Deadline: 07-Jul-2025
The UK Space Agency (UKSA) invites proposals for projects through the second iteration of the International Bilateral Fund (IBF) that will help strengthen the UK space sector’s international partnerships.
Objectives
- The objectives of the IBF are to:
- Build stronger relationships with international partnerships, cementing the place as a trusted space partner of choice;
- Contribute to economic growth by driving UK space sector inward investment and exports; and
- Leverage international partnerships to develop priority UK capabilities.
Funding Information
- Track 1: Projects that are designed to kickstart international relationships. Projects should produce standalone deliverables as well as possibly scoping or de-risking longer term projects. Proposals may request grant funding between £50,000-£150,000. For technology development, these projects would normally fall under TRL 1-4.
- Track 2: Projects with a level of maturity (where applicable, corresponding to TRL 5-9), that build on already established partnerships but require further investment in the international partnership to deliver an additional level of value. Proposals may request grant funding between £150,000 and £500,000.
Duration
- Project durations should be 7 months and begin by 1 September 2025, ending on 31 March 2026.
Eligible Activities
- Some examples of potential activity could include:
- Research and development of space technologies (including feasibility studies for novel concepts), applications or services that rely on international collaboration;
- Developing and de-risking mission concepts with an emphasis on international collaboration;
- Education and outreach activities that deliver on short and medium-term economic growth objectives involving international partner(s);
- Development of security or hazard threat mitigation for systems and services which are common to international partners.
- Initiatives aimed at enhancing sustainable activities within the domain of in-orbit space include addressing issues related to space debris, space traffic management, domain awareness, and atmospheric ablation.
- Knowledge exchange activity between UK and international organisations to facilitate capacity building and identify shared areas for future collaboration and growth;
Eligibility Criteria
- They particularly encourage applications to support partnerships with entities in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the USA but also welcome applications for partnerships with other countries, including emerging space nations.
- All successful UK Space Agency grant proposals must follow certain mandatory requirements:
- The project must be led by a UK organisation who will receive a grant from the UK Space Agency. This can be any type of UK organisation including University-led academic research proposals and Industry-led commercial research proposals
- Grant recipients must demonstrate the ability to effectively manage a project
- Grant recipients must have a UK bank account and all grant payments will be made in UK sterling (as per grant funding agreement).
- As per the terms of the Grant Funding Agreement, the lead organisation will be required to put in place a Collaboration or Flow Down Agreement that ensures all terms and conditions within the Grant Funding Agreement are passed onto project partners. This should be in place with 30 days of signature. This should include provisions regarding how the results of the work, including any IPR and spinouts, will be exploited by project partners.
- All project members must have in place and provide evidence when requested of appropriate anti-bribery and anti-corruption policies.
For more information, visit UKSA.
