Ubotica Technologies, an Irish firm developing artificial intelligence capabilities for satellites, will locate its United States-based headquarters and business operations at the Ohio Aerospace Institute in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park. The site is next to the NASA Glenn Research Center (OAI).
An article by NEOtrans Blog shares:
When a Dublin, Ireland-based maker of artificial intelligence software for commercial satellites looked for a home in the nation with the world’s largest space program, it didn’t choose to be near any of the NASA complexes south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Instead, it picked the only NASA center north of it to be its neighbor.
Ubotica Technologies Ltd. is opening at the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI), 22800 Cedar Point Rd., in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park. The new-start firm develops artificial intelligence (AI) software and neural networks for commercial and defense satellites so they can read and react to changes in conditions in space, earth-based environments and satellite functions. Their HQ site is next door to NASA’s Glenn Research Center At Lewis Field. The United States headquarters being co-located with OAI, a hub for U.S. aerospace research and innovation, will aid Ubotica in their mission, says Aaron Rood, Ubotica’s senior director of U.S. business development.
This is the second announced expansion next to Glenn by a company from the British Isles this year. Blue Abyss Diving Ltd. announced in March it is pursuing the development of a new $250 million research center devoted to deep-sea and space research at the Aerozone Alliance TechPark next to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. For its new facility, Blue Abyss has yet to acquire a 12-acre piece of a 17.8-acre site the city of Brook Park put on the market along Aerospace Parkway, however.
Ubotica’s new U.S. corporate structure will enable the start-up firm to engage in U.S. government procurement and collaborate in space applications of AI. Ubotica said in a written statement that this move intends to expand the company’s growing commercial and government customer base across the Americas, and deepen its public and private partnerships with NASA and the defense industry. In addition to NASA, OAI also partners with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton.
“Our colocation within OAI provides a great opportunity to integrate into an ecosystem at the forefront of space and aerospace innovation,” said Sean Mitchell, chairman and chief commercial officer at Ubotica. “We are grateful to the Ohio Aerospace Institute for their support and eagerly anticipate future collaborative partnerships.”
Ubotica Technologies is still a small company with just over $2 million in annual revenues. But it recently won $4.2 million in seed money from Atlantic Bridge with co-investment from US-based Dolby Family Ventures and the world’s leading investor in space initiatives, Seraphim Space, that enabled this expansion across the Atlantic Ocean. Ubotica has operations in Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain.
