, ensuring environmental responsibility in satellite production, launches and data applications, and that’s very, very important.
Suresh Kumar 44:31
Of course, need I say that space technology is already playing a critical role in climate monitoring, tracking, environmental changes with observation satellites, forestry and biodiversity, which is quite a Scotland has this wider landscape, and we are supporting conservation efforts through space data space based data analytics. Just to reiterate the importance of space in in our daily planning. Is that very recent? If you almost few months ago when we had this cyclone, that ability to track the advance of where the front, particularly the psych, what you call the storm, it is thanks to how advanced the space sector is in Scotland, contributing to that thing. So that’s something we really, really have to see that the government sees as it is a very critical sector, and it has the government also has programs like civtech that encourage innovation by leveraging space data to solve sector challenges, including environmental protection and all that sort of stuff. So now one thing is using space, but we also want to have a trade and investment element to government’s approach towards space. So the UK and swatch government are committed to international collaboration. They will be we work with the European Space Agency, the UK space agency, and global partners to enhance trade and investment. So the recent space trade and void. Daniel Smith of Astro agency, and he was still a board member of the space Scotland has been appointed to strengthen international market opportunities. We are not the only country in space. I mean, you have India and other other emerging countries, but nonetheless, we have a critical role to play and and offer opportunities is this connected ecosystem I call a distributed cluster, or a diffused cluster. So the Scottish Development International also continues to identify investment opportunities, attracting inward investment, and positioning UK as a competitive space economy. And some of you, or most of you might have come across the space expose, which we held in Glasgow last year. And so there’s quite a lot of happening along those lines. So the Scottish Development International and Scottish government work with Department of Business and trade on positioning Scottish industry via wider UK Trade initiatives. And we have established a partnership with UK space agency, and they try to help what you call they play an active role in making sure that the Scottish space sector is thriving and needs the necessary levers and instruments that need, what you call for economic growth and technology adoption. So coming back to the last two points is that the the future of space in Scotland. You know, the first orbital launch for Scotland is scheduled to take place later this year. This will be a marking of a key milestone in the space ambitions. So space technologies will continue to play a vital role in sectors such as finance, using satellite data for research risk assessments and investment decisions, particularly logistics. If you if you better look at into that and agriculture and forestry, it’s about optimizing land use and monitoring crop health, which is very, very important, and the security and defense enhancing surveillance and communication. So this is, this is also one of those areas that we see growth opportunities. So the government’s long term vision is to position Scotland as a European leader in space innovation, sustainability and commercialization. So to sum it up, in a way, the space sector represents a unique opportunity for economic growth, global collaboration, technology leadership and Scotland is very well connected from from a triple triple helix perspective, you have the academics who gave a talk and who have reflected that, and we are closer to businesses, and we are also closer to public organizations and and private organizations that effectively use space data in one another way, so that we, the Scottish Government, also remains committed to supporting industry growth, fostering innovation. And as I said, the upcoming industrial strategy and within is going to be a prime focus for us as to how the space sector in Scotland can be in a pole position to take advantage of the initiatives the UK government is going to launch. So as the sector continues to expand, I think one of the focus will be on also investment and also about responsible development of the sector and international cooperation so that we maximize not only the economic but the societal benefits that benefit across you know, What? What? What an average Scottish citizen would benefit from should be the same person living in Africa or Europe or Asia, wherever we are, those benefits have to reach everyone, and in that endeavor, I think Scotland is better positioned, and the government is fully committed to this, what you call all inclusive, comprehensible strategy and economic opportunities. Thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to talk. Julia, thank you
Professor Julian Jones FRSE 49:45
Suresh, thank you very much. My words. You covered such a range of important topics now we’ve had a long list of questions from our audience out there. We don’t have very much time, so. Please, if I could encourage you to be very quick in your answers. So first question that popped up, Liz, I think, is one for you, which is, what can we do in order to inspire young people, to motivate them to take an interest in space and space skills.
Liz Connolly FRSE 50:23
Yeah, thanks, Julian. And I could flippantly say, let them see some of the presentations I’ve listened to this afternoon, because it it certainly inspired me. But I think importantly, it is about helping young people to understand what the opportunities are in the industry, and doing that as early as possible. There’s lots of really good work goes on in our schools already, and helping to introduce school pupils at all ages to the possibilities out there. And I think the more that we can do that and using role models, whether that be companies or be individuals, and ensuring that we get across the message that space is an industry that’s accessible to many people, regardless of their academic progress, regardless of the background, you know, kind of there are opportunities for all In this industry. So let’s try and excite young people, because that’s what’s likely to motivate them. Thanks. Julian,
Professor Julian Jones FRSE 51:26
that sounds that sounds great. Another question was, when we are thinking about launch sites and the infrastructure that they will need, what do we need to do in terms of environmental assessment? How do we get the balance right there? How do we stop this just being dominated by opportunities for economic growth? Oh, Craig has his hand up. Go ahead, Craig. It’s
Professor Craig Clark FRSE 51:50
I think the environmental questions are interesting when, inherently, our space sector is actually very environmentally friendly, from the point of view that we launch very small satellites the rest of the world use an example. Look at Starlink. They’ve got about 7000 satellites. Some of their satellites are extremely large. When they re enter, they believe quite a lot of debris in that atmosphere, whereas the Scottish satellites, when they re enter, believe practically nothing. And it’s good that we’re thinking about it, but at the moment, I do think that it’s the applications of space that will help our environment as a better understanding of of Earth and what’s happening. So we can use that with instrumentation and various ways of monitoring how things change. For example, Strathclyde have just recently proven that we can monitor the number of krill and the ocean from space, which is a great step forward, shows it from over fishing and things like that. So there’s so many things we can use space for. I controversially, don’t think it should be something that the Scottish space sector should focus on, in terms of making our maybe slightly hamstringing our companies to make them more environmentally friendly, when the rest of the world is not doing that, and we’re we’re just starting out with our space sector. So I would say, let’s focus on growing our space sector without putting too many restrictions on
Professor Julian Jones FRSE 53:21
very good. But I wonder, Russell, you had some beautiful pictures of the Galloway countryside in your presentation. And I know you were talking there about developing the new Dark Sky observatory, but thinking in the context of launch sites, How then would one deal with the environmental assessments and challenges.
Russel Griggs OBE 53:46
Let me answer by saying it’s not something we’ve had to tackle, so we’d have to indeed, and I guess I would go back to the point that Craig made, our focus has been more on how do we use the technology around space and space itself to help develop our natural capital. So I mean farmers, and we work with a lot of farmers now are using data that they get from satellites to look at what they want to build. So I think I would turn on its head, if I may, Julian and say, I think space can help us manage our own Earth much better than perhaps we do by using the data that we get from that to make what we do much more understandable. Thank
Professor Julian Jones FRSE 54:29
you. That’s very helpful, sureish question, I think, for you, because something you mentioned was the relevance of the space sector for defense and security. And the question really is, could you be a little bit more specific, given that defense is not, not a devolved matter? Thank
Suresh Kumar 54:55
you. Julian, defense is, as a matter of fact, to an extent, space is also. Also a reserved matter when it comes to Defense and Space combined in so this is where so we, particularly in Scotland, focus on the advanced technologies developed irrespective wherever it is applicable. And how do you bring those into the civilian use of using, for example, environmental monitoring, logistics of roads and maintenance of them, transmission of electricity across. So it is that is where we want to use. The Scottish Government is primarily making sure that we strike a balance, that while the reserved part of the defense thing is done by the UK Government, but we harvest the elements that are rather what you call cross sectoral opportunities of that innovation, and we can use it. One classic example is the dynamic weather data, how you could use either for regional local planning or flood prone, you know, that sort of a thing. So this is where you know advanced computing AI technologies can be brought in together with the space data available, and then that could be used for what you call a well deserved public utility of space technology and innovation. So that’s where we are. Again, I’m conscious of the fact that reserved matters are reserved matters. And the Scottish Government is really committed to where it stands on this in this matter. So we always tend to use the best of the possible technologies and bring it into the into the civilian domain, as to how they can better suit for our what you call a sustainable and, you know, dynamic living, if that’s where to really put it in in a context. Thank
Professor Julian Jones FRSE 56:41
you. That’s very, very helpful. Liz, may I come back to you just, just, just for a moment, and I’m oversimplifying the question, but it’s something like, Hmm, well, we’ve heard that there’s going to be a need for skills by people who’ve got a background in technology or engineering. But are there any other disciplines that might be relevant, for example, policy or law? And what should we do about that?
Liz Connolly FRSE 57:10
Yeah, I guess in some ways, Julian, you know, the space sector and the company base within it are no different from any other sector. And of course, there are going to be rules that range from business development through marketing, through policy development, innovation, design, and that is likely to be the case. It’ll be two different scales. But you know, any developed industry or sector always has a requirement for that breadth of of talent. And again, I think it’s about how the sector actually promotes the opportunities that it has. Mean I earlier today saw a range of posts that were being advertised at the National Manufacturing Innovation Center that Craig made reference to earlier, and it ranged from, you know, a head of engineering skills, through business development, you know, to, cannot remember what the final one was, but I suppose the point is, all industries have a need for a whole breadth of skills. And you know, people who have those talents should be starting to think about, well, how do I engage with the sector? Um, as much as, how does the sector engage with me, as we would do looking for any, any kind of opportunities.
Professor Julian Jones FRSE 58:29
Thank you very much. Liz, gosh, we’re nearly out of time, so let me bring matters to a close. Firstly, thank you very much to the panel. Thank you very much to our audience for some really stimulating questions. And finally, let me say that quite often, sometimes there’s a tendency to think that space science is just terribly exotic, isn’t it? And you know, we dismiss it as rocket science, but actually, even think of something as important to Scotland’s program for government, think about three out of four of the key issues there, growing the economy, looking after the environment, improving public services. You’ve heard today that Space Science, Space Technologies, fundamental to all of those and also what inspiring opportunities it will bring to our young people as they work their way through education and training. So at that point, thank you everybody, and it’s time for me to say goodbye.
