Rocketeers.co.uk - a British view of commercial spaceflight

UK space technology prizes along the lines of the Ansari X-Prize and Centennial Challenges might not be as implausible as you might think. There is already a major technology prize in the UK which has a larger prize fund than the X-Prize. The Saltire Prize is a £10 million ($16 million) prize funded by the Scottish Government for development and deployment of advanced wave or tidal energy systems. There is real and growing political support for space tourism in Scottish politics -- one of its strongest advocates is Angus Robertson MP, Westminster leader for the Scottish National Party, and local MP for the proposed Virgin launch site at RAF Lossiemouth. It seems to me that a focussed lobbying effort (perhaps even a specifically Scottish effort) towards a small number of well-designed space technology prizes in the mould of the Centennial Challenges might have a reasonable chance of success, particularly in the context of the new UK Space Agency.

Question is, who would lobby for it? Organisations like the BIS seem to be focussed more on "Big Space" efforts like the UK Human Spaceflight Campaign, than the potentially transformative effects of technology prizes. Something to think about further...