Catapult centres are a network of nine organisations set up by Innovate UK in the United Kingdom, to promote research and development (R&D) and to exploit market opportunities. Catapult centres promote R&D and innovation through business-led collaboration between scientists, academics, engineers, entrepreneurs, industry leaders and Government. They receive grants from public funds but are also expected to seek commercial funding. The first tranche of Catapults were established in 2011.
31-753: The United Kingdom Space Agency ( UKSA ) is an executive agency of the Government of the United Kingdom , responsible for the United Kingdom 's civil space programme . It was established on 1 April 2010 to replace the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and took over responsibility for government policy and key budgets for space exploration; it represents the United Kingdom in all negotiations on space matters. The Agency "[brings] together all UK civil space activities under one single management". It
62-545: A compelling business case for each proposal or mission". The UK Space Agency took over the following responsibilities from other government organisations: On 31 January 2021, The Daily Telegraph reported that following a government "Space Landscape Review" responsibility for space policy and strategy was being transferred to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy . Earlier, responsibility for regulation, such as for spacecraft launch, had been transferred to
93-642: A five-year period, with a long-term funding split set out through a "thirds" model, to ensure neutrality and independence. The thirds model was recommended to reduce the Catapults' reliance on any part of the innovation ecosystem, with the ambition set out that one-third of funding comes from core grant funding, one-third comes from commercial funding, and one-third comes from collaborative (public and private) research & development funding. The centres operate as nine independent, private, not-for-profit businesses, brought together through collaboration, joint projects. As
124-649: A report following their inquiry, Catapults: bridging the gap between research and industry. The report stated Catapult Network is an integral part of the UK’s innovation system, and the R&;D roadmap envisages a key role for the Catapults in attracting increased private sector R&D investment. and made a series of recommendations to Innovate UK , UKRI and the then Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to reduce barriers to Catapult impact and maximise Catapults' potential to drive private investment. In April 2021,
155-557: A whole, they are referred to as the Catapult network. The Catapult Network appoints a Chair of the Network every year, chosen from one of the Catapult CEOs. The Chair's role is to represent the collective mission of the nine Catapult centres. Recent Chairs have included: The Catapult Network has been subject to various reviews, inquiries and reports since its inception. These have included
186-441: Is Dr Paul Bate , a civil servant with a PhD in particle physics . Graham Turnock , a physicist who had previously worked at HM Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy , was the chief executive from March 2017 until the end of his four-year term in 2021. Libby Jackson is the agency's Head of Space Exploration and Anu Ojha is the director of Championing Space. Proposed sites for spaceports, and
217-653: Is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government , Scottish Government , Welsh Government or Northern Ireland Executive . Executive agencies are "machinery of government" devices distinct both from non-ministerial government departments and non-departmental public bodies (or " quangos "), each of which enjoy legal and constitutional separation from ministerial control. The model has been applied in several other countries. Agencies include well-known organisations such as His Majesty's Prison Service and
248-596: Is based at the Harwell Campus near Didcot. The creation of the UK Space Agency was first publicly announced by UK Minister of State for Science and Innovation, Lord Drayson , on 10 December 2009 during a speech at the Rutherford Appleton Lab (RAL) space conference. As the UK Space Agency neared its opening day, Lord Mandelson , Lord Drayson and astronaut Tim Peake officially announced its establishment at
279-532: Is put on the development of new markets for satellite-based services and applications. In addition, new satellite, ground infrastructure and product developments are being initiated through original schemes of public–private partnerships with world-class operators. The building also houses the Earth Observation Climate Office, Science and Exploration teams and Technology and Quality Management teams supporting ESA research and development programmes in
310-578: The Civil Aviation Authority . A new cabinet committee , the National Space Council, was soon due to have its first meeting following its announcement in the 2019 Queen's Speech . The UK Space Gateway at Harwell , Oxfordshire is a focal point for growth in the UK's space sector. Harwell is home to a growing number of space organisations including start-ups, inward investors, corporate offices,
341-415: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills under Lord Mandelson (subsequently formed into the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and then merged into the current Department for Science, Innovation and Technology ) commissioned a report on technical innovation from Hermann Hauser , an entrepreneur who had been active in information technology since 1978. The report recommended
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#1733084848712372-610: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency . The annual budget for each agency, allocated by HM Treasury , ranges from a few million pounds for the smallest agencies to £700m for the Court Service . Virtually all government departments have at least one agency. The initial success or otherwise of executive agencies was examined in the Sir Angus Fraser's Fraser Report of 1991. Its main goal was to identify what good practices had emerged from
403-566: The European Space Agency 's Galileo navigation system following Brexit in favour of developing its own system of navigation satellites . The total cost of the United Kingdom Global Navigation Satellite System project was estimated at £5 billion. In July 2020, the UK government and Indian conglomerate Bharti Enterprises jointly purchased the bankrupt OneWeb satellite company. The UKSA had advised
434-544: The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre on 23 March 2010. On that day, a ceremony was held in which Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a plaque at the entrance to the centre. Around £230 million of funding and management functions were merged into the UK Space Agency from other organisations. "Improving co-ordination of UK efforts in fields such as Earth science, telecoms and space exploration" was to form part of its remit, according to Lord Drayson. Prior to
465-640: The Space Innovation and Growth Team in February 2010. David Williams was appointed Acting Chief Executive on 1 April 2010, and he was confirmed as the first CEO on 1 April 2011. Alice Bunn is the International Director. Although Space-IGS called for the UK to double European Space Agency (ESA) contributions and to initiate and lead at least three missions between 2010 and 2030, this was not committed to, with Lord Drayson stating that "We will require
496-524: The Catapults' impact. They surveyed more than 300 businesses that had previously worked with Catapults and made a series of findings which demonstrated the Catapults' role in helping to drive business growth in the UK. In August 2018, the Government announced funding totalling £780 million to be provided to several of the centres, over the next five years. In November 2022, during the Autumn Statement,
527-638: The Satellite Applications Catapult, RAL Space and ESA's ECSAT Facility. As of April 2016, the site is estimated to host over 600 space-related employees working in circa 60 organisations. ESA ’s UK facility, ECSAT, has been developing steadily since 2008, following the UK government’s decision to increase its contribution to ESA. Named after the ESA's first British Director General, Roy Gibson, ECSAT's building hosts 100+ jobs including teams in telecommunications and integrated applications. Special emphasis
558-532: The UK, focusing on 'game-changing' technologies and capabilities. The Satellite Applications Catapult is an independent innovation and technology company, created as part of the Catapult centres programme to foster growth across the economy through the exploitation of space. The Catapult helps organisations make use of and benefit from satellite technologies, and bring together multi-disciplinary teams to generate ideas and solutions in an open innovation environment. It
589-415: The United Kingdom. By 1997, 76% of civil servants were employed by an agency. The new Labour government in its first such report – the 1998 Next Steps Report – endorsed the model introduced by its predecessor. A later review (in 2002, linked below) made two central conclusions (their emphasis): " The agency model has been a success . Since 1988 agencies have transformed the landscape of government and
620-656: The United States, the Clinton administration imported the model under the name "performance-based organizations." In Canada, executive agencies were adopted on a limited basis under the name special operating agencies . One example is the Translation Bureau under Public Services and Procurement Canada . Executive agencies were also established in Australia, Jamaica, Japan and Tanzania. Catapult centres In 2010,
651-930: The companies associated with them, are as follows: RAL Space, based at STFC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , carries out space research and technology development. The Space Academic Network provides a voice for the academic research community. The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory , headquartered at Porton Down , Wiltshire, began a five-year programme of defence-related space research in 2017. Executive agency King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee An executive agency
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#1733084848712682-417: The creation of the agency, the space and satellite industry in the UK was valued at £9 billion and supported 68,000 jobs. The 20-year aim of the agency was to increase the industry to £40 billion and 100,000 jobs, and to represent 10% of worldwide space products and services (increasing from the current 6%). This plan arose from the "Space Innovation and Growth Strategy" (Space-IGS) report, published by
713-606: The establishment of a number of Technology and Innovation Centres to help bridge the gap between fundamental research and commercialisation. The UK Government subsequently funded Innovate UK (then the Technology Strategy Board and now part of UK Research and Innovation ) to establish what became known as the Catapult Network, setting up a total of nine centres between 2011 and 2018. The Catapults individually receive core grant funding from Innovate UK, approved for
744-482: The following: In November 2017, Ernst & Young published a report commissioned by the then Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy , following the completion of the first five-year funding cycle of the first centres established. This report made a series of recommendations to encourage Catapult performance and growth. In February 2021, the Science and Technology Committee (House of Lords) published
775-446: The government that OneWeb was not suitable as a basis for a satellite navigation system. On 25 September 2020, The Daily Telegraph reported that the United Kingdom Global Navigation Satellite System project had been scrapped. The project, deemed unnecessary and too expensive, will be replaced with a new project that will explore alternative ways to provide satellite navigation services. The agency's chief executive since September 2021
806-407: The new model and spread them to other agencies and departments. The report also recommended further powers be devolved from ministers to chief executives. A series of reports and white papers examining governmental delivery were published throughout the 1990s, under both Conservative and Labour governments. During these the agency model became the standard model for delivering public services in
837-566: The progress made against the original recommendations. In May 2023, the Enterprise Research Centre and Innovation Caucus (commissioned by Innovate UK) released two reports – Evaluating the medium-term business performance effects of engaging with Catapults and Catapulting Firms into the Innovation System: Analysing Local Knowledge Spillovers from Catapult Centres – based on research into
868-454: The research facility for ESA . Some of its tasks were to investigate climate change, and the security of space systems. £24m of the cost of the centre was to be funded by the government, with the remainder from industry. In April 2013, ISIC merged into the newly formed Satellite Applications Catapult. In November 2018, the British government announced that the UK Space Agency would abandon ties to
899-421: The responsive and effectiveness of services delivered by Government." Some agencies have, however, become disconnected from their departments ... The gulf between policy and delivery is considered by most to have widened." The latter point is usually made more forcefully by critics of the government, describing agencies as "unaccountable quangos ". Several other countries have an executive agency model. In
930-454: The then Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy published a Review of Catapults, confirming that Catapults play an important role in the R&D ecosystem and making 13 recommendations which prioritised greater collaboration between Catapults and an increased role for them in driving equality, diversity and inclusion and skills. This Review was updated in September 2023 to reflect
961-552: Was established in May 2013 by Innovate UK (formerly known as the Technology Strategy Board) as one of a network of centres to accelerate the take-up of emerging technologies and drive economic growth. It is a not-for-profit research organisation which is registered as a private company limited by guarantee and controlled by its Board. A £40m International Space Innovation Centre ( ISIC ) was created in 2011 at Harwell alongside