UK-Africa Space Technology for Sustainability Lead Customer ProgrammeCopy Link

Innovate UK through the Global Alliance Africa project is investing up to £180,000 for three innovation projects (£60,000 per project) in a multilateral UK-Africa space sector towards improvement of space technology for sustainability in South Africa/Kenya/Rwanda and/or the UK.

The aim of this competition is to accelerate innovations needed to create new or improved technologies for the sector through UK-African partnerships. Your project must focus on one or more of the following:

1. Optimising access to and quality of geospatial data

• Solutions that decrease the cost of Earth Observation data to end users.
• Solutions that enhance the quality, precision and reliability of existing available data for decision making.
• Technologies that facilitate unique and innovative methods for obtaining geospatial data. Including the proposal for new payloads, sensors and missions.
• Systems that optimise the processing and analysis of geospatial data for better decision-making.
• Tools that expand the availability and usability of geospatial data for diverse applications. Including data licencing, access and standards.
• Solutions that aim at unlocking historical data for training GeoAI models. Including classification and feature extraction, generative ai applications, enhanced mapping and accuracy and large language models.
• Solutions that enhance the interoperability of geospatial data with data from other sources. For example, financial, genetic and socio-economic.

The proposed solutions can be applied in any economic sectors but requires an endorsement from a Lead Customer (an end-user) who stands to benefit from the proposed innovation.

2. Cross-sector earth observation applications

• Food security and agriculture.
• Water security, including drought monitoring and leak detection.
• Access to finance and credit.
• Financia and reporting. For example, ESG compliance, asset monitoring, climate risk.
• Solutions to support compliance with the European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
• Disaster management.
• Rural and urban planning and development.
• Climate change mitigation.
• Environmental conservation and biodiversity protection.
• Public health.
• Infrastructure and transportation planning.
• Marine and coastal monitoring.
• Renewable energy management.

We are not including mining or minerals applications for this competition

PLEASE ENSURE YOUR APPLICATION INCLUDES THE DOCUMENTS REQUIRED: COMPLETED APPLICATION TEMPLATE, PROJECT PLAN & FINANCES TEMPLATE, AND LETTER OF SUPPORT (ADD THESE AS ATTACHMENTS)

INNOVATE UK AND GLOBAL ALLIANCE AFRICA

Innovate UK exists to connect innovators with new partners and new opportunities beyond their existing thinking – accelerating ambitious ideas into real world solutions. Innovate UK is delivering the 6-year (2019 - 2025) UK International Development funded, Global Alliance Africa project, which aims to build new and stronger UK-African partnerships to maximise the creation of inclusive market access, funding, and investment opportunities through innovation knowledge transfer between the UK, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Rwanda.

The project aligns with the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) objectives by building stronger local innovation ecosystems and enhanced UK-Africa collaborations that lead to self-sustaining economic growth in Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, by harnessing the potential of innovation to meet current and future socio-economic challenges. The project is focused around three key pillars, one of which focuses on ‘Connected Innovation’ where Innovation Networks will be forged to facilitate UK, African and International networks to deliver collaborative research, innovation and funding solutions that address key global innovation challenges.

In South Africa, one of the key sectors identified where the UK can add and extract value from is Space Technology for Sustainability. This is due to South Africa’s rich history in the sector, and world-leading engineering skills that are currently being lost to other economies. Kenya and Rwanda are also on the map for being the fastest growing space-technology sectors in Africa, which poses a unique opportunity to join forces in assisting market access for the UK, and market growth in the respective African countries.

UK-Africa Space Technology Lead Customer Programme background

The African space ecosystem is growing rapidly. In 2021, Africa’s space economy was valued at £15.9 billion and is projected to grow by 16.16% to £18.5 billion by 2026. The sector currently employs over 19,000 people across the continent, leaving much opportunity for future job creation. Satellite communication is expected to play an essential part in bridging the connectivity gap in Africa, while Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) services and the satellite TV segment remain the most significant contributors to the African space economy. As of 2022, 13 African nations have manufactured 48 satellites, with their CubeSats specifically manufactured locally at competitive rates. There is a paradigm shift from large to small satellites in Africa, primarily due to lower entry barriers and over 272 New Space companies are charting the course of space democratisation on the Continent.  [Space in Africa].

Space technology is a unique opportunity for many African countries to accelerate technology development in-country, use data effectively to solve community issues, foster diplomatic relations, and learn from other countries who have broken boundaries in this sector. To date, the Global Alliance Africa project has undertaken activities to help strengthen connections between the African and UK space economies to foster innovation and enable positive impact on the ground using this cutting-edge technology. These activities included:

• The NextGen Space challenge in partnership with the South African National Space Agency and Digital Earth Africa, which identified rising talent in South Africa with regards to budding space enthusiasts.
• A UK-Africa space technology knowledge exchange tour where leading space specialists from South Africa, Kenya, and Rwanda were handpicked to tour the top space companies across the UK.

A Lead Customer is a UK/Kenyan/South African/Rwandan supplier, company or a top-tier end-user that shows support or commitment to the proposed innovations by presenting demonstrable deployment routes. The Lead Customer must provide a Letter of Endorsement with your application.

Funding Type and Project Size:

Projects must be led by a UK or African business. Universities, RTOs and other organisation types may be involved in consortia but can claim a maximum of 25% of the total project costs.

Innovate UK will fund 70% of a total project value up to £60,000 per project.  An in-kind contribution of 30% is required from the project partners. Higher in-kind contributions by project partners are encouraged to boost the scale of the projects, and will be viewed favourably in the selection process.

A project must involve at least three countries, comprising one UK partner and two partners from Kenya, South Africa and/or Rwanda.

• Technology Testing & Validation, 6 month project: Grant funding of pp to £60,000 for the UK/African lead registered organisation per project (subject to T&C).
• Technology Demonstration & Scale-up, 6 month project: Grant funding of pp to £60,000 for the UK/African lead registered organisation per project (subject to T&C).
• Access to international collaboration and innovation through UK-South Africa-Kenya partnership.
• Support in facilitating industry engagement to seize future commercialisation opportunities and enhance market access.
• Sector expertise support from Innovate UK and Lead Country Partners

Before you start

• You must download the Application Template and Project Plan and Finances Template.
• Register on the application portal by clicking the Apply Now button below. 

Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure:

• that all the information provided in the application is correct;
• your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria;
• all sections of the application are marked as complete; and
• that all partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs).

PLEASE ENSURE YOUR APPLICATION INCLUDES THE DOCUMENTS REQUIRED: COMPLETED APPLICATION TEMPLATE, PROJECT PLAN & FINANCES TEMPLATE, AND LETTER OF SUPPORT (ADD THESE AS ATTACHMENTS).

You can reopen your application once registered, up until you submit the application. You must submit the application before the competition deadline on GMT 17:00 Monday 12th August.

Your submission must include the following attachments:

• Completed Application Template
• Completed Project Plan and Finances Template
• Formal Letter of Endorsement from at least one top tier customer in this sector

What we ask you

The application is split into five sections:

• South African and/or Kenyan or Rwandan Applicant details.
• UK Applicant details.
• Details of top tier customer (who your letter of support is from).
• Project Details.
• Project Plan and Finances

Accessibility and inclusion

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes providing support, in the form of reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us. 

You must contact us as early as possible in the application process. We recommend contacting us at least 15 working days before the competition closing date to ensure we can provide you with the most suitable support possible.

You can contact us by emailing alana.kruger@iuk.ktn-global.org

Finances

Each organisation in your project must complete their own project costs, organisation details and funding details in the application. UK Academic institutions must complete and upload a Je-S form.

For full details on what costs you can claim see our project costs guidance. You can also view our Application Finances video.

The aim of this competition is to enable market deployment of space technologies that enhance end-user applications, and enable entrepreneurship within the space-technology sector.

Your application must:

• Focus on the improvement of business aid using space technology, or enable better environmental impact using space technology through:

a) Optimising access to or quality of geospatial data; and / or

b) Delivering a cross-sector earth observation data application

• Be a multilateral collaboration between three target countries, with at least one UK partner and two partners from South African/Kenya/Rwanda.. 
• Propose an innovative technology based solution or business model that is feasible, reliable and with tested proof of concept. 
• Present demonstrable deployment route(s) with support/commitment from a South African and/or Kenyan and/or Rwandan and/or UK company or top tier future customer. This customer can be a space agency, a client that uses your services, communities that would use your earth observation solution as end users, or other customers who would pay for your solution should it be in market. 

• 10th July 2024 - Competition Launch
• 12th August 17:00 GMT - Deadline for applications
• Aug 2024 - Selection and due diligence of finalists
• Aug/Sep 2024 – Notification of funded finalists, projects launch

We are not funding projects that are:  

• Below Technology Readiness 4 
• Applications with no interests from a space industry or adjacent industry sponsor or top tire future customer.
• Do not have at least one UK participant and one South African and / or Kenyan and / or Rwandan participant. A minimum of two international partners are needed to quality. 

We cannot fund projects that are: 

• dependent on export performance, for example giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country. 
• dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product. 

Your project must meet the following requirements: 

• The lead applicant must be a registered business.
• Universities, RTOs and other organisation types may be involved in consortia, but may claim a maximum of 25% of the total project costs.
• Your project must be a partnership between a registered South African and / or Kenyan and/or Rwandan and a UK registered business of any size or a research and technology organisation.
• Your application must involve at least one participating organisation per country.
• Your application must include an endorsement letter from a UK or South African or Kenyan or Rwandan industry sponsor/top tier future customer (non-grant recipient), indicating the challenges your proposed project may solve and possibility of commercial route.
• Your technology must be between Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) 4 and 8.
• Your project should last 6 months and finish before the end of February 2025.
• All project work either to be carried out either in the UK or in South Africa, Kenya or Rwanda.

Lead organisation 

To lead a project your organisation must: 

• be a registered business.
• be one of the collaboration partners that is a UK registered organisation or a South African / Kenyan/Rwandan registered organisation.
• register to apply on the application platform.
• manage the project execution plan and its deliverables.

More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.

Project team 

Your consortium must include:

• at least one technology lead from both the UK and South Africa/Kenya/Rwanda

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK or South Africa//Kenya/Rwanda registered: 

• business of any size
• research and technology organisation (RTO) and universities as secondary partners in business-led consortia.  

Lead Customer

The Lead Customer can be any organisation type (academic institution, government body or commercial entity etc) that will be a credible end – user of the solution developed in the project. Credibility, name – recognition and organisation size will be considered during the selection process. 

Non-funded partners 

Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK or non-South African, Kenyan or Rwandan businesses. 

Subcontractors 

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition. 

Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK or South Africa/Kenya/Rwanda and you must select them through your usual procurement process.  

You can use subcontractors from other countries but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the UK, South Africa, Kenya or Rwanda.

You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK, South African, Kenyan or Rwandan contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use another country as a supplier subcontractor. 

All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.  

Number of applications  

A business or research and technology organisation (RTO) can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in a further two applications. 

If an RTO is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.

A space-technology or adjacent industry sponsor can collaborate on any number of applications.

Subsidy Control 

All funding supplied by Innovate UK is in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Further information about the Subsidy requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk) 

Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty. We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage. 

EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. Please see our general guidance to check if these rules apply to your organisation.

Further Information

If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.

You must always make sure that the funding awarded to you is compliant with all current Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom.

This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to, or actually distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries.

This competition is operated by Innovate UK. 

Any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application will be kept by innovate UK for storage, processing and use.  

This means that any information given to or generated by Innovate UK in respect of your application would include, but is not restricted to:  

• the information stated on the application, including the personal details of all applicants  
• scoring and feedback on the application 
• information received during the management and administration of the grant, such as Monitoring Officer reports and Independent Accountant Reports 

Innovate UK is directly accountable to you for their holding and processing of your information, including any personal data and confidential information. Data is held in accordance with their own policies.  Accordingly, Innovate UK, will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application. Innovate UK’s Privacy Policy is accessible here.  

Innovate UK complies with the requirements of GDPR, and is committed to upholding the data protection principles, and protecting your information.? The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a useful guide for organisations, which outlines the data protection principles.  

PLEASE ENSURE YOUR APPLICATION INCLUDES THE DOCUMENTS REQUIRED: COMPLETED APPLICATION TEMPLATE, PROJECT PLAN & FINANCES TEMPLATE, AND LETTER OF SUPPORT (ADD THESE AS ATTACHMENTS)