Guidance

Unlocking Space for Business: Environmental Intelligence and Emissions Grant Call

Published 19 October 2026

1. Introduction

1.1 Unlocking Space for Business Programme

The UK Space Agency’s Unlocking Space for Business (USB) programme supports organisations to adopt satellite data, services and technologies to solve real-world business challenges. The programme raises awareness of space-enabled solutions, connecting end-user organisations with space suppliers and provides funding and expert support to de-risk innovation and accelerate commercial adoption.  

Aligned with the UK Space Strategy’s focus on commercialisation and growth, USB stimulates demand for space-enabled services by supporting end-user led projects with a credible route to adoption. Through this approach the programme aims to demonstrate tangible business value, supports the growth of UK space capabilities and reduces barriers to the uptake of space-enabled solutions across UK industry.  

Environmental intelligence and emissions monitoring have been identified as USB priority areas through ongoing engagement with businesses and stakeholders that required trusted environmental data to support decision-making, risk management, sustainability reporting and regulatory compliance. Growing demand for climate, nature and environmental monitoring capabilities presents a significant opportunity for UK organisations to adopt innovative space-enabled services that improve operational outcomes while supporting the growth of the UK space sector. Environmental intelligence is defined as the combination of terrestrial and satellite-derived monitoring data, alongside enabling technologies such as AI, to provide actionable insights to businesses on the physical environment they are operating within. This type of insights is becoming increasingly important across both public and private sectors, driven by climate adaptation requirements, nature recovery commitments, environmental regulation, sustainability reporting obligations and growing demand for trusted environmental intelligence. This growing demand presents an opportunity to improve environmental outcomes and stimulate new customer markets for innovative UK space-enabled products and services.  

Space-enabled technologies are uniquely placed to support environmental intelligence and emissions monitoring, providing consistent repeatable and large scale observations that would often be costly, impractical or challenging to obtain through terrestrial approaches alone. The UK space sector generates over £18 billion in annual income and supports more than 50,000 jobs across the UK. Supporting greater adoption of these capabilities by end-user businesses represents an opportunity to both address environmental challenges and accelerate growth across the UK space economy.  

Following a successful pilot and two previous funding rounds, the USB programme is continuing to support the commercialisation and adoption of space solutions through the USB Environmental Intelligence and Emissions Grant Call. This competition adopts a challenge-led approach, placing end-user businesses at the centre of project design and delivery.  By supporting near market solutions to defined environmental intelligence and emissions challenges, it aims to accelerate adoption of space-enabled technologies and deliver measurable operational, commercial and environmental benefits. 

The UK Space Agency invites proposals from UK end-user businesses, leading a consortium with a UK space supplier and any relevant integrators playing a key role in combining capabilities , to deliver innovative pilot projects addressing one of the environmental intelligence and emissions challenge areas outlined below. 

Examples of relevant end-user sectors include financial services, insurance, asset management, energy, utilities, infrastructure, agriculture, land management and environmental services

1. Challenge Area 1: Environmental Intelligence for Climate, Nature and Natural Capital 

2. Challenge Area 2: Environmental Intelligence for Emissions Monitoring and Verification 

Full details of the challenges and their requirements are listed below.

1.2 Funding Available

The UK Space Agency intends to award up to £2,000,000 total grant funding. 

Up to £400,000 of grant funding is available per project. Total project costs may be higher to account for match funding. In exceptional circumstances, the UK Space Agency reserves the right to adjust the value or duration of the grant funding available. 

The maximum duration of each project is 9 months. Projects should be ready to start by mid-January 2027 and should aim to conclude by 30 September 2027. The first milestone should be delivered by 31 March 2027 and expected to represent at least 25% of the total grant value requested. Further details on milestones are set out below.

1.3 How to Apply

Applications for the Unlocking Space for Environmental Intelligence and Emissions Grant Call will be managed through the Flexigrant portal, which will support the submissions, assessment and administration of applications. Applicants must register for the portal before submitting an application. Applicants can access the portal and register an account here: Flexigrant.  

Applications must be submitted via Flexigrant no later than 16:00 GMT on Friday 11 December 2026. Late submissions will not be accepted.  

Your application must include:

• A completed application form;
• Annex A: Proposed Milestone Table
• Annex B: Project Cost Breakdown
• Annex C: National Security Questionnaire (where required)
• Any additional supporting documentation requested within the application process.

The UK Space Agency will host a webinar on Tuesday 3 November 2026 at 11:00GMT to provide further information about the competition and answer questions from prospective applicants. Unlocking Space for Business: Environmental Intelligence and Emissions Grant Call Briefing Webinar.

Applicants should review FAQs within this guidance before submitting enquiries.  

For questions relating to the competition that are not covered within this guidance or for technical support with the Flexigrant portal please contact UKSA.USB_Grant@DSIT.gov.uk 

Further information on key dates and competition milestones are provided in the Call and Delivery Timeline section below.

2. Call Objectives and Scope

2.1 Strategic Goals

The Unlocking Space for Business programme aims to: 

• Stimulate Demand for UK Space Applications: identify high-value use cases across sectors and support end-user organisations to adopt space-enabled solutions;  

• Deliver Tangible Benefits : Deliver real-world projects that show how space data and services can improve outcomes for end user businesses; 

• Reduce Barriers to Adoption: provide support to help end-user organisations integrate space solutions into their operations, including technical, commercial and operational guidance; and 

• Build Cross-Sector Partnerships: bring together space companies, end users, and integrators to co-develop solutions and scale adoption.

This USB Environmental Intelligence and Emissions Grant Call is challenge-led, focusing on funding specific environmental intelligence and emissions opportunities where space-enabled technologies can address recognised end-user business needs. Applicants are expected to evidence:

• Strategic alignment: how their proposed project responds to one of the two challenge areas outlined within this guidance; 

• Economic benefits to end-user business: how their project aims to deliver clear economic benefits for an identified end-user organisation in the UK; and  

• Supporting growth of space supplier: how their project supports the growth of a UK space supplier in the consortium through increased TRL and economic growth.  

• Pathway to future adoption: how the project could support longer-term adoption by the end user, including evidence of a credible route to further deployment, procurement or commercial implementation following completion of the funded project.

Space-derived data and services provide businesses with the ability to monitor environmental conditions at scale, improve decision making, enhance customer experience and generate actionable insights that would be difficult, costly or impractical to obtain through terrestrial approaches alone. 

As demand for environmental intelligence continues to grow, space enabled technologies are increasingly recognised as important tools for addressing climate and environmental challenges. Earth Observation (EO) capabilities provide large-scale monitoring and environmental insights, while Satellite Communications (SatCom) support the reliable transmissions of data from remote and distributed assets and Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) technologies enable accurate tracking, measurement and location-based decision making. Research by the World Economic Forum estimates that EO applications have the potential to help reduce up to 2 billion tonnes of CO2 globally, equivalent to approximately 3.8% of annual greenhouse gas emissions, with further opportunities for UK businesses and the space sector enabled through advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning. 

Environmental intelligence is becoming increasingly important across both the public and private sectors, driven by climate adaptation requirements, nature recovery commitments, environmental regulation, sustainability reporting obligations and growing demand for trusted environmental insights. 

Projects funded through this competition must address one of the following two challenge areas:

Challenge Area 1: Environmental Intelligence for Climate, Nature and Natural Capital

The challenge

How can space-enabled data provide trusted, scalable environmental intelligence to enable organisations to better understand, manage and respond to climate-related and nature-related risks, whilst supporting the monitoring and verification of environmental outcomes?

The context

Businesses across the private sector increasingly need reliable environmental information to support climate adaptation, nature recovery, inform infrastructure resilience and make sustainable investment decisions. However, environmental information is often fragmented, difficult to access and challenging to integrate into operational decision-making.  

Space-derived data can provide consistent, repeatable and large scale monitoring of environmental conditions that would otherwise be costly or impractical to observe through terrestrial methods alone. When combined with geospatial analytics and other data sources, it can support businesses to assess environmental risks, monitor changes over time and evidence environmental outcomes

The solution

We are seeking to fund innovative, near to market commercial solutions that demonstrate how space-enabled technologies can improve environmental decision making, monitoring and verification for end-user UK businesses, and support the adoption of environmental intelligence across a range of sectors. Projects should be led by an end-user business around a clearly defined operational or commercial challenge end-user s piloting a space-derived solution which is integrated into their operational decision-making. 

Projects may support end-user businesses seeking to improve climate resilience, assess environmental dependencies and impacts, monitor biodiversity outcomes, or generate trusted environmental evidence for investment and decision making. Examples of relevant subsectors include investment, insurance, asset management, banking and wider financial services.

Solutions in scope:

• Climate and nature risk assessment tools that use space-enabled technologies 

• Solutions that support infrastructure resilience planning and climate adaptation  

• Monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) services for biodiversity, habitat condition or nature recovery outcomes 

• Natural capital and ecosystem service monitoring solutions  

• Environmental intelligence platforms that combine multiple datasets to support operational decision making 

• Scalable approaches that reduce the cost and complexity of environmental monitoring and reporting  

• Solutions that support investors, insurers, asset managers and other  end-user businesses to better understand environmental risks and opportunities 

• Services that enable measurement, transparency and verification of environmental outcomes

Solutions out of scope:

• Projects who do not have a clear end-user business involved in the project  

• Research projects without a clear route to operational adoption or commercial use 

• Solutions that do not utilise a meaningful space-enabled component  

• Projects focused solely on data generation without demonstrating how the outputs support decision making or end user needs 

• Generic environmental monitoring activities that do not provide an innovative application of space technology 

• Solutions that duplicate capabilities already widely available on the market without a clear improvement or novel application 

• Solutions that only support public sector end-users 

• Organisations seeking to develop solutions primarily for public sector users should instead consider the Unlocking Space for Government Expression of Interest opportunity, available here: Unlocking Space for Government programme - GOV.UK

Challenge Area 2: Environmental Emissions Monitoring and Verification 

The challenge

How can space-enabled technologies improve the detection, monitoring and verification of environmentally harmful emissions, to support environmental compliance, sustainability objectives and the transition to a lower-carbon economy? 

The context

Emissions from energy, waste, agriculture and industrial activities remain a significant environmental challenge. Businesses require improved capabilities to identify emissions sources, monitor environmental performance, verify the effectiveness of mitigation activities and meet regulatory requirements.  

Many emissions sources are geographically dispersed, difficult to access or span complex international supply chains. Space-enabled technologies can provide large scale and independent observations that complement conventional monitoring approaches, helping businesses improve transparency, accountability and decision making.  

The solution

We are seeking to fund innovative, near to market commercial solutions that demonstrate how space-enabled technologies can improve the identification, monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions and environmental impacts for non-space UK businesses. Projects should involve an end-user business piloting a space-derived solution which is integrated into their operational decision-making.  

Examples of relevant subsectors include energy, utilities, waste management, infrastructure, agriculture and industrial operations. 

Solutions in scope: 

Projects should involve space-derived solutions that provide a clear business benefit to the end-user. Examples of fundable projects may include but are not limited to: 

• Monitoring, detection and verification of greenhouse gas emissions  

• Industrial emissions monitoring and reporting tools  

• Landfill emissions monitoring  

• Agricultural emissions monitoring  

• Solutions that support environmental compliance and regulatory reporting  

• Decision support tools that help organisations prioritise emissions reduction activities 

• Monitoring solutions that improve supply chain emissions transparency 

• Applications that combine space-enabled technologies, complementary datasets and analytical approaches to deliver actionable environmental emissions monitoring and verification

Solutions out of scope 

• Projects focused exclusively on emissions reduction technologies where space data plays only a minor role  

• Pure academic research without a credible route to deployment  

• Solutions that rely solely on terrestrial data collection without a meaningful space-enabled component 

• Generic sustainability reporting tools that do not provide environmental monitoring or verification capabilities 

• Projects that cannot demonstrate a clear user need or adoption pathway/commercial use 

• Solutions that solely support public sector end-users 

• Organisations seeking to develop solutions primarily for public sector users should instead consider the Unlocking Space for Government Expression of Interest opportunity, available here: Unlocking Space for Government programme - GOV.UK

It is your responsibility to submit your application under the correct challenge theme related to your project. Applications cannot be transferred and any submissions deemed out of scope will not be assessed. Applicants may submit proposals to both challenge areas, however, each application must represent a distinct project with its own objectives, scope and expected outcomes 

This is a single-phase competition.

2.2 Scope

Projects must deliver a clear environmental monitoring benefit and positive economic benefit to a UK-based end-user organisation. 

Proposals must be led by UK-based,  end-user organisations, and should demonstrate a credible route to operational adoption of a space-enabled solution. 

Projects must involve at least one satellite data domain: Earth Observation (EO), Satellite Communications (SatCom), Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT). 

Projects may also involve complementary technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Quantum technologies. 

Projects must start at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5+ and must progress to at least TRL 7 by the end of the project.  

Projects should be sufficiently mature to demonstrate operational value during the funded period and must deliver measurable outcomes by the end of the project. Projects must have clearly defined and tangible outcomes measured against success criteria, and should demonstrate a credible pathway towards longer-term adoption, commercialisation and growth beyond the funded project. 

Applications must clearly explain: 

• the environmental monitoring challenge being addressed 

• why space-enabled capabilities are required 

• the expected economic benefits for the end user 

• the pathway to future adoption and commercialisation 

• how project success will be measured

2.3 Milestones  

Each project proposal should include a maximum of four milestones. Applicants will be required to deliver their first milestone by 31 March 2027, representing a substantial portion of project delivery and grant expenditure. Applicants are expected to allocate at least 25% of the total grant value to this milestone, unless an alternative profile can be robustly justified.  

The remaining three milestones should be scheduled in line with the agreed project delivery plan and project duration (maximum 9 months). An indicative milestone profile is provided below: 

• Milestone 1: 31 March 2027 (set date) 

• Milestone 2: 30 June 2027  

• Milestone 3: 31 August 2027 

• Milestone 4: 30 September 2027 (deliverables to include Commercialisation Plan and Final Report) 

Grant funding will be provided on a cost recovery basis and paid upon successful completion of agreed milestones, comprising deliverables and financial evidence.

2.4 Consortium Members

The lead applicant in the consortium must be an end-user business that can demonstrate a clear use case for environmental intelligence and emissions to support decision-making, operational activity or risk management. 

End-user businesses are defined as businesses operating outside of the space sector that directly use data insights or services derived from space-based assets, such as satellites, to support decision making, improve operations, manage environmental risks, meet regulatory requirements or deliver environmental outcomes.  

End users in scope of this call may include, but are not limited to:  - Financial services and insurance organisations assessing climate- and nature-related risks 

• Utilities and infrastructure operators managing environmental impacts and resilience 

• Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and land management organisations 

• Natural capital and ecosystem service providers 

• Property owners, developers and asset managers 

• Energy companies and network operators 

• Supply chain, logistics and transport operators monitoring environmental risks to assets and operations 

• Businesses with environmental compliance, reporting or sustainability obligations

There must be a UK space supplier within the consortium that utilises one or more satellite domains, including Earth Observation (EO), Satellite Communications (SatCom) or Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT).  

Consortia may also include other integrator organisations where appropriate, such as technology providers, system integrators, data brokers, research organisations and subject matter experts. Integrator organisations can play an important role in helping end-user businesses adopt space-enabled solutions by combining satellite-derived data, services or insights with other datasets, technologies or business systems to support operational deployment and decision-making. 

Projects should note the core eligibility requirements on the UK Space Agency’s grant funding page. Whilst non-UK partners may participate as members of a consortium, they must be self-funded and are not eligible to receive grant funding through this competition. If international subcontractors are proposed, applicants should demonstrate why the required capability is not available within the UK.  

The lead applicant must be an end-user business and must submit the application on behalf of the consortium. As grant funding will flow through the lead applicant, they will be responsible for distributing funding to project partners. The lead applicant will also be responsible for providing financial evidence and verifying project expenditure at each milestone. Project administration may be delegated to a consortium partner; this should be identified within the application and discussed with the UK Space Agency during project kick-off.

2.5 Monitoring, Evaluation and Benefits Reporting 

Successful applicants will be required to support the UK Space Agency’s monitoring and evaluation activities, including engagement with the Space Ecosystem Monitoring and Evaluation supplier where required, and provide information to demonstrate the outcomes and impacts of funded projects. 

This may include:  - Providing project progress updates and outcome data throughout delivery  

• Participating in surveys, interviews, workshops and other evaluation activities led by the UK Space Agency’s monitoring and evaluation delivery partners 

• Reporting against relevant UK Space Agency programme metrics beyond project completion  

• Providing evidence of project benefits and impacts including commercial, environmental and societal outcomes, including information for project case studies 

• Providing benefits realisation updates following project completion, where requested

This information will be used to support evaluation of the Unlocking Space for Business programme, impact assessment and reporting against UK Space Agency objectives.

2.6 Communications

Successful applicants will be invited to participate in communications, stakeholder engagement and knowledge sharing activities that promote the outcomes of the competition and demonstrate the value of space-enabled environmental monitoring solutions. This may include:  - Contributing to project case studies, success stories and impact evaluations 

• Providing quotes, images, videos and other communications materials suitable for publication  

• Participating in webinars, workshops, showcase events and other programme engagement activities 

• Presenting project outcomes, lessons learned and best practice at Unlocking Space for Business events where practicably feasible for project teams 

• Engaging with wider programme learning and dissemination activities to support adoption of space-enabled solutions across target sectors

Participation in reasonable communications and dissemination activities is an encouraged, where reasonable and appropriate,  to helps maximise the impact, visibility and wider adoption of project outcomes.

3. Key Information

3.1 Important Information for Applicants

• There will be an online session outlining the application process and to provide an opportunity for questions online on Tuesday 3 November 2026 11:00 GMT, you can apply to attend here: Unlocking Space for Business: Environmental Intelligence and Emissions Grant Call Briefing Webinar.. Information presented at the webinar will be made available on the USB Grant Call Guidance page following the session.  

• Applications must be submitted via the FlexiGrant portal by 16:00 GMT on Friday 11 December 2026. Late submissions and applications submitted by email will not be accepted.

• Awarded projects are expected to commence from January 2027 and have a maximum duration of 9 months, subject to the agreed project start date. This call will close at 4pm GMT on Friday 11 December 2027 – no extensions are permitted and late applications will not be accepted. 

• Grant funding per project is expected to range from £150,000 to £400,000. In exceptional circumstances, UK Space Agency reserve the right to adjust the value or duration of the grant funding available. 

• To support financial profiling across the 2026/27 and 2027/28 financial years, applicants will be required to deliver their first milestone by 31 March 2027. The milestone should represent a significant proportion of project delivery and grant expenditure with applicants expected to profile at least 25 % of total grant funding against this milestone. 

• 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 4 – Subsidy Control.  

• 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.   

• Applications will be assessed against the assessment criteria outlined in section 7 of this document.  

• Questions or clarifications that have not been covered in this guidance or FAQs can be directed to USKA.USB_Grant@dsit.gov.uk. The clarification period will be open until Friday 27 November 2026. The UK Space Agency will not respond to questions asking for applications to be reviewed ahead of the submission deadline. 

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

• 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.   

• All proposals must be led by businesses based in the United Kingdom. The lead applicant must be registered with Companies House, maintain a physical registered office address in the UK, and operate as a distinct legal entity separate from its owners (if they are a subsidiary). Applicants should be able to demonstrate a substantive UK presence and that the proposed project will deliver clear benefits to the UK space sector. 

• The Unlocking Space for Business programme is supported by a delivery consortium led by KPMG, AstroAgency and Exotopic. Applicants and funded projects may interact with members of the delivery consortium in relation to programme events, stakeholder engagement, communications, networking activities and dissemination of project outcomes. The delivery consortium has no role in the assessment, evaluation, moderation or selection of applicants and is not responsible for grant management or funding decisions. All funding decisions and grant management responsibilities remain within the UK Space Agency.

3.2 Call and Delivery Timeline

The following schedule sets out the indicative timing of processes for this call. Please note that each deadline may be subject to change in the event of operational constraints.  

• Call Opens: Monday 19 October 2026 

• Webinar: Tuesday 3 November 2026, 11:00 GMT, Unlocking Space for Business: Environmental Intelligence and Emissions Grant Call Briefing Webinar.

• Call Closes: Friday 11 December 2027, 16:00 GMT 

• Successful Applicants notified: w/c 4 January 2027

• Project Kick-off: from w/c 18 January 2027  

• Projects Conclude: 30 September 2027

4. Subsidy Control

4.1 Subsidy Control: Research Organisations, Public & Third Sector 

The UK Space Agency supports organisations to invest in research, development and innovation. The support we provide is consistent with the UK’s international obligations and commitments to Subsidy Control. Please see this page for further information about the UK Space Agency’s obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022. To ensure this competition provides funding in line with obligations and commitments, the intervention rates detailed in section 4.2 shall apply, unless: 

1. The applicant seeks to claim exemption from having to make a contribution under the Minimal Financial Assistance Allowance (previously known as de-minimis under State Aid and Small Amounts of Financial Assistance under Trade and Co-operation Agreement) rules 

2. The applicant is a research or public sector organisation or charity pursuing non-economic activity 

When referring to research organisations, the UK Space Agency uses the definition from the Framework for State Aid for Research and Development and Innovation which states: 

“research and knowledge dissemination organisation’ or ‘research organisation’ means an entity (such as universities or research institutes, technology transfer agencies, innovation intermediaries, research-oriented physical or virtual collaborative entities), irrespective of its legal status (organised under public or private law) or way of financing, whose primary goal is to independently conduct fundamental research, industrial research or experimental development or to widely disseminate the results of such activities by way of teaching, publication or knowledge transfer. Where such entity also pursues economic activities, the financing, the costs, and the revenues of those economic activities must be accounted for separately. Undertakings that can exert a decisive influence upon such an entity, for example in the quality of shareholders or members, may not enjoy a preferential access to the results generated by it” 

Within UK Space Agency, this means: 

• Universities – higher education institutions 

• Non-profit research and technology organisations (RTOs) including catapults 

• Public sector organisations (PSOs) 

• Public sector research establishments (PSREs) 

• Research Council Institutes 

• Research Organisations (ROs) 

• Charities

Research organisations should be non-profit distributing to qualify. They should explain how they will disseminate the output of their project research as outlined in the application. Research organisations who are engaged in economic activity (i.e. putting goods or services onto market) will be treated as business enterprises and subject to Subsidy Control intervention rates.

Research Organisations

Universities undertaking non-economic research activity will be funded at 80% of full economic cost. All other research organisations will be funded at 100% of eligible costs. We do not expect research organisations to be in scope of this grant call.

Public Sector organisations and Charities

Public Sector Organisations and Charities can work with enterprises to achieve innovation through knowledge, skills and resources. These organisations must not take part in any economic activity or gain economic benefit from a project. They can apply for 100% funding of eligible costs, providing all of the following conditions are satisfied: 

• They are undertaking research (this may be experimental, theoretical or critical investigation work to gain knowledge, skills or understanding which is vital to the project) 

• They meet requirements for dissemination of their project results and state in the application how this will be achieved 

• They include eligible costs for research purposes in the total research organisation involvement 

• They ensure they are not applying for funding towards costs which are already being paid from the public purse such as labour or overheads

Third Sector

Third Sector organisations are primarily voluntary and community organisations, such as associations, self-help groups, mutuals and cooperatives. Third sector organisations can be non-funding partners in a project.

4.2 Subsidy Control: Enterprises

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 “industrial research” or “experimental development”, where:  

• “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.   

• “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.   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. 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 not necessarily the final 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.

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:

	Industrial Research	Experimental Development
Small Enterprises	70% of the eligible project costs	45% of the eligible project costs
Medium Enterprises	60% of the eligible project costs	35% of the eligible project costs
Large Enterprises	50% of the eligible project costs	25% of the eligible project costs
Academic Partner	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 £3,000,000 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.

4.3 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.

5. Eligibility Requirements 

All UK Space Agency grant recipients are required to meet standard eligibility criteria set out on our grants page here. Grant recipients are defined as the lead applicant organisation.  

Projects are expected to commence in mid-January 2027 and run for a maximum of 9 months. The start date is dependent on completion of UK Space Agency due diligence checks, which require timely applicant involvement to avoid delays to project kick off.  

The following project management responsibilities will be required:  

• The grant recipient will engage with the USB team to complete due diligence checks ahead of project commencement, providing additional information if requested and facilitating swift communication between all project partners. 

• The grant recipient and all project partners will attend a virtual kick-off meeting with the UK Space Agency USB grant manager to initiate the project. 

• The grant recipient will provide monthly written progress reports (using the template provided) to the grant manager, along with monthly review meetings which should be attended by all project partners where possible. 

• The grant recipient and all project partners will attend a mid-term review meeting with the grant manager where their progress will be reviewed against the Grant Funding Agreement (GFA). 

• The grant recipient will provide milestone deliverables within the proposal using the template provided. 

• The grant recipient will provide evidence of meeting the milestones and providing deliverables agreed in their GFA. This will include providing financial evidence, which includes but is not limited to timesheets, T&S receipts, partner and subcontractor invoices. 

• The grant recipient will provide regular updates on risks, benefits and lessons learned throughout the project. 

• The grant recipient and all project partners will also attend a final review meeting with the grant manager once their project has finished delivery. 

• The grant recipient will provide a final project report including but not limited to an executive summary, delivery, actual outcomes, lessons learned, benefits, communication and outreach, next steps. This final report should be IPR free and not contain any confidential information, as it may be used in external communications. 

• The grant recipient will complete a case study using the UK Space Agency’s template, which will be uploaded onto GOV.UK. 

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

Information about what can and cannot be claimed using grant funding is available on our grants page here. The UK Space Agency will carefully review your submitted budget to ensure all costs included represent eligible costs. This call does permit the submission of calculated overheads, which should be submitted using the Overheads Template. Guidance on how to populate this can be found below. Please note the UK Space Agency scrutinises overhead rates and reserves the right to challenge rates deemed excessive.    

The grant funding agreement template is included as a separate document. Applicants must sign up to the terms as set out in the grant funding agreement. No material changes to the terms will be considered. Minor changes may be considered if an applicant can demonstrate that agreeing to the provision within the Grant Funding Agreement would result in the applicant breaching its statutory or regulatory obligations. Grant applicants wishing to propose changes should submit their request ahead of the application deadline, ideally with a marked up copy of the Grant Funding Agreement detailing requested changes.  

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 UK Space Agency grant funding policies (e.g. match funding). Projects are selected for audit using a risk-based approach. The auditor will be appointed by 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.

6. Guidance for Preparing an Application

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

Your application for funding must be submitted by 16:00 on Friday 11 December 2026. This will include: 

• Your application form 

• Your budget breakdown spreadsheet  

• Your National Security Questionnaire (please see guidance on the UK Space Agency’s grants page here) 

 Applications must be submitted through the Flexigrant portal. Applicants should not submit application documentation by email. The application portal will close at 4:00pm GMT on Friday 11 December 2026 and late submissions will not be accepted.   

Applications should be submitted on the application form template provided, adhering to the stated requirements (page limits, single-spaced typescript, minimum font size 11-point Arial, minimum 1.5 cm margins all round, including diagrams and tables). The application form template should be unaltered. Should any part of the application overrun the specified page limit, including the submission of appendices outside those requested, we will only consider material up to the designated page limit that is in the correct format.

6.1 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. For any labour costs, please ensure these are broken down by each individual involved in the project.  

• 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.  

6.2 Overheads Template 

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 

Selecting the indirect (administration) overheads link will take you to a template you’ll need to complete to calculate these costs. 

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 labour 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 detail the proportion of the costs outlined in column A that day rate criteria outlined in the cost categories. You can use a percentage. 

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 

Selecting the direct overheads link will take you to a template you’ll need to complete to calculate these costs. 

We understand that in undertaking a project you may incur associated costs with those staff working directly on the project and listed in the labour 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.

7. Assessment of Applications 

Applications for this funding scheme will be assessed by the UK Space Agency, with support from relevant independent external assessors drawn from the Unlocking Space Portfolio’s Technical Expert Support Service. All external assessors are required to sign appropriate confidentiality and conflict of interest agreements prior to seeing any application.  

The UK Space Agency now uses standard assessment questions and criteria for grant funding schemes. Full guidance on scoring available online here, including the scoring sheet and information we issue to assessors. 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 sift of proposals will remove any proposals which do not meet the eligibility criteria  

• Eligible proposals will be assessed by at least 4 reviewers to be scored against assessment criteria  

• A moderation panel will follow to ensure consistency in marking  

• A scored and ranked list of fundable proposals will be generated. The UK Space Agency takes a portfolio approach to funding, which means we look to fund a range of projects that cover the full breadth of the strategic objectives. This means we may move some fundable proposals up or down the ranked list.   

• If needed, clarifications will be sought from organisations  

• All applicants will be advised of the outcome  

• Due diligence will be conducted throughout the call process as set out in section 8. If due diligence results in irreconcilable differences, the grant will not be placed. 

The following questions and weightings are applied to this scheme:

Question	Weighting	World Limit
How does your proposal advance the strategic goals identified within the call document and the wider goals of the UK Space Agency?	25%	1000 words
Why do you need grant funding, how will you spend it and how does this represent good value for money for the taxpayer?	10%	500 words
How is your idea both innovative and technically feasible?	15%	1000 words
How will this project catalyse future investment into the UK space sector?	15%	1000 words
What will be the impact of receiving the grant, both for your business and outside your organisation?	20%	1000 words
How will you ensure effective delivery of this project throughout its full duration?	15%	500 words

8. Due Diligence

If your proposal is recommended for funding, the UK Space Agency will conduct due diligence checks ahead of issuing your Grant Funding Agreement to confirm you are eligible to receive funding and have sufficient resources to ensure a project is successful. You can find out about the checks we conduct on our grants page here. We expect lead organisations to conduct due diligence on project partners and may ask to see confirmation this has been completed.

9. Confidentiality  

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

• Completed applications must be submitted to the UK Space Agency at the email address specified in the guidance documentation. All bids will be held in confidence.  

• 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. The proposals will not be visible to any others, and the names of any unsuccessful bidders will not be published. 

• Information submitted for those projects selected for funding will be retained by UK Space Agency but remain confidential.  

• Summary information about the projects selected for funding may be published on the UK Space Agency website.  

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

10. FAQ

1. Can I use AI to support my application? 

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.

2. Can projects that were previously funded by an Unlocking Space for Business SBRI contract or grant apply?  

Yes, project partners that were involved in a previous Unlocking Space for Business funded SBRI (Contract for Innovation) or grant project can apply, either as part of the same consortium or a different consortium, as long as the project is sufficiently different from that which was previously funded (for example, the project involves a different product or service, and/or a different end-user business) and the project proposal demonstrates how the project will progress TRL towards commercialisation. We will not fund projects that are being funded elsewhere in the UK Space Agency or UK government.  

Applicants should be mindful of the requirements of the Subsidy Control Act 2022 and the Streamlined Scheme for Research, Development and Innovation, which caps subsidies at £3,000,000 per enterprise per project. The UK Space Agency is required to consider any previous subsidies you may have received, including previous grant funding, to determine if they should count towards this £3,000,000 total. We are required to count them towards the total if they meet all of the following conditions:   

• were given to the same enterprise by any public authority 

• for the same project or activities as defined under the relevant categories of the Streamlined Route Schedule 

• for the same of substantially the same specific purposes as set out under the relevant categories in the Route 

• within the last 3 financial years (that is, the last 2 complete financial years running from 1 April to 31 March and the lapsed part of the current financial year) 

• if a project lasts for longer than 3 years, then the maximum award amounts and the subsidy ratios apply to the lifespan of that project or activity - therefore the cumulation period cannot restart after 3 years for the same project.  

It is the responsibility of applicants to consider their Subsidy Control Act 2022 compliance, as in the event a non-compliant subsidy is awarded, the UK Space Agency would be legally obliged to recover the funding. Please note we will not provide pre-application advice about your subsidy control cumulation: it is the applicant’s responsibility to determine if they are eligible or not. For further advice, please consult the guidance available for the streamlined scheme.   

3. Can I resubmit a proposal that was rejected in a previous UK Space Agency or Unlocking Space for Business call? 

Yes, you may re-submit your proposal which will then go through the independent evaluation process when being considered for funding.  We recommend that you ensure the proposal addresses the requirements in this USB Environmental Intelligence and Emissions  grant call and that any previous feedback is taken into consideration. 

4. What is meant by space solutions?  

Space solutions cover satellite data and services derived from one or a combination of three satellite domains (Earth observation; satellite communication; positioning, navigation and timing). These can be combined with other enabling terrestrial data and technologies, for example AI, machine learning and quantum. 

Examples of space solutions funded through previous Unlocking Space for Business competitions can be found in the USB Grant Case Studies. Applicants are encouraged to review these case studies to understand the types of solutions and end-user challenges supported through the programme: USB Grant Case Studies - Overview of Grant Projects - GOV.UK 

5. Who is considered an end-user business? 

An end-user business is a private sector business operating outside of the space sector that directly uses data insights or services derived from space-based assets, such as satellites, to support decision making, improve operations, manage environmental risks, meet regulatory requirements or deliver environmental outcomes.  Sectors which  may be relevant to this competition are: 

• Financial services and insurance organisations assessing climate- and nature-related risks 

• Utilities and infrastructure operators managing environmental impacts and resilience 

• Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and land management organisations 

• Natural capital and ecosystem service providers 

• Property owners, developers and asset managers 

• Energy companies and network operators 

• Supply chain, logistics and transport operators monitoring environmental risks to assets and operations 

• Businesses with environmental compliance, reporting or sustainability obligations 

6. Who is considered a space supplier? 

A space supplier may be a satellite data provider, satellite service provider and/or satellite insights provider. 

7. What is an integrator organisation? 

Integrator organisations can play an important role in supporting end-user businesses adopt space-enabled solutions. They may combine satellite-derived data, services or insights with other data sets or technologies to create operational products, services or decision-support tools for end-users.  

Examples may include geospatial consultancies, environmental intelligence providers, software platforms, system integrators and organisations that combine satellite data with terrestrial datasets to support decision making.  

They may participate as consortium partners where they provide expertise in data integration, analytics, software development, systems implementation or deployment. However all applications must include a UK space supplier and be led by an eligible end-user business  

8. Can suppliers/partners who are not lead applicants be involved in more than one bid?  

Yes. Depending on the nature of the awards and activity undertaken, the total amount of public funding may be limited per enterprise per project. This would be assessed on a case-by-case basis.  

You can submit more than one proposal, but it must be clear how the proposals differ. You cannot submit multiple versions of the same proposal or variations of the same proposal. All proposals will be considered as individual projects and will require separate invoicing, funding breakdowns and grant funding agreements. You will be expected to submit invoices separately and must be able to demonstrate how monies have been spent for each project. If you submit multiple different proposals and these are successful you will need to ensure that you can deliver all within the timeframes and that they remain separate projects throughout the process. 

9. As the lead applicant, is the end-user business responsible for making the application, including compiling of the information, and submitting the funding request?  

Yes. The lead applicant (an end-user business) is accountable for the application process, including its compilation and submission, and for the content provided as it will be submitted under their name. We have specified for this call that the lead applicant must be an end-user business as this is fundamental to the scheme’s objectives.  

The lead applicant may delegate project administration of the grant to a project partner if preferred. Project leads will still be required to attend the monthly check-ins, with all project partners required to attend the kick-off meeting, mid-term review and end of project review. 

10. Do the match funding funds have to be immediately available when applying for funding? 

Yes, the match funding (also known as private venture or PV) funding must have been agreed and secured at the time of applying for the grant so that the project can commence in January 2027 as soon as the grant agreement has been signed. 

11. Can the UK Space Agency provide advice about any type of collaboration/partnership programme that the Agency is promoting?  

The UK Space Agency does not promote any specific organisations or partnerships. However, collaboration is required as all applications should be led by an end-user business, in consortium with a space supplier and any other integrator organisations. Applicants may use competition briefing, networking and Unlocking Space for Business Discovery events to identify potential consortium partners and explore opportunities for collaboration. 

12. Is it a requirement to have partners in the project?  

Yes. All applications should be led by a UK end-user  business, alongside a UK space supplier, with any other required integrator organisations. 

13. Can a non-UK based organisation receive funding? 

The lead applicant must be registered with Companies House, maintain a physical registered office address in the UK, and operate as a distinct legal entity separate from its owners (if they are a subsidiary). Applicants should be able to demonstrate a substantive UK presence and that the proposed project will deliver clear benefits to the UK space sector. 

14. Does previous experience with the UK Space Agency and the Unlocking Space for Business programme confer an advantages or disadvantages on an applicant?  

No, applications will be scored on their individual merit and evaluated independently by 3 or more reviewers to ensure a fair and transparent process 

15. What format will the grant agreement take for any funded proposals, and can I adapt this to suit my proposal?  

We have provided a copy of our standard grant funding agreement. This is the document that will be used as the formal mechanism for any successful bidders to receive grant funding. Applicants are required to accept the main terms of this grant funding agreement when submitting your application.  

Applicants requesting changes to the agreement are required to submit a marked-up copy of the published grant funding agreement setting out the proposed variations, along with a justification for any amendment to the standard grant funding agreement terms. Please be aware that the UK Space Agency will only consider variations which are requested where the Applicant would be in breach of legal requirements or statutory regulations by complying with the clause, or series of clauses. 

16. Should we explicitly state the overhead rate attached to salary costs, or would you prefer it to be amalgamated into a combined salary/overhead cost for each staff position? 

The finance template includes notes on what information is required.   

17. Do labour costs relate only to staff on a PAYE payroll or would staff employed on short/long-term fixed contracts be eligible? 

Costs should be applied for any staff that will be part of the project team/work regardless of employment status within the organisation. However, any costs for project work done by sub-contractors must be declared as a separate cost to the project. Sub-contractors cannot be partners to the project and justification in the proposal would need to be clearly stated as to the requirement for use of sub-contractors. 

18. Does the organisational background information apply only to the lead organisation? 

No. All proposals must include organisational background information for all those involved, therefore including those put forward in collaboration. 

19. Is there a difference between a partner and a sub-contractor? 

Yes. If you are collaborating with another organisation or company, then they are your project partner and will be included in your proposal as subject to PV contribution. 

If you wish to sub-contract some work, then that company cannot be considered as a project partner as payment to them will be made from the award and they will therefore be included in the costs of the project. 

20. What are collaboration agreements?  

Collaboration agreements should provide a flow-down of the UK Space Agency Grant Funding Agreement terms, explicitly define IP ownership and other terms of collaboration such as work schedules and payments. A collaboration agreement must be in place within 6 weeks of project kick off. The Agency does not supply a template collaboration agreement or get involved in their negotiation – this is a matter for lead organisations and their project partners. 

21. Would sub-contractors have any IP publication rights? 

If you sub-contract work, this may not affect the IP publication rights of your company, but this is for the lead organisation to confirm.   

22. Can a project be started before full proposal acceptance, and if so, can payments be backdated?  

We do not advise starting at risk. Projects should start after grant funding agreements have been awarded and the UK Space Agency will not backdate grant funding agreements or reimburse costs for work undertaken ahead of the Commencement Date in the grant funding agreement. 

23. Does the maximum grant award offered include the PV contribution? 

The maximum grant offered (£400,000) is the award value the UK Space Agency will give to a successful proposal. Organisations should contribute match funding to the total cost of the project calculated using Subsidy Control Rules.   

24. Is an independent audit required of the total cost of the project? 

Confirmation is required that the Grant Recipient has expended the sums in respect of the period in which milestone payments have been claimed. For this purpose, an independent Reasonable Assurance Report must be completed and sent to the Grant Funder within 3 months of the end of the grant or annually, whichever is shorter. The report must be completed by a suitably qualified independent auditor or accountant and provides assurance that project expenditure has been incurred in accordance with the grant funding agreement. As per the terms of the Grant Funding Agreement, it is not possible to claim the cost of this report.  

This is separate to the external annual audit that all projects in receipt of grant funding may be subject to. The external audit process is managed by the UK Space Agency to ensure that costs claimed from the grant funding have been expensed on agreed project related expenditure and comply to UK Space Agency grant funding policies (e.g. match funding). Projects are selected for audit using a risk-based approach. The auditor will be appointed by UK Space Agency. 

25. Are public sector organisations eligible as lead applicants? 

No. Projects must be led by an eligible  end-user organisation. Organisations primarily seeking to develop solutions for public sector end users may wish to explore opportunities available through the Unlocking Space for Government (USG) programme, find out more here: Unlocking Space for Government programme - GOV.UK 

26. My project does not align with the Environmental Intelligence or Emissions Monitoring challenge areas. Are there other opportunities available? 

This competition is intentionally focused on environmental intelligence and emissions-related challenges. If your proposal does not align with these themes, we encourage you to monitor future opportunities from the UK Space Agency, including activities delivered through the ESA Business Applications and Space Solutions (BASS) programme Funding ESA Space Solutions and other innovation funding initiatives, which may be better suited to your project.