STREAM 1: North East Space Communications Accelerator (NESCA)

The North East Space Communications Accelerator (NESCA) is a collaboration between Northumbria University (Lead Organisation), Durham University, Newcastle University, the North East Mayoral Combined Authority (NEMCA), Space North East England (SNEE), and the North East Space Leadership Group (NESLG), who share a vision for the North East as a world-class, vibrant region for space businesses to grow. NESCA will support the exciting, emerging cluster of world-class space research and development in the North East region (NE) by building on investment in regional space infrastructure, clear civic ambition to deliver high-skilled jobs, opportunities and economic growth, and a growing regional industry presence from space-focused businesses. Nationally, the Space Industrial Plan (SIP) and the National Space Strategy (NSS) outline the government's ambitions for creating a world-class space ecosystem, by integrating local capabilities and excellence into a high-performing network of regional clusters that can deliver on national priorities. The SIP recognises the importance of aligning local priorities for research and innovation to a clear national goal and NESCA's focus directly aligns to the 5 listed Capability Goals. Through the work of SNEE, and the NESLG, the region has established clear civic, industrial, and academic ambitions for the development of the space sector that are fully aligned to the NSS and SIP. These are identified as market opportunities for the region, developed from an evidence base for the absorptive capacity of industry and aligned to the research excellence in our universities with clear ambitions for growth. These regional opportunities are resilient space communications, earth observation, and space sustainability. The timing of this initiative coincides with the establishment of the devolved combined authority, NEMCA, the development of the North East Space Skills and Technology Centre (NESST), the active delivery of the North East Space Strategy and increasing investment and growth in NETpark as a premier UK science park. The NESCA partnership will bridge the gap between high-quality research outputs and delivering the impact required to achieve industrial and civic growth ambitions for the space sector in the region, contributing directly to the growth of the national space ecosystem. NESCA will focus on resilient space communications, following open consultation with our civic and industrial partners which highlighted the central importance of this theme as an enabling function across many space applications. Based on further feedback from industrial partners we have defined a series of Innovation Themes that support and enable, or will directly benefit from, resilient space communications, these include: technologies, space sustainability, in-space opportunities, terrestrial applications, and smart and resilient networks. The mapping between these themes and our research expertise ensures an effective matching of innovation excellence from our universities with industrial demand within the cluster and aligns with regional and national priorities for growth. NESCA is supported directly by 14 industrial partners, leveraging £417k in contributions (17% bid value). With a clear place-based mission, NESCA proposes a series of knowledge exchange activities over a 4-year programme that will provide much needed capacity-building to translate our world-class space research and innovation into impact that will deliver growth for the region. Activities will focus on People, Innovation, and Place as vehicles for delivering economic and social impact and will include a Collaborative Fund component for engaging with partners from outside of the consortium to maximise the reach and value of the programme to the regional cluster.