[Satnews] The Scottish space industry is taking off and Jumpstart, one of the UK's leading tax credit specialists, is providing a booster rocket by helping innovative companies claim often transformational sums from the UK’s research and development (R&D) scheme.
The company, which has been at the forefront of raising awareness of vital R&D assistance, has successfully claimed tens of thousands of pounds for Clyde Space, the high-profile, Glasgow-based manufacturer which designed and built the first Scottish satellite. This week, (Thursday, November 26) Jumpstart is exhibiting in Newcastle at the Collaborate to Innovate Space Conference 2015, organized by the North East Satellite Applications Centre of Excellence, which will be attended by more than 200 senior industry delegates. The conference, which will focus on the new and developing opportunities within the global space technology industry, is being sponsored by another ambitious Scottish space technology company, Astrosat, which has won a string of European space prizes.
Simon Fisk, Jumpstart Business Analyst who will be exhibiting along with his colleague David Milnes at Thursday's conference, said, "The opportunities for UK companies for global growth in the commercialization of space are truly immense. But the hard fact is that many enterprises in the sector remain firmly Earth-bound when it comes to realizing the funds which are available for innovation – but which go unclaimed for a variety of reasons. Jumpstart is committed to continuing to promote the R&D relief schemes, which have seen the number of SMEs claiming tax relief in 2013-14 increase by around 23 percent to more than 16,000, with the total amount of support provided through the SME scheme at £800 million."
Scottish Enterprise, which is supporting the growing expertise in Scotland's space sector, said that there were now in the region of 140 companies involved in the emerging technologies with combined turnover of £134 million. Jumpstart has worked closely with—and gained significant benefits for—the current star of the sector, Clyde Space, which last month (October) saw completion of the first mission of its UKube-1 satellite, which was launched in Kazakhstan in a project with the UK Space Agency. It has also won a contract from NASA and has increased its headcount dramatically to cope with continually increasing demand.
Craig Clark, Founder and Chief Executive of Clyde Space, said, "We design and manufacture cube satellites for customers such as NASA and the US Air Force and, although we were clearly doing R&D, we were being advised by people who didn’t understand the company and didn’t understand the potential. After working with the consultants at Jumpstart, we recovered more than £60,000 from HMRC. We were absolutely delighted and are now working with them on further R&D tax credit submissions."
Kevin Dixon, Jumpstart’s Director of Sales and Marketing, said, "A successful claim relies on specialist expertise—understanding the technical and scientific processes to identify and justify eligible projects for R&D submission."
