Maritime aerospace

Recent years have seen the tip of Brittany become a true centre of excellence at the interface between aerospace and the ocean. Internationally renowned academic institutions for data acquisition and processing have helped develop this expertise, as has CLS in Brest. This jointly-owned subsidiary of the French space agency CNES and Belgian group CNP, is a pioneering provider of earth observation and monitoring solutions based on satellite data. In particular, these solutions can be used to monitor the marine environment and maritime transport or to combat pollution. Start-ups like eOdyn and Hytech Imaging have also emerged and are successfully capitalising on Brittany’s first-class academic research environment.

The region boasts organisations with international reputations such as IMT Atlantique technological university, France’s Institute for Ocean Science (Ifremer), the University of Brest, ENSTA Bretagne engineering school, the National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) and even the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) – which sited its Laboratory for Ocean Physics and Satellite Remote Sensing (LOPS) in Brest.

All this academic excellence has attracted the Regional Institute for Space Innovation (IRISPACE), forging a direct link between CNES and Brittany. There’s also MORESPACE, an initiative aiming to build local capacity in the applied satellite data sector. Brest is home to ESA BIC Nord-France, a European Space Agency incubator with the world’s biggest network of space-sector start-ups. All in all, Finistère has so many assets that it’s one of Europe’s most dynamic regions in the maritime aerospace sector.