Chair’s Statement

Chairman’s Statement

It has been a truly significant year for the Satellite Applications Catapult, and for the entire space industry. It is also my view that the COVID pandemic has accelerated the acceptance, reliance and importance of satellite technology in creating a better future for us all. As we slowly emerge into a new post-pandemic era, we can reflect with much pride that our company’s annual achievements are again characterised by innovation and delivering upon our mandate to create sector growth opportunities for a more harmonious and technologically advanced society.

As witnessed almost daily in the media, the huge surge in recent international space exploration and satellite missions, represents a vast and increasingly diverse array of groundbreaking activities which is significantly changing the space industry. With so much happening and constant development required, the Satellite Applications Catapult team is well placed to handle these changes and has again responded admirably to this dynamic. I remain immensely proud to be associated with a great organisation which is truly leading in UK space innovation and growth.

This report sees our team again embrace projects both locally and internationally which will significantly influence the world of tomorrow. This has also included significant local infrastructure achievements that lay the foundation for the UK space sector to test new technologies and provide a possible home for new satellite ventures. These facilities allow for an increase in possible collaboration between our stakeholders and customers and support our mission to ‘innovate for a better world’. The completion of the new Innovation Centre at Westcott is testament to this vision, and it already houses a demonstration centre for clients interested in high-speed, low-latency communications services provided by constellations of low earth orbit satellites. The realisation of projects such as the Westcott Living Lab, Harwell’s In-Orbit Servicing Centre and Leicester’s Space Commercialisation Engine also offer other tangible facilities in which the UK space sector can benefit by developing and testing new ideas.

Elsewhere in the Catapult, humanitarian projects such as CommonSensing will have a profound long-term impact by empowering Pacific Island nations against climate change and new projects like ForestMind will benchmark how we buy and produce responsibly in the future. One of the unique characteristics of the Catapult is that our different teams work together and draw strength in shared expertise. Market-facing programmes such as Geospatial Intelligence, Ubiquitous Connectivity and Extractive Industries continue to add value to the local UK space industry and position the UK globally as a future world leader.

My time as Chairman of the board of directors at Satellite Application Catapult is sadly drawing to a conclusion this financial year and it is time for me to pass on the mantle. I could however not be more excited about what the Catapult has achieved over the last eight years and what is yet to come!

I remain extremely proud of having served as chairman and for witnessing the impact, remarkable growth and innovation that our dynamic organisation has achieved over the last eight years. There is no better time to be in the UK space industry and the team at the Catapult are well placed to contribute significantly to the targets set for the space sector.