HS2 Ltd has today unveiled the cohort of firms selected to join its latest Innovation Accelerator programme.
The firms will benefit from a bespoke 20-week programme of business support designed to help them develop innovative software solutions – technology ultimately intended to help streamline delivery of major infrastructure.
This includes automation of construction site handover, speeding up design, and strengthening the role of the circular economy during site decommissioning at a project’s end.
HS2’s Innovation Accelerator programme is a partnership with Connected Places Catapult.
SMEs BuildPrompt, Document Crunch and Morta will use their time in the accelerator to develop ‘handover’ technologies that efficiently and accurately verify as-built assets to approved designs. They will also automate the currently manual process of document review and approval by harnessing machine learning algorithms to capture and interpret diverse unstructured datasets, including drawings and handwritten documents.
Madaster is the only firm entering the Accelerator to develop technologies to enhance the ‘circular economy’ during site decommissioning through creation of a ‘material passport’ that captures the potential value of reuse elsewhere in a boost for sustainability.
Finally, Simalyticaand Xinaps will specialise in speeding up design through, for example, harnessing artificial intelligence to optimise design, and automate design generation assessment.