A new industrial zone called Space City has launched in Leicester to build on the city’s growing reputation in the space sector, to breed fresh talent and attract more international businesses.
The space cluster takes in some £233 million of existing and planned buildings on land to the north of the city centre, with the aim of attracting millions of pounds of investment and attracting more cutting edge firms to the city. It also hopes to play a key part in encouraging more graduates to stay in the area after finishing courses at the city and county’s three universities.
The cluster includes the long established National Space Centre – already playing a key role in encouraging the next generation of engineers – as well as the £100 million Space Park Leicester which opened a year ago. The University of Leicester-backed Space Park specialises in companies that process satellite data and which develop new technology, and has already attracted 20 tenants including Rolls-Royce, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Hewlett Packard, Amazon and Thales Alenia.
