Video link provides launch pad for innovative North East space and satellite companies

North East space and satellite applications companies showcased the innovative work taking place in the region at a video networking event between NETPark in Sedgefield and the Satellite Applications Catapult in Harwell.

Each month, Harwell in Oxfordshire plays host to individuals and organisations who use satellite technology or data at the Catapult’s Satuccino event, which includes Satuccino: Extra Shot, a video link with one of the centres in its regional network.

November’s Satuccino: Extra Shot linked entrepreneurs and businesses at the North East Satellite Applications Centre of Excellence at NETPark with colleagues and counterparts in Oxfordshire. Five of the companies attending at NETPark also presented a 60-second pitch via the video link to introduce their businesses:

• aXenic, NETPark-based designer and maker of optical modulators used in satellite communications
• Drone Industries, Newcastle-based maker of software for drone operators, including integrating sensors and data
• e2E, provider of communications engineering and technical consultancy services to the satellite communications market, with a site at Gateshead
• Isocom, Washington-based designer and manufacturer of optoelectronic components for satellites and space missions
• Vor-TechX, Darlington-based space technology company dedicated to exploration, education and resource management.

This was a great opportunity to show off the innovative work being done in the North East in the satellite and space sector and the video link enables us to plug into what is going on elsewhere in the UK.

These events provide a valuable platform for businesses around the country to make contact with Harwell and showcase their work. We are delighted that a fantastic cross-section of innovative companies from the region grabbed the opportunity to take part.

Before the Satuccino Extra Shot event, Andy Bennett, the Space Lead at Knowledge Transfer Network ran a valuable workshop on the application process for competitions held by various agencies funding space sector activities such as Innovate UK and the European Space Agency.

And after the event, a meeting dedicated to exploring good practices for adopting innovation that can be applied in the photonics in space technologies sector was held as part of the European Interreg project, STEPHANIE. Businesses, funders, and users of space applications got together to discuss some of the challenges and opportunities in the UK.

For more information about STEPHANIE project, please click here.