QinetiQ

Herndon, Va. and Erpe-Mere, Belgium 14 June 2022 – The spaceflight industry planted a new flag in Belgium as ST Engineering iDirect announced that it will be manufacturing components used in flight systems for spacecraft to European Cooperation for Space Standardisation (ECSS) standards at its Manufacturing Competence Centre (MCC) in Erpe-Mere, Belgium.

With recent reports highlighting that 5G-enabled factories could deliver a productivity boost to UK manufacturing of between £2.6 billion (€3.03 billion) and £6.3 billion (€7.34 billion), it is perhaps surprising that smart factory technology simply wasn’t on the radar of 27% of respondents to the Annual Manufacturing Report in 2019.

By 2020 it is estimated that the global Internet of Things (IoT) market will have grown to more than $1.7 trillion. According to a study by Gartner, by the end of this year alone the number of IoT devices on the planet will have reached more than 4 billion.

House of Lords, London, UK — The UK has launched a smart city initiative designed to give Britain a lead in the global smart cities race. The #HyperCatCity programme’s collaborative approach and open standards aim to make it faster and easier for developers to deliver smart city solutions that improve the lives of citizens.