05.08.26, LONDON, Connected Places Catapult, the UK’s innovation agency for transport, construction and data infrastructure, has today announced the opening of applications for the Infrastructure Productivity Scale-Up Programme. This programme is designed to help innovative businesses overcome one of the biggest challenges facing the infrastructure sector: turning proven solutions into widely adopted industry practice. 

With at least £725 billion of planned public infrastructure investment expected over the next decade, improving productivity across project delivery has become a major industry priority. Yet many solutions that have already demonstrated operational value struggle to achieve wider adoption because of procurement barriers, fragmented supply chains, limited access to decision makers and the challenge of demonstrating impact at scale. The Infrastructure Productivity Scale-Up Programme has been developed to help address these barriers and accelerate the deployment of proven solutions across the sector. 

Funded by Innovate UK and delivered by Connected Places Catapult, with support from leading infrastructure partners, the four-month programme is seeking up to ten ambitious UK SMEs with proven productivity solutions that are ready to scale. Rather than focusing on technology development, the programme is designed to help businesses strengthen their commercial proposition, improve procurement readiness, build strategic relationships and create clearer routes to market. 

Successful applicants will benefit from tailored support, direct engagement with infrastructure stakeholders, expert guidance and opportunities to showcase their solutions to potential customers. Participating businesses will also receive support to strengthen their evidence base, validate the value their solution delivers, and build the credibility needed to secure wider industry adoption. Cohort members will have the opportunity to apply for up to £8,000 to demonstrate their solution to potential buyers.

The programme is focused on four key industry challenges where there is significant demand for practical, scalable solutions:

• Improving productivity visibility across the infrastructure supply chain 

• Reducing inefficiencies, waste and delays on site 

• Increasing certainty around project costs and delivery schedules 

• Integrating productivity solutions into existing systems and workflows 

Applications are welcomed from businesses with solutions that address one or more of these challenge areas and have already been tested, demonstrated or already deployed. 

“We know there are high-potential SMEs across the UK with practical solutions that can make infrastructure delivery faster, more predictable and less wasteful. The challenge is often not proving that those solutions work, but getting them adopted more widely.

Through this programme, we want to support businesses that can help clients, contractors and supply chains improve how infrastructure is delivered in practice. That will become increasingly important as the sector prepares for standards such as PAS 4010, which is designed to help organisations plan, measure and continuously improve productivity across the infrastructure lifecycle.

This is about helping proven solutions reach the right organisations, overcome barriers to adoption and make a real difference across the sector.”

Joshua Thomas, Head of Built Environment and Urbanism Technical, Connected Places Catapult

Prospective applicants have until 12:00 on 14 September 2026 to apply.