Welcome to the Space Sector Faculty

Specialised trade advice and support for upstream and downstream space sector SME’s

The space sector is a priority for UK Government as outlined in the National Space Strategy published in 2021 and the Defence Space Strategy published in 2022. The National Space Strategy outlines five goals, to:

1) Grow and level up our space economy
2) Promote the values of Global Britain
3) Lead pioneering scientific discovery and inspire the nation
4) Protect and defend our national interests in and through space
5) Use space to deliver for UK citizens and the world

Let us help launch your exporting career!

The Department for International Trade sees significant commercial opportunity here as trade and exports can help the UK to make progress in achieving these goals. Therefore, it is vital to give all UK businesses a level platform of knowledge, skills, expertise and confidence to become first-time exporters and support companies to become successful in conducting business overseas and trading internationally.

In alignment with the National Space Strategy, this Faculty will focus on priority subsectors to sustain our current competitive strengths, develop leadership in high-growth areas, and lay the foundations for leadership in emerging sectors in the years to come.

This Faculty has been designed with companies in mind that are not yet exporters or are in the early stages of starting to export internationally. Across Government and industry, there are a number of accelerator programmes available to you beyond the Export Academy which will be referenced here in the Faculty to enable you to determine which areas are of most relevance and value to your business.

The Space Sector Faculty is brought to you in collaboration with the Export Academy to support export skills development.

How can we help?

The Space Sector Faculty is established over three tiers:

Tier 1: The generic export advice and support available to all businesses across the Export Academy
Tier 2: Baseline export advice and support in a sector-specific context.
Tier 3: Market and sector-specific guidance and intelligence.

Some of the content in this Faculty will overlap with other Faculties, such as Defence and AgriTech and Clean Growth, due to the wide-reaching nature of space technology and service end-users. These will be clearly signposted.

By participating, you will receive advice from a range of experts across Government and industry concerning a range of topics from export controls, trade policy, finance, legal and market intelligence.

Support formats include training webinars, 1-2-1 support with DIT’s Space Sector Team or relevant Government or industry body, and inward and outward trade missions to meet prospective customers.

About Us

The Department for International Trade’s Space Sector Team works to create export and inward investment opportunities for the UK space industry.

We work across HM Government to inform trade and inward investment policy and ensure alignment to commercial priorities across Departments.

We engage internationally to remove trade barriers and generate new economic opportunities through Free Trade Agreements and bilateral partnerships. We attract companies to the UK from around the world to expand and grow their business, helping to grow the UK into a science and technology superpower.

We work directly with UK companies to unlock trade and boost the growth of the UK economy by facilitating trade missions and sector conferences, advising on market prospects and policies, representing the UK’s diverse portfolio of expertise, and raising industry’s profile with prospective customers. We also deliver 1-2-1 company support and provide professional guidance through the Space Sector Faculty of the Export Academy.

Events

To find out about our international trade missions and list of conferences we support, contact space@trade.gov.uk. We can add you to our events mailing list and share insight into how your business can get involved.

Table of events for Financial Year 2022/2023:

Event	Date	Location	Description
Farnborough International Airshow	18 to 22 July 2022	Farnborough, UK	Hosting inward international delegates to meet with UK companies at structured events and receptions to boost trade and investment.
73^rd International Astronautical Congress	18 to 22 September 2022	Paris, France	Cross-government support to deliver the UK Pavilion, supporting UK businesses with local engagement to generate trade and research partnerships.
USA Company Technology Showcases	Rolling	USA	The team hosts regular trade missions to USA to meet with large space or defence or aerospace Primes, with the aim of integrating more UK businesses into the USA supply chain and creating exports.
Global Space and Technology Convention (GSTC)	15 to 16 February 2023	Singapore	Supporting UK company engagement locally to stimulate trade and research, building on the momentum of the funded UK-Singapore co-innovation programme.
Avalon International Airshow	28 February to 5 March 2023	Victoria, Australia	Outward trade mission under the UK-Australia Space Bridge to facilitate local partnerships and enable trade and investment.

More events are in the pipeline which will be uploaded in due course, including trade missions to Japan, Saudi Arabia, India, USA and across Europe.

Resources

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory – Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA)

Innovate UK – EDGE

UK Space Agency – Spark Accelerator

Contact

Talk to us about how we can help.

Contact your local trade office and seek advice directly from one of our expert trade advisors

To sign up to the UK Export Academy Space Sector Faculty and help to grow your business by learning how to sell to new customers all around the world, click below on Register for the UK Export Academy.