UK Space Agency announces £20m International Bilateral Fund

The IBF will be available to industry, research and academia organisations. It will initially provide up to £2m to aid work with international partners on research projects including Earth Observation, space traffic control and space debris, and see further funding introduced over the next two years.

In collaboration with the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the UK Space Agency will oversee the first segment of funding go toward 30 projects, where each shall receive up to £75,000.

If such project proposals prove successful, they are entitled to a second phase of IBF funding, receiving up to £1.5m over the period of a year to increase scientific and commercial endeavours.

This comes building upon the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)’s current £370m investment plan to cement the UK as a global science and technology superpower by 2030.

Nadeem Gabbani, founder and CEO of space tech start-up Exobotics said that it is an ‘increasingly appropriate time to develop international relationships’.

“Working with other leading nations within the space sector stimulates a greater knowledge exchange and can in turn help generate new space capabilities and catalyse further investment, but more importantly, secure the foundations of the new, emerging UK space sector which is now in an important, and somewhat sensitive phase of growth,” Gabbani said.

“Consistent emphasis placed on funding and international relationships shall continue to kindle interest in the UK’s capabilities and better oversee the UK achieve its goals to become a space superpower by 2030.”