Innovative businesses in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and the United Kingdom want to collaborate to develop advanced space technology to battle natural disasters and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Gulf. AzurX, a space investment and advisory organization located in Dubai, is cooperating with Scotland-based AstroAgency to establish a "space bridge" connecting the United Kingdom and Gulf countries.
Both received £75,000 (Dh343,647) from the UK Space Agency as part of the International Bilateral Fund, which aims to strengthen international cooperation. AzurX will now help firms in the UAE and Bahrain contact with businesses in the UK in order to collaborate on space projects.
“The UAE has one of the fastest growing space programmes in the world, whilst Bahrain’s space programme is quickly unfolding,” said Anna Hazlett, founder of AzurX.
“This international collaboration offers an opportunity for UK space companies to enter and service the GCC region, whilst creating strong international trade and investment ties for years to come.”
As the national agency tries to speed the development of space technologies and research, more monies are being spent in the UK's private space sector. The new program will assist UK firms in winning contracts from organizations based in the UAE and Bahrain for projects integrating Earth observation and data analytics technologies.
Water resource management, urbanization and infrastructure planning, carbon credit allocation monitoring, oil and gas leak detection, and natural disaster monitoring could all benefit from this.