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First Institute for Space Commerce to be based in the Isle of Man
THE Isle of Man is reaching for the stars after achieving a world first.
The Manx Government successfully won a bidding war to secure the world's first International Institute for Space Commerce (IISC), to be based at the International Business School, Douglas.
An official opening ceremony takes place on Saturday.
Isle of Man Government's director of e-business and space commerce Tim Craine, said: 'It is a tremendous endorsement for the Isle of Man to have the International Institute for Space Commerce in the Isle of Man.
'We were in direct competition from Tokyo, Paris, Los Angles and Toronto in Canada – so for the Isle of Man to win against that sort of competition is amazing and the endorsement from the International Space University that they want to be associated with us is amazing.
'In terms of the Isle of Man's reputation internationally, we couldn't ask for more.'
Creation of the IISC project has been a joint initiative between the International Space University (ISU) based in Strasbourg, France, and the Manx Government. The ISU wanted to become more global and wanted to establish a number of associated international institutes around the world.
The first of those institutes to start up is the Isle of Man's IISC.
Mr Craine explained that a board of trustees would look after the IISC, comprising representatives from the IoM and the ISU. It will offer a 'global masters programme' for students in space commerce.
'We are literally putting the finishing touches to the programme and, once it's done, the marketing will begin,' added Mr Craine.
It will mean more investors will have a 'facility on the door step where they can find out a lot more about what happens in the business involving the space world', said Treasury member with responsibility for the space industry, Alex Downie MLC.
'We already have legal firms benefiting greatly from work with the space industry and we hope to develop that greater by having the IISC in the Isle of Man,' he added.
Reasons for the ISU choosing the Isle of Man included: the Island's political commitment to develop space commerce, space friendly legislation, commercial benefits for companies such as low taxes and access to orbital filing slots.
The Isle of Man also already has an existing cluster of space companies including, SES, Inmarsat, Telesat, ManSat and Sea Launch.
Present at the Saturday's opening ceremony will be representatives of the international space community, members of Tynwald and those involved in the space industry here.
There will be two special guests: George Abbey and Dr Soyeon Yi.
Mr Abbey is the senior fellow for space studies from the Baker Institute at Rice University in Texas.
Formerly, Mr Abbey was the director of the NASA Johnson Space Centers Flight Crew Operations Directorate, presiding from the first group of space shuttle astronauts in 1978 through to 1988 and served on the National Space Council under Vice President Dan Quayle.
Dr Soyeon Yi came to international prominence in April, when she became the first citizen of South Korea, and only the second woman from Asia, to go into space.
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Weather for Isle of Man
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 3 C to 4 C
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