Airbus Intelligence relocating to Space Park Leicester
The University of Leicester is pleased to announce that Airbus plans to relocate their Leicestershire-based Earth Observation expert team to Space Park Leicester when their current lease expires.
The Space Park is an ambitious initiative that will develop a global hub and collaborative community for businesses, researchers and academia based on space and space-enabled technologies. The high-tech offering is attracting interest from businesses around the world, and the news that Airbus plans to be part of the project should further encourage its development.
Edmund Burke, acting Vice Chancellor for the University of Leicester, said: “Space Park Leicester will be transformational for our University, City, region and the UK Space Industry. I am delighted that Airbus Intelligence, who have been a long-standing strategic partner, will locate to the Space Park. This will attract students to study in Leicester and, afterwards, to pursue their professional career here. It will also help unlock the predicted 2500 new jobs being created by the Space Park investment.”
Colin Paynter, UK Managing Director, Airbus Defence and Space Ltd, said: “Airbus has a long relationship with the University, collaborating on a range of activities. We hope to see a number of benefits from our involvement with the Space Park, from capturing research outputs which will seed our product and process innovation to increasing the scale and quality of researchers and talent in the EO & Data Analytics domain."
Kevin Harris, Chair of the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP), said: “Space is a USP for Leicester and Leicestershire, with a Leicester-built instrument deployed every year since 1967. We have positioned Space as a fundamental beacon of our Local Industrial Strategy and drive to enhanced regional productivity. We are delighted therefore that Airbus Intelligence will be locating to Space Park Leicester, based in one of our Enterprise Zones, and we are sure this will catalyse many more such announcements in the coming months.”
Grant Bourhill, CEO of Leicester Science Parks said: “We are delighted that Airbus Intelligence, a key strategic partner for the University, are locating at Space Park Leicester. We have a long and successful track record of working together with Airbus on impactful, industry-relevant research and providing the next-generation of talent. The presence of such an established, global leader in space and its applications at Space Park Leicester, will attract other supply-chain partners as well as encourage the development of new start-ups, creating a dynamic industry-academic cluster.”