A Conversation With - Portia Bircher, UKSA Programme Lead
With the second round of Explore applications ongoing, we speak to Portia Bircher, Programme Lead at the UK Space Agency about her journey into the space industry and her advice to those aspiring to apply to the programme.
My Journey
I joined the UK Space Agency in 2017. My role within the UK Space Agency Accelerator is Programme Lead, my team within the Agency is focussed on developing a National Space ecosystem and supporting early-stage businesses that form an important part of that ecosystem. I have been part of the Space Accelerator from the very beginning back in 2019 when I conducted the consultations and stakeholder engagements to define the requirement of what an Accelerator programme could look like. I am therefore very invested in the programme and passionate about championing and supporting startup and scaling businesses.
What are some highlights from the programme?
There are some obvious highlights where during the pilot programme we supported 88 entrepreneurs who raised just under £9 million of investment and created 80 new jobs. We continue to be ambitious, and it was marvellous that some of our first Explore cohort, this year, raised funds either during or immediately after the programme.
Our first Trajectory event in May was fantastic, it was great to meet some of our cohort and alumni in Edinburgh and I’m looking forward to our next Trajectory events in Sheffield in September and Cardiff in December. We have a delivery plan and funding to continue the Accelerator until March 2025 so we will be recruiting other Leo and Geo cohorts in 2024. We are always evaluating and requesting feedback from our participants to help us learn what adds most value to improve the programme. Beyond March 2025, I certainly hope to be able to make the case to continue investing public funds in supporting startup and early stage space businesses through the UK Space Agency Accelerator and continue to grow the sector and deliver value for money.
Advice to those aspiring to enter the space industry
The advice I would give anyone interested in developing a career in the space industry is that you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to be a part of this industry. There is a real skills shortage that the UK Space Agency and others are trying to address. In addition to more traditional ‘space’ skills, the Space industry also needs designers, engineers, project managers, marketing professionals to name a few.
For those developing innovative products and services and who find themselves as CEO or CTO of a startup business, other than advising them to apply to one of the UK Space Agency Accelerator programmes, I would give these three bits of advice.
Understand your customers and develop your products to resolve their problems, ensuring that there is a sustainable market. Don’t spend a lot of time and money developing technologies that might be cool, but people don’t need or want to buy.
Build a diverse team around you that means not just people who look and think like you. Successful teams have a diverse skill set, can communicate and challenge each other openly and share your passion and ambition for success. This also extends to networks, being part of a wide network is essential and they don’t generally come to you, you have to put in the work to find and build them.
Develop a compelling vision, robust business model and funding strategy, to help make critical decisions and create realistic roadmaps for funding and technology development. This might include looking for alternative or terrestrial applications for your products or services in the shorter term that can help fund your longer-term visions. The sooner you can commercialise and start creating revenue from your technology the sooner you can pivot to working full time on that business.
I would encourage anyone interested in developing a business in the space sector to apply for the Explore programme. We have a world class consortium delivering world class business support, including cutting edge business growth tools, and access to entrepreneurial growth and technical commercialisation experts. The programme also offers group sessions to tackle key challenges and access to the right network to support the next stage of your business journey.
Places are limited but they are fully funded so anyone who really wants to engage and take advantage of this offering should find out more.
If you want to be part of the UK Space Agency Accelerator, our Explore programme is currently open for applications until the 25th of August. Applications are reviewed on an ongoing basis, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible. If you’d like to learn more about partnering with the UK Space Agency Accelerator, get in touch with us through this form today.