The UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) is based at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

It has design offices, workshops and test facilities for both ground- and space-based instruments, including a suite of test labs capable of handling the largest current and projected instruments.

Its initial "customers" were the then new Gemini Observatory, the former ROE observatories in Hawaii (the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT)), and a former RGO observatory, the Isaac Newton Group on La Palma, Canary Islands.

[3] More recently, collaboration with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have gained importance.

[1] Major projects and collaborations include: Following increased government emphasis on knowledge transfer and declining funds for the Science and Technology Facilities Council[18] the UK ATC is increasingly working on projects with astronomical institutions beyond the UK and the EU, with institutions dedicated to science and technology other than astronomy, and with technology-related businesses.