Forming strong partnerships between industry, academia and government is increasingly important for the UK space sector, John Hanley, chair of UKspace and a senior vice president at CGI UK, said.

Speaking about the importance of working collaboratively at Space-Comm Expo 2022 in September, Hanley said: “That is something that is becoming ever more important now with the National Space Strategy, with the launch of the BEIS [Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy] team, the reformation of the Space Agency, Space Command and MoD.

“All of those owners of space in the UK, they need a workforce, they need industry to be as good as it can be and have all the right attributes to deliver on their ambitions.

“The only way we’re going to do that is with partnership. We are in the process of building a National Space Partnership, which basically is your leaders in academia, industry and government all coming together to try to progress our shared goals.”

Role for government

UKspace is the UK space trade association which represents the UK space industry to government and other key stakeholders nationally and internationally.

CGI is among the largest IT and business consulting services firms in the world.

Asked what role governments can play in progressing the space sector, Hanley added: “I personally believe and a lot of my colleagues in industry believe that government does have a very important role in setting the right environment for the space sector to thrive.”
Subscribe to the FINN weekly newsletter