Space Park Leicester Receives £13.75 Million Meteoric Boost from Government

The College of Leicester is delighted to announce that its new Manufacturing, Engineering, Expertise and Earth Remark Analysis Centre (METEOR) has acquired practically £14 million in funding via Spherical 6 of Analysis England’s flagship capital funding scheme, the UK Analysis Partnership Funding Fund (UKRPIF). This funding will leverage an additional £50 million of investments in area and Earth statement (EO) analysis in Leicester.

METEOR shall be a key a part of Area Park Leicester, a brand new, world-leading analysis, innovation and educating hub that may convey collectively tutorial analysis, together with from the College of Leicester, and industrial area and Earth statement R&D. This internationally distinctive method to understanding and delivering area capabilities will place town of Leicester on the reducing fringe of UK area know-how.

The Centre will revolutionise how satellites are conceived, designed, operated and produced, in addition to how knowledge derived from them is interpreted and used to unravel real-world issues. It is going to:

• Familiarize yourself with the analysis challenges and limitations to adoption of contemporary industrial processes for fast, greater quantity satellite tv for pc manufacturing and so convey down prices and democratise area
• Create digital methods and IT infrastructure to assist the processing of massive knowledge to revolutionise area know-how and Earth statement providers right here on planet Earth
• Allow novel EO analysis strategies, applied sciences and functions to ship excessive spatial and multispectral decision so we are able to see the presently “unseeable” from area

Area Park Leicester is because of open in late 2020. Trade companions will have the ability to develop new providers and applied sciences with the assist of educational researchers, with invaluable entry to a circulate of expertise and a vibrant innovation group.

These functions and providers will assist a wide range of sectors past area, together with agriculture, surroundings, transport and logistics, retail, monetary providers, vitality and well being.

The UKRPIF award is the most important funding award made to the College in its historical past, and Leicester is the one college within the Midlands to be awarded UKRPIF funds on this spherical. UKRPIF requires double-match funding from personal sources, and the funding for METEOR has leveraged co-investment from a variety of mission companions, together with Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Thales Alenia Area and a number of different firms giant and small.

11 initiatives are being funded via Spherical 6 of UKRPIF, totalling over £670m of latest funding into UK analysis and innovation. Funding contains £221m of public funding from UKRPIF and over £450m of dedicated co-investment from companies, charities and philanthropic donors.

Professor Edmund Burke, Appearing Vice-Chancellor of the College of Leicester, stated: “We’re so delighted to have been awarded the METEOR funding. Leicester has a status for creating cutting-edge area know-how, with College-built devices in area yearly since 1967. For over 50 years we’ve got performed key roles in area missions together with taking part in a big position within the BepiColombo mission to Mercury, which launched simply final 12 months. We look ahead to Area Park Leicester being a catalyst for future area developments and the College strengthening our experience as we contribute in direction of the UK’s ambition to be a world chief in area.”

Leicester Metropolis Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby stated: “That is thrilling information for Area Park Leicester which recognises the College’s excellence and worldwide profile within the area of satellite tv for pc know-how and Earth statement.

“I congratulate the College for securing vital funding from the UK Analysis Partnership Funding Fund and I look ahead to persevering with to assist the event and development of Area Park Leicester.”

Kevin Harris, Chair of the LLEP Board of Administrators, stated: “Area Park Leicester is central to our long-term technique for Leicester and Leicestershire. The purpose is to construct a world-class centre of area analysis and innovation, which shall be on the centre of the UK’s area know-how business for many years to return.

“The LLEP has allotted £12.88m from our Native Progress Fund to assist the event of Area Park Leicester and the world can also be one of many designated websites throughout the Loughborough and Leicester Science and Innovation Enterprise Zone.

“The mission is a real collaboration between academia, enterprise and authorities – each native and nationwide – as we harness the area business to profit our area and the broader UK.

“As Chair of the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership, I’ve seen first-hand what this type of collaborative effort can obtain, and the way vital investments in infrastructure and rising applied sciences can grease the wheels of financial development and prosperity.”