The UK Space Agency is launching a £50 million fund to support
the development of cutting-edge research and development
facilities, the government announced today.
The Space Clusters and Infrastructure Fund (SCIF) – the first
dedicated fund for UK space infrastructure – will award match
funding to UK organisations to develop the R&D infrastructure
needed to make space products mission-ready and sell them into
commercial markets.
Investment in space R&D infrastructure is essential for
building and testing new UK space and satellite capabilities,
supporting innovative missions that can benefit people,
businesses and communities across the country.
Minister of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and
Technology said:
The UK space industry - worth £17.5 billion to the UK economy and
creating new companies and careers all around the country from
Glasgow Space City to Spaceport Cornwall - is a key part of the
UK Innovation Economy.
This £50 million Space Clusters and Infrastructure Fund is the
UK’s first fund dedicated to support the space industry develop
the R&D facilities key to growing the space clusters across
the UK, helping to generate investment, create jobs and enable UK
space companies’ cutting-edge technology to be made mission-ready
for new commercial satellite markets.
The funding is available to industry and academia who can deliver
projects to procure, build or upgrade R&D facilities and
equipment that will bring high potential, high value space
technologies to market. SCIF is a pilot project that will support
approximately 5-10 projects of up to £10 million each.
These projects will provide critical anchor points at the local
level for new businesses, investment and research and aim to
create hundreds of jobs in areas of the UK that need it most.
Dr Paul Bate, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said:
The UK has a thriving space sector, which is well-established and
globally respected. We are growing this exciting sector further,
by catalysing investment, delivering missions and capabilities,
and championing the power of space to improve lives.
The Space Clusters and Infrastructure Fund demonstrates the
government’s commitment to space and will help deliver the
ambition set out in the National Space Strategy to build one of
the most innovative and attractive space economies in the world,
developing new skills and creating jobs.
Levelling Up is a priority of the UK Space Agency and SCIF will
allocate the majority of its budget outside of the Greater
South-east, although proposals are welcome from anywhere in the
UK.
Lizzie Kerr, Director of UKspace, the industry trade association,
said:
R&D underpins so much of the UK space industry’s activities
and continued innovation. UKspace therefore welcomes this funding
commitment from the Government which has the potential to impact
many of our members, by developing and renewing facilities, and
bringing growth and employment across the UK.
The government has previously invested in space infrastructure
such as the National Satellite Test Facility (NSTF) and National
Space Propulsion Test Facility on a case-by-case basis. The NSTF,
due to open later this year in Harwell, features the UK’s largest
vacuum test chamber, where satellites the size of a double decker
bus will be exposed to extremes of hot and cold for months at a
time, and a vibration facility that replicates the conditions of
a rocket launch. The National Space Propulsion Test Facility in
Westcott allows UK organisations to test state-of-the-art engines
which move small satellites in space, at a more affordable rate
than having to go abroad.
The UK Space Agency’s funding for national projects, including
SCIF, is in addition to £1.84 billion invested through the
European Space Agency in November, ensuring the UK’s space and
commercial satellite sector will play a leading role in future
international missions and innovative commercial programmes.
