Stoke Space has its 168,000-square-foot headquarters in Kent, Wash., where Mount Rainier can be seen on a good day. (Stoke Space Photo)
Space Northwest, a nonprofit association serving the Pacific Northwest’s space industry ecosystem, says it’s partnering with the Commercial Space Federation to launch a regional space business accelerator.
The initiative will begin with an executive roundtable scheduled this summer, followed by a 12-week accelerator program due to begin in autumn. The accelerator is expected to support up to 10 early-stage space companies with programming focused on commercial space markets, investment readiness, tech commercialization, growth strategies for commercial and government markets, and integration into the space industry’s global supply chain.
The accelerator initiative will receive local support from the City of Kent, which hosts Blue Origin. Stoke Space, PowerLight Technologies and other ventures targeting space applications. The city has a heritage in the space industry that goes back to Boeing’s role in building lunar rovers for NASA’s Apollo moon missions.
A report published in 2022 estimated the overall economic impact of Washington state’s core space industry at $4.6 billion annually, supporting more than 13,000 jobs. That impact is probably greater today than it was four years ago. Blue Origin was said to employ about 6,000 people nationwide in 2022, but more recent figures suggest the company has upwards of 12,000 employees.
“The Pacific Northwest has a uniquely entrepreneurial space ecosystem complemented by world-class aviation, software and advanced technology industries,” Sean McClinton, Space Northwest’s co-founder, said today in a news release. “We believe this accelerator can help capitalize on the region’s strengths and support innovators building the next generation of world-class space companies.”
The Washington, D.C.-based Commercial Space Federation will shape the accelerator curriculum. “Commercial space scales on the industrial base around it, not just its marquee names,” said Kelli Kedis Ogborn, strategic adviser on global Markets and industry engagement at CSF. “The Pacific Northwest has both: world-class aerospace leaders and the deep bench of adjacent capability the sector needs to grow.”
Ogborn said the accelerator program will aim to “connect those strengths to the broader national commercial space community and turn the region’s industrial depth into a driving force in the space supply chain.”
Space Northwest said additional details about the application process, program structure, speakers and partner organizations will be announced later this year.
