A consortium comprising North East universities, businesses and the North East Combined Authority has secured a £2.5m grant to bolster the region's space research and innovation activity.
The North East Space Communications Accelerator (NESCA), which includes Northumbria, Newcastle and Durham universities, along with the North East Combined Authority, Space North East England, the North East Space Leadership Group and 14 industry partners, is set to launch early next year.
It aims to build on the recent expansion of the North East's space industry capabilities, including the ambitious £50m plans to establish the North East Space Skills and Technology (NESST) hub at Northumbria University. The funding, provided by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) - the º£½ÇÊÓƵ Government's primary funding body for engineering and physical sciences research - will enable NESCA to concentrate on the development of new space communications technology, an area where the North East has already earned recognition.
It is one of seven projects nationally to share in a £22m funding pot designed to support regional clusters. Over the next four years, it will focus on three main areas: innovation, place and people.
The innovation activity will aid promising ideas through the commercialisation process, with a portion of the funding allocated for universities and organisations outside of the region.
NESCA is launching a multi-faceted initiative to promote the region's growing space industry. As part of its 'place' focus, NESCA will showcase the North East at national and international space industry events in collaboration with the North East Combined Authority, reports .
Additionally, under the 'people' aspect of the plan, efforts will be concentrated on developing the necessary skills for the space sector, which includes organising student summer schools and providing professional development for current industry professionals.
Prof Vincent Barrioz from the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering at Northumbria University is spearheading the initiative. He remarked: "The North East is recognised as a prime location for the rapid growth of space innovation, skills development, investment, and industry, which, if nurtured, will transform the industrial landscape of the region."
"NESCA will provide the structure and resources to ensure that innovation taking place in our universities is driven by, aligned with, and delivered in collaboration with regional partners to deliver place-based impact. Specifically, it will bridge the gap between space research and industry-ready products launching in the market."
Adding to the discourse, Prof James Osborn, director of Durham University's £5m Space Research Centre, stated: "This is an exciting opportunity that represents a crucial step towards positioning North East England as a leader in space innovation. NESCA's collaborative approach brings together a range of diverse expertise to advance sustainable space technologies and resilient communications systems."
"This initiative not only strengthens our region's capabilities but also aligns with our commitment to creating long-term, responsible solutions for space exploration."
At Newcastle University, the scope of space research is broad, encompassing artificial intelligence (AI), spatial data analytics, earth observation, communication and observation astrophysics. The university is home to the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Geospatial Systems, which is dedicated to training the next generation of PhD graduates and maintains close ties with industry partners.
Dr Deepayan Bhowmik, a senior lecturer in data science at the school of computing, commented: "With the recent and rapid growth in North East's space industry, NESCA is a timely investment from EPSRC that will boost the innovation and impact in the region. Resource availability through NESCA will strengthen industry-academic engagements even more and support regional skills development."
He added: "Leveraging the School of Computing's strength in applied Data Science and AI, Newcastle University will lead in delivering AI in Space research and skills-related activities within NESCA that nicely complement the other two university partners."
In related news, Northumbria has also announced a significant investment in its first university-wide high-performance computing facility, designed to provide researchers with access to cutting-edge technology capable of handling large scientific datasets at high speeds.
Northumbria University has partnered with giants in the digital industry, Lenovo and Logicalis, to launch the new Higgs high-performance computing (HPC) cluster—named after eminent scientist Peter Higgs, a native of Newcastle. The university anticipates that this move will position it at the vanguard of tech innovation and amplify its research excellence.
Prof Louise Bracken, pro vice-chancellor (research and knowledge exchange), commented: "This is a major investment which will continue the sustained growth in our research capabilities at Northumbria and demonstrates our commitment to building capacity to support the world-class research that goes on here. This really will be a revolutionary project for many of our researchers, particularly those working with large datasets which need to be processed at high speeds. I'm really pleased we're working with Lenovo and Logicalis to bring the latest high-performance computing technology to our campuses."
