Wales Space Cluster Catalyst Fund

Key Features

The UK Space Agency, in partnership with Space Wales & The Welsh Government, invites proposals for grant funding to grow the space sector in Wales and support with the delivery of Wales’ Space Strategy.

Programme:     UK Space Agency

Award:     Share of up to £247,000

Opens: 30th Sep 2025

Closes: 24th Oct 2025

! This scheme is closing soon

Overview

The UK Space Agency, in partnership with Space Wales & The Welsh Government, invites proposals for grant funding to grow the space sector in Wales and support with the delivery of Wales’ Space Strategy.

Wales is home to world-class space businesses, cutting-edge research institutions, and a thriving innovation ecosystem spread across the country. Through this Devolved Administrations funding call, the UK Space Agency aims to strengthen these capabilities by supporting short-term, impactful projects that align with the strategic goals of the Welsh space sector.

Scope

This funding opportunity is designed to support the delivery of Wales: A Sustainable Space Nation, Wales’ space strategy published in 2022, and to help achieve its strategic ambitions and drive innovation and growth across the space sector in Wales.

This funding call will also promote collaboration across the Welsh space ecosystem, supporting a diverse range of project themes and encouraging partnerships between academia, industry, and government.

This is an open funding call for organisations based in Wales to support the delivery of Wales’ Space Strategy, for projects that support the growth of the Welsh space sector, linked to one of the following four key strategy areas:

  1. Upstream Manufacturing, e.g. Materials Science
  2. Midstream Operations, e.g. Space Observation, Space Domain Awareness, Resilience
  3. Downstream Applications, e.g Earth Observation, Connectivity
  4. Skills development

In your application form, you should set out how your proposal will contribute towards supporting at least one of these areas.

The UK Space Agency welcome innovative proposals that will contribute to making Wales a globally recognised, sustainable space nation, and will grow the UK space sector. Proposals should fit into one of the following funding streams:

1.1 Tier 1 – Launchpad Cymru:

  • Funding range: £10,000 – £30,000
  • Suitable for pilot projects, scoping studies, or early-stage collaboration efforts
  • Target: 3–5 projects

1.2 Tier 2 – Orbit Cymru:

  • Funding range: £35,000 – £60,000
  • Suitable for more mature collaborations or projects with strong potential for cluster development and investment attraction
  • Target: 2–3 projects

Applicants should demonstrate:

  • Clear alignment with Wales: A Sustainable Space Nation
  • Measurable outcomes and benefits
  • Collaborative approaches across academia, industry, or local authorities
  • How this project strengthens the wider Wales Space Ecosystem

Eligibility Requirements

All UK Space Agency grant recipients are required to meet standard eligibility criteria set out on the UK Space Agency grants page. Additional requirements specific to this grant scheme are set out below:

Projects should kick off w/c 3 November 2025 and conclude 31 March 2026.

The project team will be required to be part of the following (but not limited to) as part of project management:

  • The grant recipient will attend a kick off meeting with Space Wales to initiate each project.
  • The grant recipient will provide written progress reports to Space Wales along with regular review meetings (expected to be on a monthly basis).
  • The grant recipient will attend 2 review meetings over the course of the funded period with Space Wales where their progress will be reviewed against the Grant Funding Agreement (GFA).
  • The grant recipient will provide milestone deliverables to Space Wales within the proposal using the example template provided.
  • The grant recipient will provide evidence of meeting the milestones and providing deliverables agreed in their GFA to Space Wales.
  • The grant recipient will provide regular updates on benefits and lessons learned throughout the project.
  • Relevant reporting, deliverables and documentation will be shared by Space Wales with the UK Space Agency to allow for the receipting and payment of grant recipient invoices .
  • The grant recipient will provide required information to support the North Star Metric monitoring, as set out in Annex 8 of the Grant Funding Agreement (to be used where North Star Metric monitoring is in place)

Information about what can and cannot be claimed using grant funding is available here. The UK Space Agency will carefully review your submitted budget to ensure all costs included represent eligible costs.

Funding Costs

Through the Wales Space Cluster Catalyst Fund, the UK Space Agency intends to award a total of £247,000 of grant funding.

Interested in applying for this competition?

Book an appointment to speak to one of our advisors to discuss your eligibility to apply for this Grant Funding opportunity.