Serco set to get Middle East space initiatives off the ground
Targets regional revenue growth within the next 5 years
With over 40 years of supporting global customers’ space missions, UK-headquartered Serco aims to play a pivotal role in the fast-growing space initiatives across the Middle East region, spearheaded by the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
In an exclusive interview in Dubai, Riyadh-based Amar Vora, Head of Space at Serco Middle East, delves into the company’s recent foray into the Middle East space sector and its strategic growth plans.
Watch the video interview:
Excerpts from the interview*:
What services does Serco offer the Middle East space sector?
Great question. Serco has operated in the space sector for over 40 years, with a global workforce strength of 2,000. We recently established our space division in the Middle East, headquartered in Saudi Arabia, with a strong emphasis on the UAE market.
We are growing our services daily, from providing investment opportunities to exploiting space-based data. We offer data management ecosystems from satellites that can be utilised on the ground and numerous applications, from satellite operations to delivering expertise. We act as a service integrator in the space sector, partnering with technology providers.
What aspects of the Middle East space sector appeal to Serco?
The space industry in the Middle East is hugely ambitious. The UAE has been operating in the space sector for a couple of decades now and has a fairly established sector. There is now a growth trajectory with a heavy focus on commercialising services.
We feel that we have a role to play within this ecosystem, position our services, and localise them to support the UAE government with the ambitious space programme they have established. Also, to help operationalise services that the UAE will begin to deploy in the near term.
The Saudi market, on the other hand, is quite a young market. They also will have a very ambitious space programme. As soon as it is established, we expect to see a diverse range of space capabilities in Saudi Arabia – from potentially setting launch capabilities to satellite manufacturing and through to the downstream sector – concerning satellite data exploitation, utilisation, and management.
At Serco, we have an impact across the space value chain, so we can provide the expertise that supports manufacturers or satellite manufacturing through solutions and services that can enable the deployment of downstream data services.
We hope to have a role to play across this ecosystem in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Other space agencies, such as those based in Oman and Bahrain, also have substantial space ambitions. We will explore how best to fit within the regional [space sector] ecosystem.
What challenges does Serco face as the Middle East region’s space industry grows?
The governments in the region are hugely ambitious. They are the ones that typically tend to drive space innovation and the space agenda. Within the public and private sectors, we need to ensure that we have the right partnerships in place to support government agendas, and we need to ensure that we deliver services locally.
I think there are multi-user and different challenges that we face. One is ensuring that we bring in our capabilities and localise those capabilities in the region. The second challenge is ensuring that these capabilities are nationalised and delivered by nationals, whether Emiratis or Saudis.
The talent pool within the region is still growing, so there needs to be a bit of a transition towards creating a sustainable talent ecosystem driven by the local community in the future. Serco is looking to support that by launching our space graduate programme. However, we are also engaging with other training initiatives across the regional market.
How important is the Middle East space sector to Serco?
Space is one of the top priorities in our strategy for the next five years. At the very least, globally, space is also designated as a core priority area for Serco. We only launched our space division in the Middle East early this year, so we are still discovering and realising what the market offers.
However, I have very ambitious plans for our division, and I hope that space can be a leading contributor to our revenue growth over the next five years.
Should there be greater cooperation between private sector space players, or should there be increased competition?
It is an interesting question. If you did not have competition, you would not necessarily need to innovate more and would not be challenged to do better.
So, I think competition is necessary in the market. That being said, to meet the objectives of the space sector, it is necessary to provide the best services. In the public and private sectors alike, there does need to be increased cooperation.
Without cooperation, we probably would not have sufficient opportunities to compete. There are enough actors in the sector to establish a competitive landscape. Still, at the same time, there also needs to be enough actors that can collaborate. We need to ensure that the services we provide sufficiently meet the needs of our end-users and customers in the market, government or private.
Does Serco collaborate with academia in the Middle East region?
We work with academia, not so much in the space sector but across our different verticals. Part of what I want to establish is strengthened relationships with academia, with programmes they deliver to the students. I aim to build academic ecosystem relationships across the UAE and the Saudi educational ecosystem. I think this is where the beginning of innovation takes place.
Academia is an excellent testbed for new ideas for innovation, and if we add a stroke, we can also help influence the direction of those who innovate directly. This also helps us deliver better services to the customers that we work with in the end.
Academia also provides opportunities for students – within circular services and contracts – to support operationalising space skills.
*The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Last Updated on 9 months by Arnold Pinto
