By Tor Bagger, AAU Communication and Public Affairs. Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication and Public Affairs. Photo: Lars Horn, Baghuset

The North Jutland-based company Space Inventor will develop a completely new type of surveillance system for the Pentagon's Test Resource Management Center under the US Department of Defense. This appears in one of this summer's North Jutland business news stories about Aalborg's Space Inventor along with American company Katalyst Space Technologies having equipped the geostationary satellites with SDA sensors with the ability to detect whether enemy probes are approaching satellites in space. The plan is for the satellites to play a new role in the Pentagon's testing and training center.

The company Space Inventor is part of the North Jutland cluster for wireless communication and space technology that has now been mapped in a report from IRIS Group. The cluster has 852 full-time employees, more than half of whom are people with long-cycle higher education. The turnover is DKK 1.7 billion, and DKK 1.4 billion of that is exports.

"Our researchers create new knowledge in close collaboration with authorities and the business community. This has an enormous impact on the development of Northern Jutland," says Rector Per Michael Johansen.

"Since the work on radio and antenna technology for small satellites began, many things have happened. And it is very satisfying to see that commercial opportunities have followed, so that, for example, technology is also being developed to receive data from space on ships and in the Danish Armed Forces."

The report, which was prepared on the occasion of AAU's 50th anniversary, shows that AAU's activities generally account for nearly five percent of Northern Jutland's annual GDP, i.e. approximately DKK 8.3 billion per year, and one of the growth areas is space technology and wireless communication. This business cluster with a burgeoning, high-tech position of strength in space technology is largely based on research and entrepreneurship from AAU and, according to the report, has shown strong growth in recent years. Since 2010, employment in the cluster has grown by approximately 130 percent, while exports almost quadrupled during this period. The cluster, which mainly produces technology for satellites and for satellite communication with aircraft and ships, currently consists of 24 companies that have close relationships with AAU, and many of the companies have office space on campus or in the affiliated NOVI Science Park.

The new report from IRIS Group shows that the development in the field of space technology in recent years is not a suddenly emerging research area in Northern Jutland. There is a common thread from Aalborg's production of ship radios in the 1960s, through the many years with AAU as a leader in the development of antenna technology for mobile phones, and on to the billion-kroner turnover that 24 companies in space technology and wireless communication can show today.

After many years of manufacturing radio and TV sets, the company SP Radio began producing ship radio and navigation equipment in the 1960s. SP Radio was one of the driving forces in AAU building up a strong research environment in radio communication, antenna technology and mobile technology, and by extension that North Jutland companies were started in mobile technology and companies like Motorola, Intel, Samsung and Nokia located research and development in Northern Jutland. During this period, the development of one of the world's first GSM (2G) phones was among the highlights of the wireless communication cluster. When the mobile adventure ebbed away, a high-tech position of strength in space technology evolved in the same academic environment and there are now about 25 companies that have close relationships to AAU, many of them with offices on campus or in the affiliated NOVI Science Park. Among the most significant are Gomspace, Satlab, Sternula and Space Inventor.

In general, the IRIS report estimates that the regional impact associated with AAU's activities is approximately DKK 8.7 billion annually (2021 figures). This corresponds to 4.9 percent of the region's total GDP. In the  analysis, AAU's importance for employment in Northern Jutland is estimated at 6,547 full-time jobs and an additional 23,397 jobs in Northern Jutland are supported the fact that employees are educated at AAU.

KONTAKT

• Tor Bagger. Journalist, AAU Communication and Public Affairs. Tlf. 30 17 31 65, toba@adm.aau.dk
• Space Inventor: Contact via Jacob Lange, Lange PR. Tlf. 20 76 30 20, jacob@langepr.dk