Funding Flash May 2026
Your monthly Funding Flash is here, bringing together the latest grants, loans and funding programmes from across the UK and Europe, carefully curated by Space South Central to save you time and help you focus on what matters most.
As the space cluster for the South-Central region, we combine sector insight with hands‑on expertise to help you access the support you need to accelerate innovation and growth. Since 2016, we’ve supported organisations in securing over £39M in funding, and we are ready to support you too.
If something catches your eye, get in touch at info@spacesouthcentral.com for guidance on shaping a strong and competitive bid.
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The Arctic Region: Environmental and Economic Resilience
Deadline: Thursday, 4th June 2026
This is a sub‑call to the Arctic Region funding call and supports the development of space‑enabled services addressing environmental protection and climate resilience in the Arctic region.
It focuses on monitoring, protecting and strengthening Arctic ecosystems together with economically critical activities such as fisheries and aquaculture, which are increasingly exposed to climate change, pollution and growing maritime pressure.
The objective is to enable services that support environmental monitoring, risk reduction, decision‑making and sustainable resource management in the Arctic and sub‑Arctic regions.
Read more here.
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Advanced manufacturing supply chain innovation: CRD
Deadline: Wednesday, 20th June 2026
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £6.5 million into supply chain innovation projects. This is subject to a sufficient number of high-quality applications being received.
The aim of this competition is to support collaborative industrial research projects to explore innovative ways of making supply chains more productive, resource efficient and resilient.
Read more here.
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UK Defence Innovation: Map the Gap (Phase 3)
Deadline: Tuesday, 16th June 2026
UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) is pleased to launch a new Themed Competition called Map the Gap (Phase 3) . Run on behalf of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) in partnership with the British Army, this competition seeks proposals that can remotely assess terrain stability and riverine measurements to support safe and rapid traversing of land forces.
Read more here.
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Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP): 2026 – 2027 Round 2
Deadline: Wednesday, 24th June 2026
The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme allows a UK registered business to partner with a UK higher/further education institution, research and technology organisation (RTO) or Catapult, for a 12-36 month project bringing academic expertise into business.
The KTP partnership brings new skills and the latest academic thinking into the business partner to deliver a specific, strategic innovation project. The knowledge base partner (HE or FE education institution, RTO or Catapult) recruits the ‘associate’ to work on the project. The associate has the opportunity to lead a strategic development within the business, developing new skills and gaining valuable experience.
Read more here.
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Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) Open Call for Innovation
Deadline: Wednesday, 1st July 2026
The Open Call is looking for innovative ideas to improve the defence and security of the UK. Your idea could be a concept, product or service, at various levels of maturity.
Read more here.
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Digitalisation of the water sector
Deadline: Sunday, 30th August 2026
Today, the world faces a defining challenge: how to manage too much, too little or too polluted water in the face of growing populations, climate change and strained infrastructure. Among these pressures, water sanitation has emerged as one the most urgent global concerns. The impacts of climate change, growing demand and the depletion of natural resources call for a paradigm shift in how water service providers, water management authorities, regions, cities and citizens manage and protect water. Society must develop and increase the adoption of innovative solutions to ensure water sustainability and resilience across all societal functions, while fully safeguarding the environment. Strengthening sanitation systems, preventing pollution and improving wastewater treatment are essential steps, but achieving this requires tools that allow for better monitoring, enforcement and long-term planning.
Read more here.
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Digital enablers and building-blocks for Earth Observation and Satellite Telecommunication for Space Solutions
Deadline: Thursday, 3rd September 2026
The topic encompasses actions within the scope of the co-programmed European Partnership on Globally Competitive Space Systems (‘Space Partnership’) in the areas of satellite communication (SatCom), Earth Observation (EO) and New Commercial Space Transportation Solutions and is part of cohesive activities in the domain of digital developments under the grand heading of “digitalisation for commercial space solutions”.
For more information on Horizon funding calls contact Elizabeth Clutton:elizabeth.clutton@port.ac.uk.
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Scientific analysis and exploitation of space data
Deadline: Thursday, 3rd September 2026
The aim of this Horizon Europe topic is the analysis (including validation) and exploitation of acquired and available data provided by scientific and exploration instruments and missions in their pre-operative, operative, post-operative or data exploitation phase, focusing on astronomy and astrophysics, cosmology, heliophysics, deep space and solar system exploration, ensuring complementarity with activities already supported by agencies during development phases. Such data may also originate from CubeSat and small satellite missions for advancing space science and exploration.
More specifically, data to be analysed are expected to result from science and exploration missions (including cubesat to small satellite missions) from ESA, national space agencies, research organisations and universities missions. Earth observing missions are not considered in the scope of this topic. This analysis may require innovative and advanced data processing techniques, the use of advanced artificial intelligence techniques, novel statistical approaches, multidimensional data fusion while optimizing the use of advanced computing hardware architectures, as well as novel data (re)presentation and visualization techniques.
For more information on Horizon funding calls contact Elizabeth Clutton:elizabeth.clutton@port.ac.uk.
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ICURe Discover for Women Entrepreneurs - September 2026
Deadline: Friday, 4th September 2026
Support for women to carry out market and customer discovery; 8 half-day workshops; trainer, mentor, and peer feedback with next steps guidance; up to £2,500 support for market discovery activities.
Read more here.
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EIC Pathfinder
Deadline: Wednesday, 28th October
The EIC Pathfinder is a funding programme under Horizon Europe that offers support to research teams by:
funding research to develop the scientific basis to underpin breakthrough technologies
supporting the earliest stages of scientific, technological or deep-tech R&D
aiming to build on new, cutting-edge directions in science and technology to disrupt a field and a market or create new opportunities
realising innovative technological solutions to identify, develop and scale up breakthrough technologies and disruptive innovations in Europe
Read more here.
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UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund
Deadline: Open Until Further Notice
UKI2S invests in innovations emerging from the UK’s publicly funded science and knowledge base. We specialise in engineering biology, defence & security, fusion energy, and space to facilitate sustainable growth, enhance the health and security of society, improve productivity, and deliver economic gains emerging from UK’s public funding portfolio.
Read more here.
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Cyber security consultancy support, plus assessment and certification
Deadline: Open Until Further Notice
UK-based SMEs involved in space sector activity (less than 250 employee headcount) with a manufacturing or operational presence in the UK (includes NI). Applications from micro/start-up businesses are particularly welcomed.
Read more here.
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General Support Technology Programme (GSTP)
Deadline: Open Until Further Notice
The UK Space Agency is looking to provide support to companies and academic institutions across the UK in developing innovative technologies to grow UK capability. We are keen to engage with start-ups and SMEs (from both within and outside the space sector), as well as established companies and organisations. Collaborative proposals are also welcomed.
Read more here.
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National Security Strategic Investment Fund
Deadline: Open Until Further Notice
NSSIF is a partnership between the NS&D community and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) that backs breakthrough technologies that strengthen our collective security and defence. We invest in early-stage companies, align government demand with start-up supply, and help founders scale with capital, contracts, and insight.
Read more here.
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ESA ITT
Deadline: Various
The latest list of open and intended ESA and non-ESA ITTs is now available and published on ESA STAR. This includes all contracts currently open for bids, as well as those in the intended phase prior to publication. All opportunities listed are accessible to UK companies, though some caveats may apply.
Read more here.
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ESA Proposal Advice Service
Deadline: Open Until Further Notice
The ESA Proposal Advice Service (ESA PAS) is a UK Space Agency-funded pilot programme designed to help UK-based organisations improve the quality of their proposals submitted to the European Space Agency (ESA). The service provides free, non-technical advice to organisations who are preparing ESA bids and want to strengthen their applications before submission.
ESA PAS focuses on improving the clarity, structure, and strategic alignment of proposals by identifying common errors and areas for improvement. The aim is to increase the competitiveness of UK bids without providing engineering or technical solutions. Feedback is tailored to the five evaluation criteria used by ESA: background and expertise, understanding of requirements and objectives, quality of the proposed programme of work, adequacy of management, costing and planning, and compliance with administrative tender conditions.
Find out more here.
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Defence Sourcing Portals
The Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP) hosts all of MOD’s advertised requirements. You can tailor your notifications from DSP by selecting appropriate category codes.
Contracts Finder allows you to search for information about contracts worth over £12,000 (including VAT) with the government and its agencies.
Register for the Central Digital Platform Find a Tender to search and apply for high-value contracts in the UK’s public and utilities sectors. High-value contracts are usually above £139,688 including VAT.
MOD Acquisition Pipeline is a forward look of potential procurement activity and Framework Agreements at MOD.
