Academia

Helping academia & research institutions deliver real world impact

Our aim is to increase the impact of research activity and maximise its exploitation. Driving real world innovation by verifying market opportunities, finding delivery partners, and identifying future customers and initiative.
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What we do At a glance Join the network Opportunities Across the network

Taking Applied research to market

Join our Academic Network

We facilitate research driven partnerships that solve critical issues in three key areas and across six markets.

People's Experience

Places prosper when they understand and design for the needs of people. Connected Places Catapult has access to a range of capabilities which help partners to understand changing needs and to design for experience.

Connected Intelligence

The infrastructure that enables digital connectivity within and between places as well as the technology and intelligence that enables data-rich insights, modelling and analysis.

Climate Action

We convene the markets to spark disruptive innovation and scale up Net Zero and resilience technologies, by developing the business and operational case for adoption and deployment.

Innovation imperatives into markets

Place Leadership

Integrated Infrastructure

Maritime & ports

Air mobility & airports

Rail & stations

Homes & housing

We connect research to businesses and government departments, accelerating change & solving critical issues

We develop researchers’ entrepreneurial mindsets to access industry, improve market offerings, and open up entirely new markets

1,100+

Members

270+

Universities and Industry Organisations

We deliver innovation funding programmes such as the Department of Transport’s Transport Research and Innovation Grants and Researchers and Residence. Academics are given opportunities to develop and scale their innovations with support from the Catapult. Our newly launched Affiliates Network strengthens the Catapult’s reach and impact in key innovation ecosystems.

JOIN THE ACADEMIC NETWORK

Our Academic Network is an environment for exchange of ideas, knowledge, learning and the opportunity to promote collaboration. Join our network today, which already has over 1,100 members from 270 universities and industry organisations. Apply your academic expertise through opportunities such as our Researchers in Residence scheme.

Join the Academic Network
“Being a member of Connected Places Catapult’s Academic Network has allowed me to have better visibility over relevant events, projects and funding opportunities. The support offered by the Academic Engagement team has been very helpful in identifying areas where the impact of our project can be further exploited.”

Dr Donya Hajializadeh  Senior Lecturer in Bridge/Structural Engineering, Director of Employability, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Surrey

Opportunities within the network

Access to industry
To strengthen your networks, keep up to date with current challenges faced by companies and be best placed to meet industry needs.
Access to opportunities
To keep up to date with opportunities funded and supported by the Catapult and or our partners, such us: Innovation Funding Programmes, including Transport Research Innovation Grants and Researchers in Residence.
Sector reports & publications
Access focused research and tailored reports from us and our partners, delivered straight to your inbox.
Signposting to funding
To extend your understanding of the funding landscape, hear of the funders you have not considered before, including private investors in innovation.
Dissemination of research
To share your research findings, tools and methodologies with our networks, to promote application and increase impact
Events
To participate or contribute to our networking events and those of our partners

Take a detailed research needs assessment

We created the platform to support universities and research & technology organisations to exploit and share their intellectual property.

After registering with the academic network, researchers are invited to share details of their work to receive specific methodical and technical feedback from our sector specialists and social and economic modelling teams.

We undertake a significant amount of analysis to provide the quantitative inputs into this process, confirming the viability of innovative research.

Join the network to find out more

Across the network

Filters
Results found
Article
Meet the Academic urging residents to reconsider how they use cars
Communities in Leeds are being encouraged by transport professor Greg Marsden to rethink how they get around, and embrace shared and active mobility to help the planet.
Article
Meet the Academic championing more material reuse
Researcher Luis Torres-Retamal is exploring how procurement can be used as a lever for public organisations to adopt sustainable principles in construction and transport, and how a shift in company behaviours may help develop the circular economy.
Opportunity
HMGCC Challenge: Assurance of printed circuit boards using machine vision
When national security organisations use electronic equipment in sensitive environments, they must be sure every element has been properly assured. In its latest challenge, HMGCC Co-Creation wants organisations to get involved in a five-month project, developing ways to robustly assure printed circuit boards (PCBs).
Opportunity
HMGCC Challenge: Underground Tunnelling Techniques
Underground tunnelling presents an array of opportunities and challenges, so the MoD would like to know how technologies and capabilities in this area could be better harnessed for future operations.
Project
Future Aviation Security Solutions Industrial PHD Partnerships (FASS IPP)
In this programme academia and industry have been brought together to develop innovative ideas capable of transforming the future of aviation security. As well as to promote seamless travel to better the passenger experience.
Article
Meet the Academic focusing on the accessibility of our streets
Arun Ulahannan of Coventry University is leading a project to improve the design of streets to accommodate future mobility, with support from Connected Places Catapult.
Two men examine a drone while holding a clipboard and a pen. One man is seated, and the other is leaning forward, both focusing intently on the drone.
Opportunity
Join the Academic Network
Our Academic Network is an environment for exchange of ideas, knowledge, learning and the opportunity to promote collaboration. Join our network today, which already has over 1,100 members from 273 UK universities and industry organisations.
Article
Meet the Academic showing how public procurement can aid net zero aims
Katherine Sugar champions efforts to spend more on energy infrastructure projects that promise a fairer transition to net zero in cities.
Innovation imperatives
Industry Focus

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Connected Places Catapult is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England under company number 11837978. Its registered office is at 1 Sekforde Street, London, EC1R 0BE.​