Completion of the inaugural Northern Ireland Space Office “Space Ready” Programme

7th May 2026

Space Professionals Partnership Limited (SPPL) is pleased to announce the successful completion of the first Northern Ireland Space Ready capacity building programme. Conducted in close collaboration with the Northern Ireland Space Office and InvestNI, this programme was designed to bridge the gap between world-class manufacturing in Northern Ireland and the rigorous demands of the growing space sector.

Strengthening the UK space supply chain
The programme focused on a selected cohort of SME companies representing the backbone of Northern Ireland’s manufacturing landscape. SPPL drew on our commercial and technical expertise to create a series of targeted workshops, summarised in a playbook, to position these firms as reliable, space-ready partners to the space sector.

Key themes addressed during the programme included:

Technical alignment: Understanding the engineering standards required for space-grade hardware.
Strategic positioning: Developing business models that set the foundations for sustainable growth in the space domain
Market understanding: Identifying specific entry points and target communities within the space landscape.

Our selected expert team included Andrew Nairn, Zoe Bowden, Glyn Jones, Cat Hamelin, and Adrian Matthew, who all made an excellent contribution to the project.

Robert Hill, Director of the Northern Ireland Space Office and NI Space Cluster Manager said
“The Space Ready programme has provided our companies with the knowledge, guidance and experience to confidently and meaningfully interact with Primes and Key Integrators and fellow SME stakeholder companies engaging in the space sector. The cohort companies are already providing world class commercial engineering solutions and expertise into the adjacent aerospace and advanced manufacturing sectors. The Space Ready programme has helped to support the cohort to become ‘space literate’ and to pivot and align their respective capabilities for space”

Here’s what some of our cohort members said about the programme:

Patrick Walls @ LPE: “The programme gave us a much clearer understanding of where we fit within the space sector and increased our confidence in pursuing opportunities in the market. It also helped create valuable connections within the wider cluster and opened up new conversations around future collaboration and potential commercial opportunities.”

Liam Mulholland @ Raptor Photonics: “…Although Raptor already has products in space, the Space Professionals provided an eye-opening amount of knowledge and direction in how to advance our product, and company as a whole, to compete on ESA projects and beyond. It was a joy to work with them all.”

Ronan Flanagan @ Numa Innovation: “…The programme content provided by SPPL, which was well structured and informative, has helped to guide our recent business development activities. Also, the support and advice given during the preparation for the 1-to-1 meetings with potential customers at the Space-Comm exhibition was invaluable. We look forward to continuing to work with SPPL in the future as we further develop and scale our space capabilities.”

What’s Next?
As Northern Ireland continues to significantly grow its footprint in the space economy, SPPL remains committed to providing the support required to maintain this momentum.

Contact us to find out how SPPL can help create a space access programme for your business or community.