Peter Young
Chair. Space Scotland
Speaker profile
Peter has over 30 years experience in the international space sector as an industry leader and senior manager.
He was CEO of Telespazio VEGA, one of the UK’s largest space services companies for 8 years and was concurrently Senior Vice President of Telespazio SpA’s Systems and Operations Business Line based in Rome. In this role, he had full P&L responsibility for approx. €250m revenues, over 600 staff located in 11 countries.
Since leaving Telespazio in 2017, Peter has built a portfolio of industry positions in the Scottish space industry including the co-founding the Scottish Space Leadership Council (SSLC) in 2016 – now Space Scotland. The Council worked with the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and the UK Space
Agency amongst others to represent the sector’s interests and promote the extensive and rapidly growing capabilities in new space. He has also been a senior advisor and director of several Scottish space start-ups and SMEs over that period.
He is currently Chair, and a Director, of Space Scotland.
He is deeply engaged by the challenge of how satellite data and analytics can be used to deliver real value to the increasing demand from the number of climate action and sustainability initiatives. He has augmented this work by incorporating this initiative into the wider context of the Scottish space sector’s contribution to national economic development.
He was appointed as a Member of Court at the University of Strathclyde in 2018 and re-appointed in 2024. He is currently a member of the University’s Enterprise and Investment Committee.
