The South Coast Centre of Excellence in Satellite Application, in the UK, has announced that it has been successful in its application to the Satellite Applications Catapult,  for ‘transition funding’. The funding will cover another year of the centre’s activities, enabling regional business investment and sector growth aligned with the UK’s national space strategy. 

The southeast region is packed to the brim with innovative companies and at the South Coast Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications they have spent the year mapping, promoting, and assisting them to exploit space technologies. You can learn more about the work of the centre in 2021 in their annual report, which can be found here. 

Over the last three years, the SCCoE has successfully met its objective of strengthening accelerators of innovation with a focus on developing collaborative research and development projects utilising satellite applications that have ultimately led to new products and services. The SCCoE has supported targeted projects that exploit satellite technology, based on three core topics (Transport & Logistics, Autonomous Systems, and Offshore Assets) and three cross-cutting enablers (Communications, Earth Observation & Navigation, and Data Analytics & AI). The SCCoE has established a productive business engagement with the regional companies and their supply chain, to promote the opportunities available through satellite applications, demonstrating the capabilities & commercial benefits.

Throughout the last few years, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has been keenly felt across the globe. Despite this, the UK space sector is booming, having trebled in size since 2000. Furthermore, in the next 12 months, Britain is expected to make another huge aerospace breakthrough – firing a satellite into orbit from a launchpad in the South West. 

On the south coast, the centre are ensuring that their businesses and regional stakeholders are not left behind. They are continuing to position themselves as a gateway to the local space sector, aiming to grow their expertise to provide the best support to government, industry and academia. They have big plans. From academic liaison, strategic government engagement, large-scale capital investment project support and developing export opportunities, through to bespoke 1-2-1 business support for startups and SMEs, access to technical expertise, education and outreach, training and skills development, and more.

Find out more about the South Coast Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications here.