About the ESA BIC UK

Utilising space technology can offer ambitious entrepreneurs the opportunity to gain a competitive advantage within their sector. The ESA Business Incubation Centre United Kingdom (ESA BIC UK) provides the support and funding that start-up companies need to turn their ideas into profitable products and services using space technology, or to develop technologies for use in space.

STFC manages the ESA BIC UK across its sites on behalf of ESA, offering successful applicants fully equipped office space, as well as access to all the benefits of being part of our flourishing and unique network of science and innovation campuses. Businesses work alongside, and in collaboration with, other businesses, STFC scientists and engineers, accessing a whole wealth of expertise.

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Our partners

Who can apply

UK Registered companies, including at least one company member being located in the UK
New or existing companies less than 5 years old
Have a viable business plan
Have a demonstrable space connection. This includes:

Downstream application of space technology in other fields:

Earth Observation
Satellite Communications
Satellite Navigation

Or technology transfer from space (hardware, software, knowledge or IPR):

Upstream space
Exploiting new technology in the space domain, or supplying the space sector.

Our locations

Daresbury Laboratory, Sci-Tech Daresbury

Higgs Centre for Innovation, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Campus

Space Park Leicester

Latest News

Frontier Space Achieves Major Orbital Milestone with First In-Orbit Biotech Mission

Frontier Space, an incubatee of the European Space Agency Business Incubation Centre United Kingdom (ESA BIC UK) at Space Park Leicester, has successfully completed its first orbital mission, marking a significant step forward in space-based biomanufacturing and scientific research.

Omanos Analytics: Unveiling Community Impacts of Conflict and Climate

Omanos Analytics combines satellite data with community insights to monitor the social and environmental impacts of infrastructure projects. With support from ESA BIC UK, they developed their data visualisation tool, Askr, and refined their product strategy.

Treeconomy: UK Start-Up Bringing Trust and Traceability to Ecosystem Restoration

Treeconomy is using satellite and drone data to improve transparency in ecosystem restoration. With support from ESA BIC UK, they’ve scaled their tech, grown their team, and secured investment to advance nature-based climate solutions.

Lúnasa: Accelerating the Development of In-Orbit Infrastructure

Lúnasa is developing next-gen technologies and services for enabling the In-Orbit Services, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM) industry. The company is focused on building and commercialising its autonomous Rendezvous Proximity Operations (RPO) technology for satellite servicing missions and operates testbeds in orbit to provide affordable tech rideshare for ISAM companies for in-orbit validation purposes.

Celebrating 20 years of the ESA Business Incubation Centre

Senior Startup Award presented to ESA BIC UK Alumni, Open Cosmos at the European Space Agency’s 20 year celebration event. The event in Munich, Germany, brought together entrepreneurs, space companies, investors and policymakers.

Two ESA BIC UK alumni celebrate launch success

Two innovative ESA BIC UK alumni companies, Space DOTS and SmartIR, have achieved remarkable milestones with their successful launches.

ESA BIC alumni expands global IoT network

Lacuna Space, alumni of ESA BIC UK, has successfully launched a new set of satellites as part of its Call of the Wild mission, a major milestone in scaling its direct-to-device (D2D) Internet of Things (IoT) network.

Our team

FAQs

Enquiries

If you’re an entrepreneur working in the deep tech space looking for support to help you scale, get in touch with the team at enquiries@esa-bic.org.uk