UK Space Agency: International Bilateral Fund – Call 2

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).

View the full list of eligibility requirements.

Owing to high levels of anticipated demand for this funding call, UKSA has taken the decision to restrict the number of applications to two per lead organisation (for the avoidance of doubt, this measure applies to all types of organisations, including industrial, academic and public sector research bodies).

Project consortia must include at least one international partner: any applications that are submitted without an international partner explicitly listed will be rejected.

Project durations should be 7 months and begin by 1 September 2025, ending on 31 March 2026.

The IBF will invest up to £5.5 million in a portfolio of projects through two tracks to deliver IBF objectives. In total, UKSA expects to fund 15-30 projects. In the event of additional funding becoming available, UKSA will seek to increase the number of projects it supports.

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.

UK grant holders should build partnerships with teams from around the world who best suit their project specific goals. Proposals should outline how the project builds on joint country priorities and capabilities.

We particularly invite applications that strengthen partnerships with entities in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the USA. The UK Government has identified these countries as strategically important for advancing broader national goals as well as science and technology and the space sector, to build strong partnerships that will benefit the UK. Applications to strengthen collaboration with wider international partners are also very welcome where they represent strong opportunities to further UK space objectives and national capability development goals.

This call will provide grants under two tracks, designed to support projects at different stages of readiness. This will allow for both smaller pieces of catalysing international work and more developed, higher value projects that are more established.

Projects should demonstrate strong international buy-in from international partners; we encourage applications to evidence commitments to contributions (cash or in-kind) from international partners or agencies where possible. Applicants should be aware that proposals may be shared with relevant International Space Agencies for feedback as part of the review process.

Selected projects may be invited to apply for a closed competitive process to receive further, longer term IBF funding in financial year 2026/2027, subject to the UK Government’s Spending Review process. This funding is not guaranteed and will be subject to competitive assessment, so applicants should outline both what will be achieved within the current grant timeframe and what alternative plans for attracting wider investment will be.

All proposals will be assessed against their potential to improve UK international relationships and provide return on investment for the UK. Projects should stimulate knowledge exchange, engagement, and collaboration with partners.  Projects must have clearly defined, measurable and tangible milestones and outcomes. Proposals can cover a wide range of activities aligned with the UK’s international goals and UKSA’s priorities. 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;
• Feasibility studies to scope potential future longer-term projects or new markets.

Some examples of previous successful proposals can be found on our website for Phase 1 (2023) and Phase 2 (2024/25) in the previous iteration of the IBF.

UKSA will hold an webinar to support this funding call on 3 June 2025, 10:00-11:00 BST: click here to register for a place.

If you would like help to find a collaboration partner, you can contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Global Alliance or Space teams.