Up to £9 million funding to improve railways
An innovation funding competition to improve the railway for customers has been announced by rail minister, Paul Maynard.
Up to £9 million is available 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.
The competition aims to help deliver the industry’s Rail Technical Strategy and 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 areas that create high-value, low-cost railway innovations, which increase the value of rail services to passengers while driving down operational expense and improve customer experience through station design and performance.
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.”
He continued: “This is why we are working with Innovate UK to launch a rail innovation competition offering investment of up to £9million, 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.”
The deadline for registration for the competition is midday on 10 May.
UK businesses of any size can apply for funding and each project should include at least one small or medium-sized enterprise (SME).
It is expected that projects last up 12 months and to range in size from £150,000 to £1 million.
In addition to this, projects must involve at least one SME, be collaborative and be business-led.
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