Business, Innovation and Skills written question – answered at on 26 November 2012.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate his Department has made of the return on the expenditure of funds on the European Space Agency's ARTES satellite telecommunications development programme since 2008.
The UK subscription to ARTES during the 2008-12 period was 169 million euros and the subscription was fully allocated. The ARTES programme covers a variety of activity from foundation technology through to demonstration missions (Hylas, Alphasat) and applications programmes, such as the Integrated Applications Promotion programme (IAP). Due to the nature of the variety in the programme some of the returns will not reach maturity for a number of years but the continued support has demonstrated consistent growth in the sector.
The programme itself requires match funding for many of the activities so generates an immediate 2:1 return on the public investment. The impact to date can be measured by the changes in the size and health figures collated by UK Space Agency. Comparing the 2008 and 2012 figures shows that the satellite telecoms sector has grown in terms of annual revenue from £4.9 billion to £7.8 billion. This gives a current return on expenditure in the order of 20:1.
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