The National Space Innovation Programme (NSIP), will support high-risk, high-reward projects designed by British organisations with the potential to accelerate the development of new space technologies, satellite applications, and services. It will also be incorporating the UK Space Agency’s Enabling Technologies Programme (ETP) as the NSIP Kick Starter. This portion of NSIP will provide targeted support to early-stage and disruptive innovation. I’ll share links to the press release and guidance documents when they go live.
There are a growing number of practical competitions that UK students of all ages can take part in, but the biggest of these is the international ‘CanSat’ competition, organised by ESERO (the European Space Agency’s educational arm) and funded by the UK Space Agency.
The competition sees teams of students in the 14 to 18 year old age range build their own miniature satellite, the same size and shape as a soft drinks can, which can gather data or perform an experiment whilst it is making a brief atmospheric flight on a real rocket, then returning to earth via a parachute the students have designed and made.
This exciting competition takes place in several European countries and the UK has been taking part for a number of years with the competition growing to a record 250+ registered teams and over a thousand students directly involved in 2023. The culmination of the competition is a month long series of launch events at venues across the country where the students get to see their CanSat launched onboard a solid fuel rocket and deployed at altitude for their parachute recovery. Ben Jarvis, local space sector entrepreneur and 30 year veteran of commercial rocketry activities was involved in helping the competition gain funding for the rocket launches back in 2019 and his Norfolk based space sector education and training company ‘Launch Access Ltd’ has just announced successfully winning the bid to deliver the launch events for the competition for another year. This contract will see a total of at least thirteen launch days in March and April 2024 at six or more regional launch locations, where over a hundred rockets will be launched carrying the student’s satellites.
The 2024 competition kicks off very soon with the sign-up deadline being on the 17th of October 2023. Launch Access Ltd, being an East Anglia based company, and hosting one of the regional launch events at their home on Old Buckenham Airfield near Attleborough, are keen to encourage more local schools and colleges to take part. You can find out more about the competition at the ESERO UK website: https://www.stem.org.uk/esero/secondary/competitions-and-challenges/cansat or you can contact Launch Access Ltd for more information about what’s involved in competing in this exciting competition via email at: info@launch-access.com
STEMPOINT is an educational charity that promotes Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) to young people across the East of England and encourages them to take up a STEM career. Trusted by schools and industry partners for more than 35 years, we highlight opportunities within various sectors and Space has been a particular focus for us because of the fantastic range of organisations in the Eastern area and also because it feeds into young people’s continuing fascination for space. By partnering with space-related companies and organisations such as Space East, we are able to shine a spotlight on some of the roles within the sector, which are often not well-known amongst pupils. An example of this is our popular Space booklet, a free resource that has been downloaded by schools across the region and features some of our local STEM Ambassador volunteers. STEM Ambassadors who identify themselves as having an interest in space-related work were involved in a massive 295,000 engagements with pupils in the last academic year!
We are pleased to be a part of the Space East project, working with businesses to support them with links to schools and colleges across the region, and helping them raise awareness of career opportunities and igniting a passion for this important growing sector.
We’d love to hear from you! Get in contact with us at admin@stempoint.org.uk for further details about how you and/or your company can get involved.
Or as a first step, why not help us raise aspirations by joining a network of over 45,000 STEM Ambassadors across the UK to help inspire local young people? By sharing your career path, offering site tours, work experience or helping with hands-on workshops and activities, you can help secure a future talent pipeline. To register as a STEM Ambassador volunteer, see: www.stem.org.uk And don’t forget to tick the ‘Space Inspiration’ box in your profile under schemes!
Space East are excited to Partner with Defence-Engage to offer free access to their supply-chain platform.
Part of the Clarion Defence family, Defence-Engage aims to provide transparency and a level playing field for diverse suppliers to enter or progress in the Defence industry. It is a member-only marketplace network that super-charges supplier discoverability and connectivity in the Defence supply chain.
Primes can tap into the SME community to increase innovation and supplier diversification. Through the platform suppliers, whether established in the defence sector or not, gain the chance to get in front of the most influential people in the solution selection and procurement process.
The partnership with Space East provides cluster members with a FREE profile and the chance to:
Showcase their solutions to the Defence industry
Search for potential new partners
Be matched and recommended to client requirements
Gain new leads for their business
To find out how you can benefit from free access to the Defence-Engage platform email Stuart@spaceeast.co.uk
This summer, the UK Space Agency’s ‘Space for Everyone’ tour will travel to 10 locations across the UK, captivating young minds and showcasing the impact of space on improving life here on Earth. By providing hands-on experiences and activities, the tour will generate excitement and interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Maths (STEAM) subjects and encourage ongoing engagement with STEAM education and careers in order to sustain the future space talent pipeline and support the government’s ambition to create a sustainable spaceflight market in the UK…….and they have a 72ft rocket!
The tour will be arriving at Great Yarmouth Sea Life Gardens on 24th to 28th August 2023. Space East is supporting the tour and looking to involve as many of our local businesses as possible. If you are interested in attending the event, promoting the active space industry in the East, and engaging with young people about careers in the industry then please do get in touch.
There are opportunities to exhibit, host outreach activities and generally get involved with the fun.
To find out more please register your interest with our Cluster Manager Stuart Catchpole at Stuart@spaceeast.co.uk
How can you benefit from local Skills Bootcamp graduates?
Local businesses across the UK are seizing the opportunity to hire newly trained and vetted graduates of Cambridge Spark’s Skills Bootcamps in data literacy and data analytics.
Organisations such as Thames Water, AXA, the Financial Conduct Authority and others are hiring these graduates to fill roles such as junior data analyst, technical lead and solutions engineer.
Why are businesses like yours eager to hire graduates of short, data upskilling programmes to fill crucial data roles? The answer is twofold:
Sourcing qualified candidates is HARD: According to the World Economic Forum:
Organisations identify skills gaps and an inability to attract talent as the key barriers preventing industry transformation, with 60% of surveyed companies highlighting the difficulty in bridging skills gaps locally and 53% identifying their inability to attract talent as the main barriers to transforming their business.
These graduates are data EXPERTS: Though some are calling data “the new oil”, only those organisations with the requisite data skills can fully capture the value of their data. Bootcamp graduates complete the course with a mastery of essential skills needed to bring impact and transformation to organisations.
Their learnings span the fundamentals of building data visualisations and dashboards for informing better decision making, to automating manual data processing and analysis to drive cost and time savings.
Want to learn more about hiring some of the most qualified data talent available? Contact Sam Goose (07572 791292 or sam.goose@cambridgespark.com) from Cambridge Spark for details.
As a part of the UK-Australia Space Bridge in partnership with Austrade, Australian Space Agency, UK Space Agency and the Department for Business Trade, are organising a trade mission in partnership for the UK space industry to visit Australia during week commencing 4th December 2023 to coincide with the 16th Australian Space Forum, of which UK Space Agency will be a featured partner
This mission will include a visit to three destinations across Australia during the week to enable a thorough series of engagement opportunities across numerous space clusters to have direct discussions with industry, academia and government at both state and federal levels, as well as the opportunity for participation in one of Australia’s largest dedicated space conferences.
Please see here the link to register for the trade mission. Registration closes on 15th September 2023. The number of participants will be limited to 15 this year to help keep numbers manageable within limited resources. Please note this mission is not funded or subsidised, and companies are required to cover their own financial expenses, however DBT will seek a discounted rate wherever possible.
Furthermore, we are organising a Space Bridge Export Academy for SMEs to learn about the principles of international trade in the lead-up to this mission. The Academy will provide a free online learning programme to enable SMEs to explore a range of topics including an introduction to the UK and Australian space sectors, trade policy, export finance, law and regulation, banking and tax, and business pitching. Spaces are limited, reserved for companies with limited exporting experience, and open to both UK and Australian entities. Registration closes on 1st September 2023. Use the following link to register. https://forms.office.com/e/zgFxnpqssK
In addition, DBT are coordinating a number of international visitors to attend the UK Space Conference, including representatives from Australia, as an additional opportunity for B2B engagement. If there’s support we can provide you for engagement with our delegates, please express your interest (and any other questions you may have) at space@businessandtrade.gov.uk
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