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

EDC enabled opportunities for academic connectivity between leading Florida Universities and Space Park Leicester

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA—The Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast has a key objective of building an ecosystem supportive of innovation and entrepreneurship and 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.

Originating 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. The goals of the meeting included:

■ Addressing how collaborative research initiatives between the UK and the 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 advances 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.
■ The expectation is to grow strategic partnerships and also explore how we enable and bring private capital to complement local investment opportunities to support the growth of the space economy in Florida.

In planning the recent visit, Professor Ambrosi referenced the Atlantic Declaration, which “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…” 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 called a start-up from a tech incubator.

“With an uptick of inbound interest, our flourishing space economy in Florida continues to attract global attention and is conducive to forming strategic partnerships,” said an EDC spokesperson.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the University of Leicester and Perpetual Atomics.

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