A new government-sanctioned report has revealed that Scotland makes up a fifth of UK’s space industry workers – the highest proportion of any country in Britain.

With 8,440 employees working across 101 organisations – out of a total of 46,995 in the entire UK – Scotland has the third most employees working in the space industry out of the 14 regions quantified, third only to Greater London and South East England.

The addition of 737 space sector jobs in Scotland over the last year means the country now accounts for 20% of the UK’s entire sector workforce.

The continued success of small satellite production and launches in Scotland, as well as projected growth in emerging technologies and international investment means that job growth is expected to trend upwards in the coming years.

With regards to the UK as a whole, the report states that over the last nine years, the population of space organisations has grown on average nearly 21% per annum.

Despite all the positivity around the space sector, it hasn’t been invulnerable to the impact of the pandemic, with industry income dropping by 1.7% in 2020 compared to 2018/19. However, this is in contrast to the overall UK economy, which shrank by 9.9% in 2020.

The one of the biggest catalysers of growth in the sector is exports. 32% (£5.3 billion) of income in the space industry stemmed from abroad in 2021. This export share compares favourably with the UK as a whole, which saw 28% of GDP derived from exports in 2020.

Speaking about the report, Science Minister George Freeman said: “The £16.5 billion space sector is a major contributor to a strong and secure UK economy, and it’s promising to see it generate thousands of new high-skilled jobs in the face of global economic headwinds.

Recommended

• The 11 most expensive NFTs ever sold
• New UK grant to help support next generation of tech startups
• Isle of Man announce first licensed GBP pegged Stablecoin

“We’re backing this innovative and resilient industry through the largest ever increase to R&D spending, which includes a significant uplift to the UK Space Agency’s budget, and the delivery of the UK’s first National Space Strategy.

“As we support new SpaceTech clusters from Spaceports in Cornwall and Scotland to satellite manufacturing and robotics from Glasgow to Warwick to Stevenage, this will help level-up the UK. Looking ahead to the first satellite launches from the UK this year, this is an exciting time for this high growth sector up and down the country.”

In February, it was announced that rockets are set to be launched by the end of the year from the £43m SaxaVord Spaceport on the Lamba Ness peninsula in Unst, Shetland.

Get the latest news from DIGIT direct to your inbox

Our newsletter covers the latest technology and IT news from Scotland and beyond, as well as in-depth features and exclusive interviews with leading figures and rising stars.

To subscribe, click here.