Scotland, with 8.2% of the UK population, hosts around one fifth of the entire UK space workforce, with employment in the sector grew from 7,703 to 8,440 in Scotland in the year from 2018/19 to 19/20.
This was published in the BryceTech report Size & Health of the UK Space Industry 2021, commissioned by the UK Space Agency.
With 18% of people estimated to be employed in the space sector in 2019/20, Scotland comes in third in the UK, just behind London (27%) and the South East of England (21%).
There are now 1,293 space organisations located across the UK, 144 of them located in Scotland.
Spaceports in Scotland, Wales and England are expected to generate more jobs in the coming years, alongside the growth of regional space clusters, international investment, and emerging technologies such as in-space manufacturing and debris removal, supported by the National Space Strategy.
Kenneth Gibson MSP said:
“Ayrshire has long had a vibrant and thriving space sector and Glasgow is home to a host of space companies too. North Ayrshire is perfectly located to access all these employment opportunities in the sector.
“The SNP Government understands the potential and in October launched the Scottish Space Strategy, aimed at securing a £4 billion share of the global space market for the Scottish economy and creating 20,000 jobs in the Scottish space sector by 2030.”
A Space Strategy for Scotland can be found here.
Size & Health of the UK Space Industry 2021 can be accessed here.
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