SBRI: Unlocking Space for Business Feasibility Study - Phase 1

To lead a project, you:

• Can be an organisation of any size
• Can work alone or with others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations or the third sector as subcontractors
• Must have a valid UK bank account capable of accepting BACS payments
• Must be able to provide reporting against North Star Metric
• Must provide evidence and data as part of the monthly reporting cycle in support of M&E activities. These data points may include insights into revenue generation, job creation and cost savings
• Must be available for interview and survey by M&E delivery partners as required throughout the project and following its conclusion

The UK Space Agency’s North Star Metric: In addition to ongoing reporting, successful applicants will be expected to provide the UK Space Agency with 6-monthly updates on North Star Metrics during the course of project delivery, and information on the impact of funding support up to 10 years after project completion. Details of this can be found in the additional guidance document.

Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only. However, if you can justify subcontracting components of the work, you can engage specialists or advisers.

Projects must:

• Be ready to commence by 31 January 2024
• Deliver at least one key milestone by March 2024
• Be completed within 6 months
• Conduct the majority of the research, development and testing within the UK

Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design. R&D can also include prototyping and field-testing the product or service. This lets you incorporate the results of your exploration and design and demonstrate that you can produce in quantity to acceptable quality standards.

R&D does not include:

• commercial development activities such as quantity production
• supply to establish commercial viability or to recover R&D costs
• integration, customisation or incremental adaptations and improvements to existing products or processes

This competition aims to fund innovative feasibility studies using satellite data and services, within the Transport & Logistics and/or Financial Services sectors in the UK.

You must show how your solution involves an innovative application of satellite data and services, which may be combined with terrestrial data sources, to drive business benefits within the Transport & Logistics and/or Financial Services sectors in the UK. Your project must develop a solution for end customers in these sectors by targeting those organisations who have not extensively used satellite data and services before. Proposals are encouraged from organisations who can bring together diverse data and service types, and in some cases provide analysis to derive value-added insights, to encourage innovative uses of satellite data and services by customers in the Transport & Logistics and/or Financial Services sectors.

Your project should involve one or more of the three types of commercial satellite data and services:

• satellite imagery (earth observation)
• satellite connectivity & communications
• position, navigation & timing (PNT)

In this competition you must focus on close to market solutions, prioritising:

• new revenue growth opportunities
• improved customer experiences and enhanced benefits
• operational efficiencies
• environmental, social and governance (ESG) benefits

You must demonstrate how your innovative application of satellite data and services can be integrated into functional prototypes and system solutions for end customers in the target sectors. The demonstration of active support and commitment of potential end customers would strengthen the application. You can submit a letter(s) of support with your answer to question 7 in your application to highlight this commitment.

You must demonstrate a credible and practical route to market, so your application must show how you will engage with potential end customers, integrators and space suppliers, including a plan to commercialise your results.

Our goal for funded projects is that through exploitation of commercial satellite data and services, combined with terrestrial data types and sources, businesses in the Transport & Logistics and Financial Services sectors will be able to collaborate across the supplier and integrator ecosystem to unlock new benefits from satellite data and services.

We will not fund projects that:

• are not original or in scope
• duplicate someone else’s work
• do not demonstrate significant support and engagement from potential customers in either the UK Transport & Logistics or Financial Services sectors
• do not evidence the potential for their proposed innovation to generate positive economic, environmental or societal impact
• do not address how any potentially negative outcomes would be managed
• are being funded elsewhere in the UK Space Agency or UK Government
• would directly duplicate other UK Government or EU funded initiative you have already been funded to deliver
• are covered by existing commercial agreements to deliver the proposed solutions
• involve solutions considered below technology readiness level 4
• cannot provide reporting against the UK Space Agency’s North Star Metric

An supplier engagement event will be hosted by UK Space Agency on Thursday 30 November, 1pm-1.45pm, with the aim of informing potential suppliers about the proposed Unlocking Space for Business Programme competition, including its scope, application process, evaluation criteria and timelines. The event will provide an opportunity for potential applicants to ask questions about the competition.

UKSA encourages attendance from potential applicants that can combine terrestrial data and services with satellite data and services, within the Transport & Logistics and/or Financial Services sectors.

To attend the event and to hear more about upcoming activities, please click here.

If you can not attend a recording will be made available after the event to everyone that registered on the above link.