Event recording: Satellite Futures Summit 2025
techUK was pleased to host members from industry and academia, alongside key stakeholders, to discuss the future of satellite connectivity in the UK during the launch of the Optical Wireless Communications Roadmap.
The event brought together experts to explore strategic alignment, skills development, and investment pathways critical for the UK space sector’s growth. The discussions highlighted opportunities in dual-use technologies, international collaboration, and standards development—key enablers for ensuring the UK remains competitive in the global space economy.
Photonics for space and beyond
The panel stressed the need for more testbeds, iterative development, and stronger collaboration between academia, industry, and Catapults to accelerate technology readiness and commercialisation. Panelists also mentioned the lack of accessible terrestrial and space-based testbeds in the UK, which prevents the rapid prototyping and failure-driven learning. Calls were made for more accelerator programmes and funded testbeds to enable experimentation and technology validation.
Standards development was another key theme, with emphasis on the importance of open, interoperable standards for space-based photonic systems. Efforts to harmonise standards such as ESA’s ESTO and the US SDA are essential for interoperability, supply chain alignment, and attracting investment.
Within this context, hybrid optical-RF networks will ensure resilience and high availability, leveraging the UK’s strengths in photonics and wireless communications. The UK’s role in providing in-orbit demonstrations is crucial for influencing standards and showcasing capabilities.
Finaly, academia-industry alignment is necessary for increasing the numbers of patents, technology translation initiatives, and regular feedback from industry so training matches future sector needs. Diversity and early STEM engagement are equally essential for building a resilient workforce, with suggestions such as CubeSat kits for schools and greater visibility of career pathways in the space industry.
Satellite horizons: from strategy to reality
The second panel examined the alignment of the UK’s national space strategy, industrial plan, and defence review. A recurring theme was the need for a centralised government function to coordinate fragmented policies and implementation across departments.
The recent House of Lords report on the status of the space sector recommends a unified approach to foster collaboration between government, industry, and academia. Whereas the Strategic Defence Review represents a cornerstone for UK space policy, recognising the importance of resilient, operationally relevant systems, and advocating for integrated missile defence and multi-orbit connectivity as national priorities.
The discussion also explored sovereignty and resilience. Panelists agreed that the UK must maintain ownership of key space assets across all orbits to ensure freedom of action and national security. The MOD’s role as an anchor customer was flagged as critical for integrating civil and defence requirements and providing the vision and funding necessary to support the broader ecosystem.
International partnerships are essential, with participants noting that the UK cannot achieve all its ambitions alone and must leverage relationships such as Five Eyes and collaborations with the US and Australia to share costs and capabilities. Similarly, dual-use applications are vital for creating contract sizes large enough to sustain UK SMEs, with recent trade agreements—such as the removal of tariffs on optical comms terminals to the US—opening new export opportunities.
The final part of the discussion focused on investment and scaling challenges. Barriers such as procurement hurdles, limited access to capital, and the need for a supportive environment that enables commercialisation and long-term competitiveness are part of the limits to innovation in the UK.
The discussion also addressed global competition and risk appetite. The difficulties startups face in securing growth-stage funding stress the need for government and private sector collaboration to identify and back promising companies. Unlocking UK pension fund capital for space investment was suggested as a potential solution, alongside simplifying the value proposition and demonstrating tangible returns. Increasing risk appetite and supporting multi-purpose, innovative technologies are also seen as critical for helping the UK compete globally.
Looking ahead
The launch of the Optical Wireless Communications Roadmap marks an important step in shaping the UK’s satellite connectivity future. By addressing policy fragmentation, investing in skills and testbeds, and creating procurement and funding pathways, the UK can build a competitive, resilient space ecosystem. Collaboration across government, industry, academia, and international partners will be the cornerstone of turning ambition into action.
