The Essex 2020 podcast
In this series, we go behind the scenes of the UK’s biggest celebration of science and creativity. In each episode, Essex 2020 project director Richard Freeman meets some of the brilliant people and organisations who are working to create, inspire and discover Essex’s past, present and future.
In this episode: Alex Wilcox from Leonardo Company
Leonardo has been operating in Basildon, South Essex, since 1952 when its forerunner, Marconi, built the facility due to the pool of highly skilled engineers and researchers available in the region.
Over the past 65 years, the facility has produced several world firsts including the Marconi TICM (the UK’s first military standard production thermal imager) and the Phoenix unmanned military surveillance vehicle.
Today, the Basildon site is home to nearly 1,000 people who are involved in the design and development of thermal imaging systems, radar systems, radio communications, infrared detection, signal processing and network systems.
Richard Freeman talks to Alex Wilcox, a graduate engineer who works on a range of infrared imaging projects. They talk about the role of companies like Leonardo in the development of new technologies; skills and apprenticeships; and the impact of Covid-19 on engineering and manufacturing in Essex.
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Essex 2020 is an Essex Partners initiative.
This is an always possible podcast.
The interviewer was Richard Freeman for always possible and the producer was Chris Thorpe-Tracey for Lo Fi Arts.