Guidance

International Bilateral Fund – Call 3 Guidance

Published 24 August 2026

1. Introduction

The UK Space Agency, part of the Department for Business, Innovation, Science & Trade (BIST), invites proposals for projects through the International Bilateral Fund (IBF) that will help strengthen the UK space sector’s international partnerships. The objectives of the IBF are to:   

• Deepen relationships through international partnerships, strengthening the UK as a trusted space partner of choice.
• Deliver the Government’s economic growth agenda by enabling high-value collaboration, innovation, increased market access and exports.
• Leverage international partnerships to build priority UK capabilities and protect national security.

We particularly encourage applications to support partnerships with entities in Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan and the USA but also welcome applications for partnerships with other countries, including emerging space nations, where there are strong opportunities to support IBF objectives. All applications must clearly evidence how the partnership supports both UK and partner country space priorities.

1.1. Key Information

Projects can be up to 18 months and must begin on 1 April 2027. Up to £1.5m is available in UK Space Agency grant funding for each project. With at least £12 million available, the UK Space Agency expects to fund between 8 and 12 projects. If additional funding becomes available, the UK Space Agency will aim to support more projects.  Owing to high levels of anticipated demand for this funding call, the UK Space Agency has taken the decision to restrict the number of applications to one per lead organisation (for the avoidance of doubt, this measure applies to all types of organisations, including industrial, academic and public sector research bodies). The inclusion of an international partner and matched contributions (as per UK subsidy control guidelines) are mandatory.

1.2. Assessment

The application is single stage, with full proposals due by Wednesday 4 November at 3:00 pm.

Review process

As part of the IBF Call 3 assessment process, an initial quality threshold will be applied. Proposals will be assessed against questions 1 and 2, and only those achieving a minimum score of 3 out of 5 on each criterion — 60% — will be taken forward for further assessment on all remaining criteria. Assessors will score each question independently on a scale of 0–5, using 0.5 increments where necessary. Weighted scores will then be combined to calculate an overall score and establish the ranking of proposals for the final panel meeting. We seek to fund a portfolio of projects that enhance the breadth of our international partnerships and so it is our intention to fund no more than two projects involving main project partners from the same country.

Timeline

Information Webinar: 8 September 2026

EOI deadline:              14 September 2026 (optional but encouraged)

Application deadline: 4 November 2026

Decisions relayed:      February 2027

Projects begin:            1 April 2027

Please complete the Expression of Interest form here.

2. Call Objectives, Scope and Key Information

2.1. Objectives

Background

The UK Space Agency plays a central role in the UK’s One Government approach to space policy, strategy and delivery, working closely with businesses, research organisations and international partners to grow the UK space sector. The UK has set an ambitious vision for the space sector, recognising its importance for economic growth, national security, scientific advancement, and international collaboration. This vision has been reinforced through key government strategies, including the Space Industrial Plan (2024), Strategic Defence Review (2025), and Modern Industrial Strategy (2025), which recognise space as part of UK Critical National Infrastructure and a strategic national priority.

Space is a vital component of UK civil society and defence. Space and satellite services underpin the UK’s defence operations, critical national infrastructure and wider economic activity estimated at £454 billion, equivalent to around 18% of UK GDP. The sector is a critical driver of the UK economy, generating £18.6 billion in annual income and employing around 55,000 people nationwide[1].

The IBF underpins government objectives by advancing innovation through international collaboration to deliver economic growth and stronger security. Leveraging the UK’s world-leading research base, the programme brings together businesses, universities and international partners to develop high-impact technologies, create commercial opportunities, and build enduring partnerships that enhance the UK’s global competitiveness.

International goals

Strong international partnerships are essential to the UK’s ability to protect its interests and deliver its strategic objectives, and the UK Government has placed international cooperation at the heart of its approach to safeguarding UK security, sustaining economic growth, and ensuring long-term access to space. Investing in bilateral relationships provides the UK with access to global space science opportunities and expands commercial opportunities with innovative space economies. International collaboration also enables the UK to deepen bilateral relationships and support wider government objectives in trade and diplomacy. As space becomes more congested and contested, the UK must work with partners to develop our capabilities and improve resilience for national security. The IBF seeks to harness international partnerships spanning industry and academia, to help establish the UK’s strategic advantage, weather geopolitical shocks, promote economic growth and support national security.

International collaboration for space will prioritise partnerships with our closest allies, while also forging relationships with fast-growing partners, ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of international space cooperation. For IBF Call 3, we encourage applications with international partners in Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan and the USA. The UK Space Agency has identified these countries as strategically important for advancing broader national goals as well as the space sector. Applications to strengthen collaboration with wider international partners are also very welcome where they represent strong opportunities to further UK international goals.

Economic Growth

The IBF supports the growth of a globally competitive UK space sector by driving innovation, exports and resilience, contributing to the UK Space Agency’s broader goal of a commercially sustainable space economy. The fund supports UK industry and academia to commercialise technologies through targeted international partnerships, unlocking international opportunities and trade.  Proposals must describe how the project will deliver economic impact, with clear and realistic pathways to commercialisation, exports, investment attraction or job creation. These should be supported by defined milestones and timelines that demonstrate a strong return on investment for the UK Government. Consortia should combine expertise from industry, academia and the wider research community. Applicants are encouraged to consider how organisations of different sizes can work together to build capability across the UK space sector.

Priority UK Capabilities

Through this call, the UK aims to develop and/or strengthen key space capabilities by supporting international partnerships that accelerate the development of technologies, products and expertise underpinning future space missions and services.

Proposals should demonstrate how the project will strengthen UK strategic capability through international collaboration and address a clearly defined capability gap, technical challenge, market barrier, or strategic opportunity. Activities should deliver meaningful and measurable benefits for the UK such as increased industrial competitiveness or improved supply chain resilience. This may also include areas where the UK is already internationally competitive, as well as emerging sectors with significant strategic advantage and future growth potential.

Proposals are welcome on any area of the UK space economy, but the following priority subsectors have been identified as particularly important for the UK’s economic, civil and defence requirements:

• Satellite Communications
• Assured Access to Space
• In-Orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (ISAM) and
• Space Domain Awareness (SDA)

Applicants are strongly encouraged to engage with identified government priorities to ensure projects are aligned with cross-government interests.

Defence and security

All funded projects must demonstrate a clear contribution to economic growth, which forms a core assessment criterion. In addition, projects may contribute to defence and national security outcomes where appropriate. The Strategic Defence Review and National Security Strategy highlight the critical role of space in safeguarding national interests, strengthening resilience and countering emerging threats. We welcome proposals that leverage international collaboration to advance UK security and defence priorities by developing strategically important space capabilities. Proposals should demonstrate how the project will enhance the resilience of the UK space sector and/or strengthen the UK’s ability to detect, monitor, respond to and mitigate threats in the space domain, contributing to the Agency’s wider national security objectives.

2.2. Scope

Building on the success of the previous IBF Call 2, which provided a pipeline of funding for international cooperation across two distinct tracks, IBF Call 3 will offer larger, longer-term grants designed to deliver high-value outcomes for both the UK and partner countries, driving meaningful progress in international partnerships.

Proposals can cover a wide range of activities aligned with the UK’s international goals and the UK Space Agency’s priorities. Proposals should include activities that promote the UK internationally by working with overseas partners to showcase UK capabilities, strengthen the UK’s international profile, and advance bilateral relationships. We also welcome activities that champion the space sector within the UK. This may include dissemination of project results, stakeholder engagement, public outreach, skills development, knowledge exchange and other activities that raise awareness and support the wider adoption and exploitation of project outcomes.

Some examples of previous successful proposals can be found on our website for Call 1 (Phase 1 (2023) and Phase 2 (2024/25)) and Call 2 from the previous iterations of the IBF.

2.3. Important Information for Applicants

IBF Call 3 will utilise an online portal for applications; the Flexi-Grant system will be used to manage the end-to-end application process. Access to the Flexi-grant portal can be found here.

Although it is not mandatory, applicants are strongly urged to complete and submit an “Expression of Interest” (EOI) MS Form by 14 September 2026, a link to which can be found HERE. The form requests the project title, and a short description of the project. EOIs will not be assessed but will help the IBF team to organise an appropriate pool of assessors. 

Proposals will be selected for funding through a one-stage application process, and full applications should be submitted by 4 November 2026. Internally, proposals will go through a quality threshold assessment stage, where they will be reviewed using assessment criteria 1 and 2, and only those that score at least 3/5 on both criteria will continue to be assessed.  The final applications that are assessed in full will be discussed at a panel meeting which will make the final funding recommendations. To achieve the programme’s objectives, we will aim to fund a balanced portfolio of high scoring projects across a variety of countries, technologies, markets, industries and sectors. Our intention is to fund a maximum of two projects per country to ensure balanced coverage. Feedback on unsuccessful proposals will be provided.

The UK Space Agency’s grant contribution is topped at £1.5m maximum, total project costs including match contributions can take the total project cost above this amount. Grant funding per project is expected to range from £1m to £1.5m. In exceptional circumstances, the UK Space Agency reserves the right to adjust the value or duration of the grant funding available.

Project consortia must include at least one formal international project partner: any applications that are submitted without an international partner explicitly listed or as a subcontractor will be rejected.

The anticipated start date for successful projects is 1 April 2027. Projects should be prepared for a prompt start with the relevant technical and project management resources, allowing for any required recruitment to take place within the project schedule proposed.

Proposals must outline a practical and credible delivery plan with clearly defined milestones that demonstrate progressive achievement of the project’s technical, commercial and programme management objectives, ensuring deliverables and payments are not disproportionately weighted in the final months of the project. Milestones should be scheduled at appropriate intervals throughout the project, aligned with the planned progression of the work, to support effective project delivery while addressing applicant cash flow needs; however, projects should not exceed six milestones per year.

Milestones should be based on clearly defined technical, commercial or programme management deliverables, with objective, measurable and proportionate acceptance criteria that provide clear evidence of successful completion.

Owing to high levels of anticipated demand for this funding call, the UK Space Agency has taken the decision to restrict the number of applications to one per lead organisation (for the avoidance of doubt, this measure applies to all types of organisations, including industrial, academic and public sector research bodies). If organisations submit more than one application where they are the lead entity, the UK Space Agency will accept the first and reject any further applications.

Grant holders and grant holder organisations should have the experience and capacity to lead a grant of this scale and ensure robust technical; commercial and project management is in place to manage international partners and funding. Any project partner receiving UK Space Agency funding should also be prepared to accept the same terms and conditions. The UK lead is responsible for overseeing the funding and activity of all partners within the consortium including effective coordination, governance and reporting arrangements. We encourage consortia across the UK and internationally to work together on a project and support capacity building across the space ecosystem to help support the scaling of smaller organisations and early career staff wherever possible.

This call will close at 3:00 pm on Wednesday 4 November 2026 – no extensions are permitted. Late applications will not be accepted.

Funding for the IBF is provided in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (the Act) Streamlined Scheme for Research, Development and Innovation. As such, all enterprises included in the project consortium are required to provide match funding at the minimum levels outlined in Section 9 of this document and satisfy the requirements of this scheme.

Applicants must stay within the following funding guidelines:

• A minimum of 20% of the grant funding must be claimed by the lead organisation
• International partner costs should be capped at 20% of the total grant cost
• No more than 20% of the overall funding should be distributed to subcontractors
• No more than 30% of the total grant value can be spent on travel and subsistence and must be clearly justified.

Project consortia can include both international and national project partners, (who are all expected to adhere to the match funding requirements), and subcontractors, who can be paid from award funds and should therefore be included in overall project costs. All applicants, irrespective of geographic location, must satisfy the core eligibility requirements (section 4). The award will be subject to completion of satisfactory due diligence checks.

There will be an online information webinar outlining the call goals and application process, with an opportunity for questions – you can apply to attend here.

Where required, Collaboration Agreements between project leads and partners must be signed within 1 month of completing the GFA. Failure to do so risks termination of the grant. This should include provisions regarding how the results of the work, including any Intellectual Property Rights and spinouts, will be exploited by project partners. It is the responsibility of the lead organisation to ensure suitable Collaboration Agreements are drafted and agreed – the UK Space Agency will not provide advice on these documents.

Grant funding is offered on a cost recovery basis only. Payments will only be made once evidence of successfully delivered milestones has been provided. Agreed deliverables will be reviewed by the UK Space Agency against acceptance criteria before payments are disbursed, selected evidence of spend (receipts, invoices, timesheets – as relevant) will also be required.

The UK Space Agency has a duty to fulfil the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) as set out in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 to eliminate unlawful discrimination. We are committed to encouraging a diverse range of applicants to our funding calls. Funding proposals should also ensure that their projects give due care to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) considerations such as ensuring the advancement and good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

Grant Funding Limitations

• This grant scheme complies with the Subsidy Control Act 2022 and awards are made under the Streamlined Route for Research, Development and Innovation. Companies applying for this funding will need to demonstrate they meet eligibility requirements for this scheme, including not having received previous project funding in excess of the cumulation caps within the scheme (£3 million). Further information on eligibility requirements is listed in Section 9 (Subsidy Control). More guidance can be found here.

• All proposals must be led by organisations based in the United Kingdom.

• The UK Space Agency reserves the right to reject proposals if they are outside the call remit, do not contain all the required information, or do not provide sufficient information for assessment.

• IBF funding is constrained by financial year funding limits and cannot allow slips in financial profiling across financial years. The financial year is from 1st April to 31st March of the following year. Please be mindful of appropriately allocating costs to the correct financial year and that slips out of year or beyond may need to be funded by the recipient organisation or result in de-scoping of the project.

• The UK Space Agency does not take responsibility for risk management or mitigations within the project, though we retain the right to have sight of risk management to provide confidence in project success and to terminate projects in the event critical risks materialise that render a project undeliverable.

• Terms and conditions set out in the Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) will govern the grant awards with no scope to make material changes, including to liability levels. Minor changes may be considered if an applicant can demonstrate that agreeing to the provision within the GFA would result in the applicant breaching its statutory or regulatory obligations. Requests for changes must be made at application stage.

• Protection of any Intellectual Property (IP) rights on the project will remain the responsibility of the project participants. The UK Space Agency does not seek any ownership of project IP. Future ownership of any potential IPR should be dealt with as part of any Collaboration Agreement.

• Any sensitive information (such as IP) shared in your application will be shared with our assessors and expert panel to allow them to carry out their review. All reviewers will be required to complete a confidentiality agreement and conflict of interest form before accessing proposals. If you have any specific concerns (e.g. direct competitors) please state these clearly on your communication with us and request confirmation by email to UKSA.ibf@dsit.gov.uk that we have received this information.

• Questions or clarifications can be directed to UKSA.ibf@dsit.gov.uk.The UK Space Agency will not respond to questions asking for applications to be reviewed ahead of the submission deadline or clarification questions directed to any other email address.

3. Call and Delivery Timeline

The following schedule sets out the timing of processes for this funding call. Please note that each deadline may be subject to change in the event of operational constraints. We will notify applicants by email should this occur.

Call Opens	24 August 2026
Information Webinar	8 September 2026, 10:00-11:00 BST
EOI deadline (optional)	14 September 2026
Call Closes (Full Proposal Deadline)	4 November 2026, 3:00 pm GMT
Successful Applicants Notified	February - 2027
Project Kick-off	1 April 2027
Projects Conclude	September 2028

Register for the webinar here.

Complete the Expression of Interest form here.

4. Eligibility Requirements

All successful proposals must meet the UK Space Agency’s eligibility criteria for grant funding.

4.1. Project Requirements

Grant recipients should be prepared to begin by April 1 2027, and projects must conclude by September 30, 2028, at the latest, having submitted final reports and invoice. The start date is dependent on completion of the UK Space Agency’s due diligence checks. These checks may require timely applicant involvement to avoid delays to project kick off.

The following project management responsibilities will be required:

• to engage with the IBF team to complete due diligence checks ahead of project commencement, providing additional information if requested and facilitating swift communication between any supporting teams (i.e. finance, legal, partners).
• the grant recipient (and project partners where possible) will attend an in-person kick-off meeting to initiate the project and confirm project governance, delivery arrangements and milestone planning.
• the UK lead is responsible for the contract with the UK Space Agency and leading the wider international consortium including all due diligence and monitoring checks. The UK lead must disperse funding to international partners before this funding is reimbursed by the UK Space Agency.

• the grant recipient will schedule quarterly review meetings with the UK Space Agency at an appropriate time to review technical commercial and project progress.

• the grant recipient will define milestone deliverables and acceptance criteria within the proposal using the templates provided. Acceptance criteria must be objective, measurable, clear and proportionate to the funding milestone amount.

• the grant recipient will provide details of project risks and reduction activities which will include detail of additional time included in the schedule for risk mitigation, risk related cost included against any budgeted items and best/worst case project outcomes. Risk consideration should also include technical, commercial and supply chains.
• the grant recipient will provide regular updates on the risk register and communicate any realised risk in a timely manner so that the grant co-ordinator may have oversight of mitigating actions and confirm these are acceptable to the UK Space Agency. Any risks that could result in changes to the agreed delivery plan must be communicated to the UK Space Agency immediately together with the proposed mitigation and recovery actions where appropriate.
• the grant recipient will provide appropriate evidence of successfully meeting milestone acceptance criteria and delivering the agreed technical, commercial or project management deliverables in their GFA in a timely manner.
• confirmation is required that the Grant Recipient has expended the sums in respect of the period in which milestone payments have been claimed and this includes providing evidence of spend such as receipts and invoices to the UK Space Agency for review for all milestone claims.
• an independent assurance report must be completed and sent to the UK Space Agency within 6 months of the end of the grant.

• as a public funding body, UK Space Agency grants may be audited at any time which can involve information requests to project teams. Grant recipients are required to comply with these requests as part of the terms of the Grant Funding Agreement. Audit costs are not eligible to be claimed under the grant.

• the grant recipient will provide information to the UK Space Agency relating to monitoring and evaluation activity for the duration of the project and up to 10 years following, whether conducted by the UK Space Agency or by a third party.

4.2. Reporting Requirements

Projects are required to provide confidence in project management, technical delivery, share successes, and to support IBF internal reporting.

Reporting Schedule

Monthly updates using the milestone reporting template provided in the template Grant Funding Agreement.

Review meeting held at appropriate points such as project kick off, quarterly and final review which cover:

• schedule
• risk
• finance (spend to date, any variation on upcoming spend)
• achievement against project goals as set out in the Grant Funding Agreement, including technical progress and achievement against agreed milestone acceptance criteria.
• realised benefits in areas relevant to each project, including but not limited to project-specific metrics such as job creation and skills, knowledge generation and exploitation, global leadership, inspiration and increased follow-on revenue. A list of potential benefit descriptions can be found in Annex A.
• alignment with future exploitation and next steps of technical development

All reporting, including monthly updates and deliverable reviews, will inform the UK Space Agency’s assessment of project progress and milestone completion prior to the release of milestone payments.  Additional reporting may be required to support individual projects, discussed on a case-by-case basis with your UK Space Agency Grant Manager. Project teams should be appropriately staffed to ensure all reporting requirements are met in a timely and accurate manner, including the provision of appropriate technical, commercial and financial evidence where required.

The grant recipient will provide a final project report including but not limited to: an executive summary, project delivery, technical achievements, actual outcomes, lessons learned, benefits, communication and outreach, exploitation activities, next steps. The final report should describe the project’s contribution to the development or strengthening of UK strategic capability, including technical, commercial and wider sector impacts where appropriate.

The executive summary should be IPR free and not contain any confidential information, as it may be uploaded onto UK Space Agency’s website. The Executive Summary must be submitted both as an appropriately formatted Microsoft Word document and in Govspeak Markdown (see How to publish on GOV.UK) with all the appropriate formatting to support publication on GOV.UK. Any images intended for inclusion should be provided alongside the report, systematically labelled and with a clear indication of their location in the executive summary.

4.3. Financial Requirements

The UK Space Agency will carefully review your submitted budget and, if successful, milestone claims to ensure all costs included represent eligible costs.

Grant funding is offered on a cost recovery basis only. This means grant funding can only be used to cover the cost of delivering the agreed activity or goal as set out in the project plan. Any surplus funds not spent will be lost to the project unless there are alternative arrangements agreed. You can find details about what costs our grant funding can and cannot be used for on the UK Space Agency’s grants page.

If you are seeking to claim calculated overheads, you must complete the overhead section in the overheads template. When claiming calculated overheads, we may request to see evidence of costs incurred for verification purposes prior to releasing any payments.

4.4. Grant Funding Agreement Requirements

The Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) template is included in the application pack as a separate document. Applicants must sign up to the terms as set out in the GFA when submitting an application.

No material changes to the terms will be considered (including to liability provisions). Minor changes may be considered if an applicant can demonstrate that agreeing to the provision within the GFA would result in the applicant breaching its statutory or regulatory obligations. Grant applicants wishing to propose changes should submit their request ahead of or with their application, with a marked up copy of the GFA. Changes requested by successful applicants at pre-award stage will be rejected.

All organisations in receipt of grant funding must abide by the UK Government Code of Conduct for Grant Recipients.

All projects in receipt of grant funding may be subject to an external annual audit to ensure that costs claimed from the grant funding have been expensed on agreed project related expenditure and comply to the UK Space Agency’s grant funding policies (e.g. match funding). Projects are selected for audit using a risk-based approach. The auditor will be appointed by the UK Space Agency. All subcontractors and partners must provide access to project relevant expenditure. Therefore, Grant Recipients must maintain, and be able to provide upon request, any supporting evidenced as deemed necessary, such as:

• Timesheets (prime and, where applicable, partners)
• Staff costs (contractors)
• All receipts (including T&S)
• All partner and subcontractor invoices
• Breakdown of overhead costs
• Breakdown of capital usage (e.g. licence, data costs etc)

The UK Space Agency reserves the right to conduct ad-hoc audits throughout the life of the project.

5. Guidance for Preparing an Application

5.1. Submission Overview

Only the lead organisation can submit an application. It is the lead organisation’s responsibility to ensure that all required information is complete and accurately submitted before the deadline.  

The decision of the UK Space Agency is final in all cases. There is no course for appeal, but we endeavour to provide feedback on all applications in due course. Incomplete or late applications and altered templates will not be considered.

Applications will be made using the Government’s Flexigrant portal.

When uploaded into Flexigrant, the completed templates must be formatted in single-spaced typescript (minimum font size 11-point Calibri, minimum 1.5cm margins all round, including diagrams and tables). 

Part A – Application Form is to be completed as a digital form on the Flexigrant portal.

Additional documents required include:

i. Cover Letter

ii. Part B – Budget Breakdown - template provided to be uploaded as an attachment to the Flexigrant portal

iii. Part C – National Security Questionnaire to be completed as a digital form on the Flexigrant portal

iiii. Part D: Additional Overheads - template provided if required to be uploaded as an attachment to the Flexigrant portal

v. CVs - to be uploaded as attachments to the Flexigrant portal

vi. Letters of Support (mandatory for project partners)

vii. Marked up Grant Funding Agreement, only where an applicant wishes to request changes, a copy is provided and must be uploaded to Flexigrant portal

viii. 2 additional images/diagrams to allow full definition quality - to be uploaded as an attachment to the Flexigrant portal

• Where a template is specified, this must be used unaltered and submitted.
• Should any section be omitted, or a template altered, the proposal will be rejected.
• Should any part of the application overrun the specified page/word limit, we will only consider material up to the designated page/word limit that is in the correct format.

5.2. Cover Letter (for information)

To aid the placing of the grant agreement with successful bidders, the applications for funding must include a cover letter containing:

• A clear indication of the type of grant applied.
• The Subsidy Control Category, or that the grant will be applied for under the Minimum Financial Assistance Allowance.
• A committing offer to the UK Space Agency.
• The value of the grant funding requested.
• A statement of acceptance of the standard UK Space Agency Terms and Conditions (T&Cs). The T&Cs are contained in the draft Grant Funding Agreement available in this call documentation. Material changes to the grant terms will not be considered.

5.3. Application

The Application must be submitted through the Government’s ‘Flexigrant’ portal. Please see section 6 (Assessment of Applications) for full details of the assessment process and criteria for this funding scheme.  

Though an indicative start date is provided, the UK Space Agency is not able to commit to a start date until successful projects are identified, and due diligence checks are satisfied. If the start date for your project is restricted by external factors, please make these clear in your proposal.

5.4. Budget Spreadsheet

Please use the budget spreadsheet to provide an indication of the costs you expect to incur on the project. These tables will be made available to any external assessors and will be scrutinised by the UK Space Agency to ensure all costs proposed represent eligible expenditure under grant funding terms and conditions.

Please include the following information:

• Subsidy Control category tab: please include each partner organisation proposed and their relevant size, which will automatically populate their subsidy control category. Subcontractors are not included in this section and should be listed as ‘additional costs’ for the lead organisation in the work package breakdown tab.
• Work Package breakdown tab: please include a detailed breakdown of each proposed work package and the spend associated with each item. Grant funding is provided on a cost recovery basis and so no profit margins should be included on any item.
• Proposed Milestone Table tab: grant funding is paid in arrears upon agreement of completed milestone deliverables. Please include details of your proposed milestone deliverables, the work packages these correspond to and how much grant funding is requested.
• Summary by Work Package: this tab will automatically populate.
• Summary by Organisation: this tab will automatically populate.
• Instruments and Equipment tab: please provide details of any instruments or equipment being used for the project, whether these are being purchased specifically for it or have an operational use beyond the end of the project.
• Travel and Subsistence: Please include as much detail as possible to detail any travel required, costs must always be in line with UK government guidelines.

5.5. National Security Questionnaire

The threat to the space sector is real and evolving, with attempted security breaches demonstrating that UK space organisations can be targeted by a range of adversaries.

Everyone needs to protect assets and services from adversaries, incorporating Secure by Design Principles as projects, processes and systems are developed. Demonstrating a commitment to security is critical to the ongoing success of any business.  Ensuring secure, robust and recoverable systems and services can provide a competitive advantage in the marketplace and avoid unnecessary retrospective security costs.

The UK Space Agency works with the space industry to improve security and resilience to attack. As part of the requirements for this scheme, applicants must:

1. Complete the National Security Questionnaire and return with your application documentation by the deadline set out in this guidance (please note that project partners are not required to complete this, only the lead organisation).
2. Successful applicants may be invited to join the UK Space Agency’s security information-sharing arrangements, including ResilienceDirect, where appropriate. Further guidance will be provided following award
3. Successful applicants may be contacted by the UK Space Agency’s National Security and Resilience Team during the pre-award stage to discuss project security and resilience requirements where appropriate.
4. Successful grant recipients must implement security and resilience measures that are appropriate and proportionate to the size, complexity and risk profile of their project.
5. Depending on project risk, successful grant recipients may be required to demonstrate arrangements for mitigating, responding to and recovering from security incidents, including cyber security incidents. Further guidance will be provided by the UK Space Agency where required.

5.6. Calculated Overheads Template

Please include information on overheads within Part B of the application and an additional template is available if needed, please refer to the template for full instruction on the use of this sheet.

5.7. Letters of Support

All project partners must provide a letter of support to confirm their commitment to the project as formal partners.

Additional letters of support may also be provided from other stakeholders or international space agencies as appropriate.

5.8. Licensing Implications

Your activity may require a licence, granted by the UK Civil Aviation Authority, under the Space Industry Act 2018, Outer Space Act 1986, or both. This must be obtained prior to commencing any licensable activity. For more information on the licensing process, including the types of activity these Acts apply to, minimum timelines, and information required for the licensing process, please visit www.caa.co.uk/space. The CAA encourages potential licence applicants to engage with them early to help identify what licences might be required and guide applicants through the process. We highly recommend reading the CAA’s Space Licensing in the UK document which can be found here: https://www.caa.co.uk/space/licences-and-permissions/getting-started-with-licensing/.

5.9. Pre-Award: For successful applicants only

Successful project teams will be required to provide information to the UK Space Agency to support due diligence checks before a grant is awarded, in addition to completing the following documents:

• Partner Assurance Statement for all partners (if applicable)

• Monitoring Metrics, Annex 13 of the Grant Funding Agreement

• Confirmation of TRAC methodology (Academic organisations) or overhead rates

The UK Space Agency is not able to commit to grant funding until these checks are satisfied. Funding offers at this stage are conditional and may be withdrawn if insurmountable issues become apparent or queries are not resolved in a timely manner.

5.10. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a tool to support your application is permitted. However, proposals must represent the applicants’ own original ideas and AI should not be used to substantially develop applications.  Applicants are fully responsible for the content of their application and should thoroughly review any AI generated material to ensure it is truthful, accurate, and, where applicable, correctly attributed and cited.

Where AI tools are used, applicants are required to declare which tool was used and in what capacity. Additional checks will be undertaken as part of the UK Space Agency’s due diligence to ensure that the information provided is accurate.

If plagiarism is identified (presenting AI-generated content or the ideas and experiences of others as your own) applications may be rejected.

If substantive or undeclared use of AI is identified post-award, the UK Space Agency may take enforcement actions including but not limited to withholding funds, grant suspension or termination.

The information you supply to AI tools may be commercially sensitive, and caution should be exercised when sharing organisational data, ensuring that you adhere to your organisation’s policy of AI use at all times.

There have been cases which suggest that some AI models may act in a manner which is inconsistent with regulations or access files not requested by the user, presenting security risks. Responsibility for actions taken by AI models lies with the user; please bear in mind your duty of care as you proceed, seeking guidance from subject matter experts where needed.

6. Assessment of Applications

Full applications must be received from applicants by 3:00 pm, Wed 4 November 2026. Applications will be assessed by the UK Space Agency with support from relevant independent external assessors drawn from a variety of backgrounds including academia, industry and government. All external assessors are required to sign appropriate AI, confidentiality and conflict of interest agreements. Stakeholders from International Space Agencies may also be asked to comment on the strategic fit; in which case, proposals will be anonymised to ensure confidentiality. The UK Space Agency will take reasonable steps to ensure that any identified conflict of interest is removed or mitigated as appropriate.

The decision of The UK Space Agency is final in all cases. There is no course for appeal, but we provide feedback on all applications. Incomplete or late applications and altered templates will not be considered.

A summary of the assessment process is below: 

• Only proposals received by the closing time and date will be considered.
• Initial eligibility sift of proposals will remove any which do not meet the eligibility criteria.
• An initial quality threshold will be applied to the assessment process. Proposals will be assessed internally against questions 1 and 2, and only those achieving a minimum score of 3 out of 5 on each criterion — 60% — will be taken forward for further assessment on all remaining criteria by external assessors.
• A scored and ranked list will be generated, which will be reviewed by a moderation   panel to make final funding decisions.
• While funding will primarily be awarded to the highest‑ranked proposals, we aim to award no more than two projects involving main project partners from the same county. Portfolio considerations may also be taken into account to ensure an appropriate balance across countries, technologies, markets, industries and sectors,
• Final decisions will be authorised by the Panel Chair.
• All applicants will be advised of the outcome and GFA signing will begin.
• Due diligence will be conducted throughout the call process as set out in section 7. If due diligence results in irreconcilable differences, the grant will not be awarded.

The assessment criteria is available here.

7. Due Diligence

The UK Space Agency will carry out due diligence on grant applications as required using internal and, where necessary, external subject matter experts. The scope and degree of due diligence will be determined by the nature, technical complexity, and delivery risk of your grant. All applications will be subject to basic checks such as credit reports and Companies House checks and may be subject to additional security, or delivery assurance checks where appropriate. You can find details of the checks we conduct on our grants page.

Grant Applicants who opt to work with project partners (entities involved in delivery of the project under a flow down or collaboration agreement rather than a subcontractor) will assume all responsibility for partner due diligence and will be required to submit a Partner Assurance Statement prior to Grant Funding Agreements being signed confirming that appropriate governance, technical oversight and financial management arrangements are in place.

8. Confidentiality

The procedure for handling and assessing the applications for project funding will be as follows: 

• Application is through Flexigrant and only applications submitted through Flexigrant will be considered. 
• Once the call closing date has passed, electronic copies of all eligible documents will be distributed to the independent assessment panel members. UK Space Agency confidentiality rules will apply. 
• For those bids not recommended by the panel for funding, documentation will be retained by the UK Space Agency for reference in accordance with the UK Space Agency’s Records Management Policy. The proposals will not be visible to any others, and the names of any unsuccessful bidders will not be published. However, the UK Space Agency reserves the right to contact unsuccessful bidders for evaluation purposes and may share details with an external evaluator for further follow on.
• Information submitted for those projects selected for funding will be retained in accordance with the UK Space Agency’s Records Management Policy but remain confidential. 
• The UK Space Agency is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
• Summary information about the projects selected for funding may be published on the UK Space Agency’s website. 

The UK Space Agency will monitor the funded project through project reports and the submission of project deliverables. The UK Space Agency requests that any confidential information is clearly marked Commercial in Confidence. 

9. Subsidy Control

9.1. Streamlined Scheme for Research, Development and Innovation

This award is being offered under the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme subcategory 2: Industrial Research and Experimental Development Projects in accordance with Section 10 (4) of the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Projects funded as part of this scheme qualify as “feasibility study”, “industrial research” or “experimental development”, where:

• “Feasibility study” means the evaluation and analysis of the potential of a project, which aims at supporting the process of decision-making by objectively and rationally uncovering its strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, as well as identifying the resources required to carry it through and ultimately its prospects for success.
• “Industrial research” means the planned research or critical investigation aimed at the acquisition of new knowledge and skills for developing new products, processes or services or for bringing about a significant improvement in existing products, processes or services. It can include the creation of component parts to complex systems and may include prototypes in a laboratory or environment with simulated interfaces to existing systems, particularly for generic technology validation.

This would include digital products, processes or services, in any technology, industry or sector (including, but not limited to, digital industries and technologies, such as super-computing, quantum technologies, block chain technologies, artificial intelligence, cyber security, big data and cloud technologies). Industrial research comprises the creation of component parts of complex systems and may include the construction of prototypes in a laboratory environment or in an environment with simulated interfaces to existing systems as well as of pilot lines, where necessary for the industrial research and notably for generic technology validation.

• “Experimental development” means acquiring, combining, shaping and using existing scientific, technological, business and other relevant knowledge and skills with the aim of developing new or improved products, processes or services. This may include, for example, activities aimed at the conceptual definition, planning and documentation of new products, processes or services.

This includes digital products, processes or services, in any technology, industry or sector (including, but not limited to, digital industries and technologies, such as for example super-computing, quantum technologies, block chain technologies, artificial intelligence, cyber security, big data and cloud or edge technologies). This may also encompass, for example, activities aimed at the conceptual definition, planning and documentation of new products, processes or services.

Experimental development may comprise prototyping, demonstrating, piloting, testing and validation of new or improved products, processes or services in environments representative of real-life operating conditions where the primary objective is to make further technical improvements on products, processes or services that are not substantially set. This may include the development of a commercially usable prototype or pilot which is necessary for the final commercial product, and which is too expensive to produce for it to be used only for demonstration and validation purposes.

Experimental development does not include routine or periodic changes made to existing products, production lines, manufacturing processes, services and other operations in progress, even if those changes may represent improvements.

Further guidance around these definitions can be found within the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Route guidance. The onus is on applicants to determine which category their project falls within based on their knowledge of the work they are proposing to undertake, and the UK Space Agency cannot provide pre-application advice on which to select.

Subsidies given under these categories are subject to maximum award amounts and subsidy ratios set out in the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme.

These are as follows: 

	Feasibility Study	Industrial Research	Experimental Development
Small Enterprises	70% of the eligible project costs	70% of the eligible project costs	45% of the eligible project costs
Medium Enterprises	60% of the eligible project costs	60% of the eligible project costs	35% of the eligible project costs
Large Enterprises	50% of the eligible project costs	50% of the eligible project costs	25% of the eligible project costs
Academic Partner	80% Full Economic Cost	80% Full Economic Cost	80% Full Economic Cost

Enterprises may receive a 15% uplift to the subsidy ratios where the project involves collaboration between enterprises, where at least one of the enterprises is an SME, or between an enterprise and one or more research and knowledge dissemination organisation, which must have the right to publish its own research results. Academic partners on projects led by enterprises will still be funded in all cases at 80% of full economic cost.

For the purposes of subsidy control, the following definitions are applicable: 

• A small enterprise has an annual turnover below £10.2 million, a balance sheet total below £5.1 million and the average number of employees must not be more than 50
• A medium enterprise has an annual turnover below £36 million, a balance sheet total below £18 million and the average number of employees must be no more than 250
• A large enterprise has an annual turnover above £36 million, a balance sheet total above £18 million and the average number of employees is above 250

To qualify, two of the three conditions in the above definition must be met. 

Applicants should note that the maximum award amount for both industrial research and experimental development projects is £3m per enterprise per project. Due to cumulation rules and limits of the scheme, organisations seeking project funding that would exceed a total of £3million from public bodies in the last 3 years for this project will be ineligible to apply for this opportunity.

Applicants must ensure that they supply the correct information that allows the UK Space Agency to award grants within the scheme. It is the responsibility of the grant funder to ensure compliance with the relevant subsidy controls rules and the applicant to assist the funder in doing this by acting within the terms and conditions of the scheme.

Subsidy Control: Minimum Financial Assistance

The Subsidy Control Act 2022 includes provision relating to Minimum Financial Assistance (MFA). MFA allows authorities to provide grants that are considered small enough to support individual businesses without giving them an unfair advantage. Enterprises can receive up to £315,000 of MFA funding over a rolling 3 fiscal year period without having to provide match funding. You must declare any previous MFA awards you have received in your application form.

When calculating eligibility for the application of the MFA provision, applicants must also include cumulation of any EU State aid de minimis grants under the EC’s de minimis regulation and Small Amounts of Financial Assistance (SAFA) under the EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) for the same 3 fiscal year period. The maximum total under the EC de minimis regulation is €200,000, the maximum total under SAFA is £340,000 or 325,000 Special Drawing Rights. This is for all project types and for most purposes, including operating aid.

The application form asks you to tell us about any awards, including those made under de minimis and SDR, (from any source of public funding) over a rolling 3 fiscal year period. 

If you have received an award under de minimis or SDR for the same period, this will be added to your total allowance under MFA. This means that the total award must not exceed £315,000) for any one organisation. You must declare this allowance to any other funding body who requests it.

You can only apply for the maximum amount of £315,000 using MFA. Organisations who wish to apply for funding above this amount will be subject to the Subsidy Control Act 2022 requirements set out in this call guidance.

Further information on UK Space Agency’s obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 can be found on our grants page.

10. Calculated Overheads Sheet Instructions

This is only required for applicants utilising custom overhead rates – for academic applicants submitting full economic costing (FEC), please include confirmation of your most recently accepted TRAC methodology or similar to allow the UK Space Agency to validate your overhead costs

Organisations opting for the 20% of labour cost overhead rates do not need to complete this template.

For organisations who choose the calculated overheads option, the spreadsheet has two sections to complete:

• indirect (administration) overheads
• direct overheads (for those listed in the labour costs table)

Once each section is completed, the ‘total overheads spreadsheet’ will calculate your total amount.

Indirect (administration) overhead

We class indirect overheads as those costs associated with back-office functions (such as finance, human resources, administration staff) whose primary function is to support the running of a business enterprise. Typically, these costs are not directly related to a particular product or service production. 

Indirect overhead costs are eligible for inclusion if they are incurred directly because of undertaking the project. They must be additional, which means over and above your ‘business as usual’ costs. 

Where you have already identified specific ‘indirect’ individuals working directly on the project, these should have been captured in the staff costs together with the overhead attributed to them. 

We have provided cost categories in the template. The following list provides our definition for each category.

Board and senior management

The proportion of salary costs based upon PAYE (gross salary, employer’s NI, company pension contribution, life insurance) of the board and senior management of the company.

This should be where they are engaged in strategic or administrative tasks. Do not include those working directly on the project or who are customer-facing or operational. 

Administrative staff

The salary costs based upon PAYE (gross salary, employer’s NI, company pension contribution, life insurance) of main administrative staff, such as receptionists and central administration. Do not include administrative staff employed to support sales, marketing, account management and profit-generating departments. 

Human resources staff

The salary costs based upon PAYE (gross salary, employer’s NI, company pension contribution, life insurance) of human resource staff. 

Employed estates staff

The salary costs based upon PAYE (gross salary, employer’s NI, company pension contribution, life insurance) of employed cleaning, maintenance, security and other estates staff. 

Finance department staff

The salary costs based upon PAYE (gross salary, employer’s NI, company pension contribution, life insurance) of main finance department staff, such as payroll, accounts payable and receivable. Do not include staff employed to support sales, marketing or account management activities. 

Administrative support temporary or agency staff costs

This should include fees paid for the provision of temporary staff in administration or support services as listed above. Do not include any staff that are operational, such as marketing, sales, engineering, quality assurance, research and development and supply chain. 

General office IT services

This includes general IT services used across the whole organisation. Do not include IT costs where they relate purely to non-eligible staff or manufacturing, production or fee earning activities. 

General postage

This includes postage and courier expenses for general administration needs. Do not include product delivery or any postage costs incurred through promotion, sales, marketing customer relationship or accounts management. 

Office supplies, printing and stationery costs

General office stationery and supplies such as paper, business cards, corporate stationery, office equipment for support or admin staff listed above. Do not include specific costs associated with sales, marketing, product delivery, product literature or reports. 

Security and safety costs

This includes costs associated with site and staff safety and security, including signage and health and safety costs. 

Building maintenance (administration office facilities only)

This includes general repair and maintenance costs of administration facilities. Do not include repair and maintenance of manufacturing or production facilities and exceptional items such as new works or extensions, which are not eligible for inclusion in this section. 

Building rental (administration office facilities only)

Where office space is leased, include the rental costs. Do not include rental costs relating to manufacturing or production facilities, or the cost of any deposits or penalties. 

Contracted site services (administration office facilities only)

Costs of contracted services relating to administration facilities such as cleaning of offices. Do not include contracted service costs related to manufacturing or production facilities. 

Site property taxes (administration offices facilities only)

Property taxes and charges relating to office space. Do not include manufacturing or production facility property taxes and charges. 

Utilities (administration office facilities only)

Electricity, gas, water, waste disposal, telecoms costs relating to administration office facilities. 

The following is a step-by-step guide to help you fill in the relevant details to make your costs claim for indirect overhead. 

Column A

Starting with your latest set of audited accounts, please input your details against the relevant cost category in column A. If you are a new company or this information is unavailable, please use internal management accounts or forecast data. 

Note that for the administration support staff costs section, the costs included here must be based upon PAYE (gross salary, NI, company pension contribution, life insurance). They should exclude discretionary package costs such as bonuses, awards, profit-related pay and dividends. In addition, please exclude any members working directly on the project who are customer-facing or those engaged in operational or production areas. 

Column B

In this column you should state the percentage of the spend stated in column A is attributable to core administrative activity (business as usual excluding any other projects as well as this one).

Column C

In column C please state what percentage of these costs you would assess as being additional and directly attributable administration activity to the project you are undertaking. By additional we mean over and above business as usual. 

Column D

Based upon the details you’ve given in the previous columns, column D will automatically calculate the costs you’ve stated as being attributable to this project. 

Column E

In column E you will need to provide some description of the cost constituent parts. 

Once you have filled in this data you will see a percentage calculation (column F). This calculates what you consider as being eligible indirect overhead costs for your project (D) as a proportion of the annual audited figures (A). To save you time we use this calculated percentage and apply it to the remainder cost categories you have completed. 

Any administration costs that are ineligible in this section, but which directly relate to the project (for example based on invoices), should be claimed as direct costs within other sections of the finance form. 

Completion of the indirect overheads template will calculate an annual total which will be proportioned for the length of time you are working on the project. You will see a per annum, per month and a per project cost. The per project costs will form your total indirect overheads as a monetary value. 

Once you have filled out your indirect overhead information, choose the ‘return to the overheads section’ to take you back to the main overheads section. Here you will see a summary of your indirect overhead. 

Direct overhead

We understand that in undertaking a project you may incur associated costs with those staff working directly on the project and listed in the staff costs table. We refer to these as direct overheads. 

Typical costs in this area could include: 

• direct staff provision of laptops (non-capital only) 
• desks 
• office (such as occupancy, facilities and utilities) 
• IT infrastructure and systems 

This section is provided in free format for you to list out such costs.

Direct overhead costs must be directly attributable to the project you are undertaking and should not represent a full recovery methodology inclusive of redundant, spare capacity time or cost. 

You should detail the costs and include a description of each item together with the methodology or the basis of how the costs have been apportioned. This should include the calculations that support the claimable costs. This will help us to validate these costs if your project is successful. 

If your costs have been subject to an independent audit verification, we may ask you to provide this report to support our financial eligibility reviews. 

Please note that costs associated with laboratories or workshops should be included within the ‘other costs’ section of the application form. 

Once you have completed the direct overhead, you should select ‘return to the overhead section’. You will return to the main overhead tab where you will see a summary of your overhead claim for both direct and indirect overheads.