In a message to the Railway Industry
Association’s Innovation Conference, Rail
Minister announced up to £9
million to support UK businesses as part of a new innovation
competition to develop solutions for national and international
railways.
The funding is being made available by the Department for
Transport (DFT) through Innovate UK.
Creating better railways
The competition aims to help deliver the industry’s Rail Technical
Strategyand its Rail Capability Delivery
Plan for 2017, which outlines the joint industry vision for
using technology to create better railways.
It will invite applications on 2 priority areas that:
- create high-value, low-cost railway innovations, which
increase the value of rail services to passengers while driving
down operational expense
- improve customer experience through station design and
performance
For the travelling public this should mean a more sustainable
rail industry that offers better services, better journeys and
better value.
Accelerating innovation in rail
Mr Maynard said:
We are delivering the biggest modernisation programme in rail
since the Victorian era. But industries like automotive and
aerospace spend many times what rail spends on research and
development. This has to change. We have got to accelerate
innovation in rail. It’s what passengers deserve and expect.
This is why we are working with Innovate UK to launch a rail
innovation competition offering investment of up to £9m, which
will help to deliver the industry’s Rail Technical Strategy.
We want participation both from within the rail sector and from
organisations with little experience of working in rail.
Winning back customer confidence is a big challenge for the
industry and successful innovation will play a big role in
delivering that.
UK businesses of any size can apply for funding. Each project
should include at least one small or medium-sized enterprise
(SME).
- the competition opens on 20 March 2017, and the deadline for
registration is midday on 10 May 2017
- we expect projects to last up to 12 months and to range in
size from £150,000 to £1 million
- projects must involve at least one SME, be collaborative and
be business-led
- businesses could attract up to 70% of their project costs
- a briefing event will be held on 21 March 2017
