Space Innovation and Growth Team report launch

Good morning.

Throughout the downturn, space has been an ongoing source of good news.

We secured a first European Space Agency facility that’s already up and running at Harwell.

We saw Tim Peake selected for ESA’s Astronaut Corps – a home-grown role model for the most rarefied of careers and the best advertisement, bar none, for doing your physics homework.

And a couple of months ago, I was delighted to announce the creation of an executive space agency to support a sector that’s one of the UK’s hidden gems.

For some time, I’ve been making the case for space as follows.

We are world leaders on the science side – judged by both research output and our participation in international missions.

We are world leaders on satellites – satellites designed and manufactured here – like Hylas, which will deliver broadband across Europe to people unable to use surface links.

We are world leaders on software design and systems integration – expertise now being put to further use at the ESA centre in Harwell.

All told, space is worth £5.6 billion a year to the UK economy and supports 68,000 highly-skilled jobs.

The industry has enjoyed real-terms annual growth of nine per cent since the turn of the century.

And the killer fact: space has bucked the recession. Demand for the technologies and services that we produce and provide remains undiminished. The Government’s commitments to ESA have guaranteed work for UK companies for at least five years. One forecast is for the global sector to grow by an average of five per cent annually until 2030.

So, as we build on the early signs of recovery – as we concentrate on the industries which can drive economic growth and create jobs – space is a strong candidate.

It can boast the track record I’ve just outlined. It has solid links already in place between industry and the research base. It’s backed by a robust supply chain.

And the jobs and the contracts are coming to the UK.

Surrey Satellites is part of the international consortium that – last December – won the first production phase for 14 Galileo satellites, worth £500 million in total. About half of that comes to the UK.

A month earlier, SES in France ordered four new satellites – also worth £500 million – from Astrium. The UK will build half of these by value.

And it’s worth noting that Astrium – which assembles half of its telecoms satellites in Stevenage and Portsmouth – increased its UK workforce by around 10 per cent in both 2008 and 2009.

Which brings me to the opportunities that Andy Green has just presented, and the challenge of scaling up this industry.

First, a word of thanks. This is an excellent report that Andy and the team have drafted. I also want to thank my ministerial colleague Ian Pearson for kick-starting the whole IGT process.

But what matters is that the report outlines a really promising future for UK space.

A sector that creates 100,000 well-paid jobs over the 20 years.

A sector that could be worth £40 billion by 2030.

A sector that takes a 10-per-cent share of the global market.

Now, I’m not going to respond to the IGT’s recommendations today. That’s something that Government has committed to do later this month.

Yet, I will give serious consideration to every one of the recommendations – to talk them through with industry leaders and ministerial colleagues, and explore what’s feasible.

One way to ensure that happens is to adopt the IGT’s final recommendation for a new Space Leadership Council: a group that facilitates discussion – initially about the actions in this report – at the highest levels between Government and industry. So I’ve decided to accept that recommendation right now.

And in the meantime, be in no doubt that the Government appreciates the growing role for space systems, services & applications in existing as well as emerging markets.

That means commercial possibilities in telecoms and transport, internet and entertainment, in defence and security. It means new prospects for tourism and healthcare.

And let’s not forget the equally significant contribution space has to make when it comes to forecasting the weather, monitoring climate change and responding to natural disasters.

Inmarsat, for example, was one of the first companies to support the relief efforts in Haiti by providing satellite communications.

So we’re serious about making sure that the UK plays its part in tackling issues of global concern as well as positioning the country to exploit the opportunities that lie ahead in areas like digital and low-carbon.
I want to see space as a leading sector of UK industry and a mainstay of our economy – built on science, employing talent, manufacturing cutting-edge technologies.

The UK is firmly in the space race – a race to the top of the global space industry over the next 20 years.

Thank you.

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