Winners announced for the seventh year of Transport-Technology Research and Innovation Grants Programme

The Department for Transport’s Office for Science is delighted to be supporting 23 research and innovation projects through the 2020 Transport-Technology Research and Innovation Grants Programme (T-TRIG). This programme, delivered by the Connected Places Catapult, is now in its seventh year and since 2014 has provided £6m of grants to support over 190 projects, from across the breadth of the transport technology spectrum.

The 2020 T-TRIG Programme has been designed to address the challenges that de-carbonisation and the COVID-19 pandemic are presenting to the UK’s transport industry. Therefore, this year’s projects fall into either one of these challenge areas or T-TRIG’s traditional open call. The funding will bolster research and development into the most cutting-edge technologies that small businesses and universities are currently developing. T-TRIG is an enabling fund and represents the start of a journey that will culminate in the successful launch of new products and services that will make the UK’s transport systems more sustainable, efficient, safe and accessible.

A total of 23 projects (listed below) from 19 SMEs and 4 universities were successful in securing up to £30,000 to further their research and development activity.

For Covid-19 Recovery:

Esoterix Systems – FAST – Find A Space on a Train

Carbon ThreeSixty Ltd – Vertiprop – novel propeller materials and manufacture

Greenway Innovations Ltd – Using de-ionised air to remove airborne Covid-19 virus in trains

Impli Limited – Lifeband – Contact Awareness Bracelet For the Visually Impaired

Incremental Solutions Ltd – Good To Go (G2G) – Providing greater information to passengers to restore confidence for travel on public transport

Route Reports Ltd – Real-time computer vision passenger counting and PPE detection for public transport

University of Surrey – Rapid air extraction in public transport through ducted Alternate-Current Dielectric Barrier Discharge (AC-DBD) plasma actuation

For De-Carbonisation:

Anteam Ltd – AI-driven low-carbon last-mile logistics

Armada Technologies Ltd – Air Lubrication System for maritime fuel efficiency gains

Duodrive Limited – TorqueSight – advanced sensor system for maritime propulsion efficiency gains

Fernhay Partners Ltd – Decarbonising domestic freight through active travel last mile deliveries

Meteor Power Limited – Hydrogen As A Combustion Engine Fuel Additive

Paua – Plug&Charge

PMW Technology Ltd – Pilot Diesel Engine Exhaust Gas Treatment Trial for A3C Carbon Capture Process

Pragmatex Ltd – BAT-Mobile – deployable EV charging solution

Qdot Technology Ltd – Battery Uniform Tab Cooling (BUCT)

University of Cambridge – Diagnosis of Excessive Carbon Emissions from Heavy Goods Vehicles using Digital Twin Technology

University of Cranfield – Solar-Hydrogen-Storage Integrated Electric Vehicle Charging Station in Future Cities

University College London – Feasibility Study of Integrated Automotive Traction Inverters With On-board Charging Capability For Plug-in Electric Vehicles

For the Open Call:

Cambridge Sensoriis Ltd. – Autonomous Drone Freight Transportation, All Weather Resilience and Safety

Claytex Services Limited – SAVAir, Safe Autonomous Vehicles at Airports

Houndstooth Wireless – Self-meshing drone detection networks

SYSELEK (UK) LTD – Secure Border-Ready Freight

Nicola Yates OBE, Connected Places Catapult’s CEO said:

“We are immensely proud of what Connected Places Catapult and DfT have achieved together through the T-TRIG scheme. Transport innovation is a critical tool for creating and driving the transport systems of the future, and the core of that is the talented SMEs and researchers that make up the UK’s transport innovation community.

“We look forward to continuing work with DfT and the UK’s brilliant SME community in making sure that the best of British innovation successfully makes it to the market both here and abroad.”

Transport Minister Rachel Maclean said: 

“I’m delighted to see government investment bringing together talented start-ups and policymakers at the earliest stages of innovation, giving a boost to the technology which could make travelling safer on our road to a green transport recovery.

“This funding will make the UK one of the most attractive places for SMEs and university thinkers to do what they do best, as we look to build back better, while also solving the complex challenge of decarbonising transport.” 

The projects began in January 2021 and their findings will be presented to the DfT and its partners at the showcase event in Summer 2021. To view the full details of the T-TRIG cohort, see below in the cohort brochure.