Economy

The value of available construction contracts for the first phase of the SKA project is expected to exceed €900 million and will be shared between the project partners. 

These direct investments will be felt in the local, regional and global economies, injecting investment into local and national industry, and they will create hundreds of jobs in a variety of sectors.

The scale of the SKA project, and the inherent requirement to “productise” and mass-produce many of its components, requires new and innovative levels of industry participation far exceeding that generally required in other astronomy projects. The construction of the SKA telescopes requires collaboration between researchers and manufacturers to produce new or improved instruments, which will allow industry to gain cutting-edge knowledge and expertise, and offer opportunities for R&D, which will subsequently provide the platform for wider sales or even new product lines. This is an area of considerable business potential.