Connecting Industrial and Academic Communities - Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast

Written by Stacy Hunt | Feb 17, 2025, 4:28:59 PM

EDC of Florida’s Space Coast has a key objective to build an eco-system supportive of innovation and entrepreneurship connecting academic resources.

In the first quarter of 2025, the EDC enabled opportunities for academic connectivity between leading Florida Universities and Space Park Leicester. The UK’s University of Leicester has a long tradition of working with industry and other partners – the mission was to explore potential opportunities for strategic partnerships. The exploratory visit included roundtable discussions held with Florida Space Institute at UCF, Space Sector Business Development at Space Florida; a meeting of Academic Affairs, Research and Government Affairs leadership at Florida Tech, and the Space Edge Accelerator at the UF Astraeus Space Institute.

Originated through a meeting contact with President & CEO Lynda Weatherman, Professor Richard Ambrosi, the Executive Director of Space Park Leicester, University of Leicester and his colleague, Dr. Hannah Sargeant, joined Piers Slater, the CEO of Perpetual Atomics, for an inbound trip to Florida’s Space Coast. These types of Trans-Atlantic partnerships are an important bridge to collaborative research initiatives. Universities play a key role in addressing gaps in research and the competitiveness of the growing space economy in Florida.

Goals included but not limited to:

Addressing how collaborative research initiatives between UK and US and gaps in research facilities can augment the competitiveness of the growing space economy in Florida. Universities will play a key role in this objective. How the Space Park model and approach can be transposed and replicated.
The space economy (civil and defense) requires advanced in space power generation capability and consequently the associated infrastructure to enable growth in this sector of the space economy. This is outlined in the Atlantic Declaration signed between the UK and the US in 2023. The University of Leicester has spun out Perpetual Atomics to deliver this vision for the UK and Europe and is working on strategic partnerships with the US.
Expectation is to grow strategic partnerships and also explore how we enable and bring private capital to complement local investment opportunities to support growing the space economy in Florida.

In planning the recent visit, Professor Ambrosi referenced the Atlantic Declaration that “acknowledges the vital importance of the transfer of technology on voluntary and mutually agreed terms as critically important means to bolster development, create jobs and income…” and to that end this inbound mission opened doors to opportunities for strategic partnerships for Perpetual Atomics.

Officially announced in October 2024, in the UK as a “Leicester Spinout Company” from Space Park Leicester, Perpetual Atomics would more commonly be referred to as a “start-up” from a tech incubator. To learn more about the University of Leicester and Perpetual Atomics, click here: https://le.ac.uk/news/2024/october/perpetual-atomics

With an uptick of inbound interest, our flourishing space economy in Florida continues to attract global attention and is conducive to the formation of strategic partnerships.

View full post