OFFICIALS of the European Space Agency took a break from the celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the moon landings to visit Warrington’s Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus.
The aim was to find out more about the successful collaborative and innovative work taking place at Daresbury between scientists, academics and businesses.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has launched its first ever UK facility at Daresbury’s sister campus at Harwell where it plans to establish an international space innovation centre.
Aim of the Daresbury visit was to show how the campus’ collaborative and interdisciplinary approach is working in practice and included a tour of key facilities, such as the research and development prototype for future particle accelerators.
The ESA facility at Harwell is expected to be a key element of a much-wider vision for the future of the UK’s fast-growing space economy and Daresbury will also play a key role in the delivery of this vision, working with Harwell to optimise the use of resources for UK science and technology investment.
Professor Keith Mason, chief executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council said: “Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus is a world-class location for innovative and leading-edge science.
“Since its opening in 2005 nearly 100 high-tech businesses have made it their home as a direct result of the way it successfully integrates science and technology programmes across a wide range of disciplines and sectors.
“Daresbury SIC is leading the way in finding solutions to the global challenges we face in healthcare, environment, energy and security by bringing together and promoting innovation, knowledge sharing, collaboration and networking between scientists, academic and industry.”
Martin Ditter, ESA project manager at Harwell added: “I was delighted to be able to visit Daresbury to see first-hand how the research community and businesses are working collaboratively to increase the impact of UK science. I am really impressed with what I have learned in Daresbury and am looking forward to working with STFC and its partners at both campuses to develop a similar model at a European level for the ESA facility based at Harwell.”
