New cluster report: How the Midlands is at the heart of innovation in space technology

A new Midlands Engine report offers a roadmap for unlocking the region’s full potential in the global space economy.

The result of an extensive roundtable with senior stakeholders, the report focuses on how the cluster – held at Space Park Leicester in January this year – with its 290 businesses working across the manufacture, operation, application or support of space technology in the Midlands – can collaborate with industry, academia and government.

In doing so, this will ensure the sector can make the most of investment opportunities whilst addressing key challenges around innovation commercialisation, SME funding and the talent pipeline.

With leading assets including Space Park Leicester (the UK’s second largest single-site space cluster of businesses and researchers) and the University of Leicester, (as well as the Universities of Birmingham, Nottingham, Warwick, Cranfield), there is a significant innovation ecosystem in the region ready for investment.

Key capabilities include the production of small satellites and their application, as well as nationally-leading strengths in geospatial imaging and observation – with a geospatial ‘triangle’ between Nottingham, Leicester and the British Geological Survey in Nottinghamshire.

The report finds that the region has a vibrant network of SMEs which can benefit from the East Midlands Freeport and Space Park Leicester’s customs zone which present a unique growth incentive for new entrants to the region – from elsewhere in the UK or abroad.

The Midlands’ established industry base capable of mass production also presents a further opportunity for the space cluster: to expand the supply chain, industrialising and developing new components and products at scale. This could support the industrialisation of new game-changing capabilities being developed in the region, such as nuclear power and manufacturing in space.

The report considers the cluster through four main angles – business and investment; innovation; talent and investment opportunities – before offering eight strategic asks.

Read the full report here

Colin Baldwin, Director of UK Space delivering the keynote at the Space Cluster Roundtable earlier this year.

Colin Baldwin, Director of UK Space delivering the keynote at the Space Cluster Roundtable earlier this year. 

Throughout December 2024 and January 2025, Midlands partners came together a series of roundtables to explore the investment potential of some of the biggest clusters in our region – from aerospace to cyber and defence, nuclear energy to space technologies. These roundtables have shaped the development of a series of white papers exploring the key strengths, assets, challenges and growth areas for each key industrial cluster, outlining policy levers of cluster growth and showcasing the work of key companies.