Skyfarer, a technology company developing the UK’s first autonomous drone delivery network, has become the 100th company to join the European Space Agency’s Business Incubation Centre for the United Kingdom (ESA BIC UK).
ESA Business Incubation Centres aim to support space related start-ups to develop and grow, with Skyfarer now given desk space and access to expertise at Space Park Leicester.
Since 2010, 100 start-ups have joined the ESA BIC UK, to use space and satellite technologies to develop new and innovative products and services. Since then, these businesses have raised more than £86m in investment, filed 12 new patents in 2020 alone and, despite the uncertainties of the last 18 months, currently have an 89% survival rate.
Skyfarer hopes to develop its service – designed to deliver blood, vaccines and organs among other crucial supplies – by enhancing the software and navigation system behind its autonomous drone delivery platform, using live ESA earth observation satellites to access key weather and positioning data.
“Making drone delivery possible is an audacious challenge and one that requires collaboration and expertise in various areas to realise the vision,” said Elliot Parnham, founder and CEO at Skyfarer.
“Being accepted into the ESA BIC UK at Leicester is not only an achievement for Skyfarer, a company four years in the making that has persevered through multiple challenges and pivots, but an exciting opportunity to realise the vision of autonomous drone delivery of medical supplies.”
The ESA BIC UK is managed and partly funded, by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, in collaboration with ESA Space Solutions, the UK Space Agency and the University of Leicester.
It provides start-ups with a carefully designed two-year support package to help them through the development of their game changing products and services in an increasingly competitive and global marketplace.
Sarah Davies, pro vice-chancellor and head of College for Science and Engineering at the University of Leicester, said: “We are delighted to welcome Skyfarer to Space Park Leicester as the 100th start-up to benefit from the ESA BIC UK.
“The Skyfarer team are the perfect demonstration of how ‘space’ technologies can have a positive impact on people’s everyday lives, especially in delivering a potentially life-saving service to deliver vital medical supplies.
“We are also very proud that Space Park Leicester hosts one of just four ESA BIC sites in the UK, with our shared objectives to launch and nurture businesses which combine cutting-edge research and enterprise.”
