The UK's innovation accelerator for cities, transport & place leadership.
We are delighted to partner with British Aviation Group (BAG) to be present at their exhibition stand and talk about our work around the Passenger Experience programme, Digital Aviation and programmes related to Air Mobility including the Drone Pathfinder Catalyst programme.
Andrew Chadwick, Ecosystem Director Air Mobility & Airports together with our wider team working on above programmes will join the the event. If you are attending the Expo, make sure to pay the team a visit.
Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) are vital to industry and represent the backbone of trade and commerce worldwide. They are responsible for ensuring we have access to food, medicines, and goods of all kinds.
Almost 90% of domestic goods transported in the UK in 2022 were moved by road – the vast majority of which by heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). These vehicles currently produce approximately 19% of all UK domestic transport greenhouse gas emissions. By 2050, this must be reduced to zero, in line with the UK Government’s Net Zero Strategy.
Connected Places Catapult is supporting Innovate UK and the Department for Transport with the Zero-Emission HGVs & Infrastructure Demonstration programme, which represents a public investment of up to £200 million, match-funded by industry. The programme will see the launch of the first large (40+ tonne) zero-emission HGVs in significant numbers, together with supporting infrastructure, which will enable freight operators to determine the suitability of the new technology for their operations. Public-facing battery-electric charging stations and hydrogen refuelling stations will enable HGVs to go beyond ‘back to base’ operations.
Further information regarding the programme can be found here and a full list of the winning consortia partners has been published here.
Together with BSI, Connected Places Catapult is supporting partners involved in the Innovate UK-funded demonstrations and stakeholders in the wider zero-emission HGV ecosystem.
There are four strands to our DfT-funded project.
Standards are crucial in ensuring zero-emission HGVs can roll out in an efficient and safe manner, with interoperability embedded from the start, and to create a market that delivers on required outcomes. Through the standards work, in partnership with BSI, we have formed a Standards Advisory Group for zero-emission road freight that will provide the decision making and governance for the standards development work. Three ‘flex’ standards, which are well suited to fast-moving areas of innovation, will be developed through the project.
You can see the latest on our standards work, here.
The public / private investment through the programme is crucial in helping to bring stakeholders together and roll out the initial vehicles and infrastructure, but it is just a starting point. Much more finance will be needed to fully transition the 600,000 HGVs across the UK and the millions around the world. These investments will ultimately be offset by reduced total cost of ownership with lower fuel costs, increased driver satisfaction and improved sustainability as we move towards circular supply chains. We are speaking to the UK-based and international investor ecosystem to create a long-term and sustainable programme of decarbonisation. We intend to create a trade and investment bridge for the programme, raise the profile of UK-led activities to local and international markets and position the UK as a thought leader and green partner of choice.
Safety is top of the agenda when developing zero-emission demonstrations of HGVs. We are seeking industry consensus on best practice in terms of safety and security to inform both demonstrations and longer term roll out of vehicles and infrastructure. Standards and guidance documents must work together with regulations to ensure safe practices are embedded as existing industries transition and new industries are formed.
Our best practice document, to be published in December 2023, will consider the operation, refuelling/charging, maintenance, and recovery of the vehicles. The focus is on new hazards that are novel to heavy duty battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Planning and regulatory hurdles are a key barrier to wide-scale infrastructure deployment for zero emission HGVs. In December 2023, we will publish a reference document for stakeholders involved in planning, design and roll out of battery-electric charging and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure.
We will consider the overall system of HGV charging / refuelling, and the decisions needed from the earliest concept stage through to operations. Our scope includes barriers, existing and emerging guidance, charging/refuelling location, the planning and regulatory landscape, funding and case studies.
Our subject areas overlap considerably. For example, one of the biggest safety concerns is allocating sufficient space for public HGV refuelling/recharging facilities, which has an impact on the financing of the site and on the infrastructure planning. We will consider these interdependencies in our reporting, and would welcome further discussion with other sectors.
If you’d like to find out more, please email us at zeroemissionroadfreight@cp.catapult.org.uk.
You can also register for our showcase event, the Connected Places Summit, in March 2024, which will include the latest on zero-emission road freight activities.
These reports were produced in previous phases of the zero-emission road freight programme. Some material is currently being updated, as described above.
This year, we are proud to host our own Pavilion, a place designed to showcase real innovation, and provide opportunities to connect with thought leaders, and UK and global peers.
To review our full Agenda of sessions and activities taking place over the three days and plan your visit, please head to the UKREiiF website > Programme tab > Download Programme or > Click on the Connected Places Catapult Pavilion dot to browse online.
Make sure to visit our Pavilion in Pavilion Square, we look forward to connecting with you in Leeds!
Paul Wilson, our Chief Business Officer, is participating in the keynote panel titled ‘Transport as the key to people-centric, accessible, and sustainable urban spaces’ on 27 Feb, from 13:10 on the Keynote Stage.
Justin Anderson, Director of Digital Twin Hub, is delivering a presentation on connected digital twins as part of Interchange partner event Transforming Infrastructure Performance (TIP) Live, also on 27 Feb.
Come find us on the show floor and connect!
Register using code CPC24.
We’re delighted to participate in the Open & Agile Smart Cities Conference. Make sure to visit our Connected Places Catapult stand on the show floor and to join the sessions our experts are participating in over the course of the two days.
Twenty firms at the leading edge of efforts to reduce the transport sector’s reliance on fossil fuels have been announced as participants on the Clean Futures accelerator programme in the West Midlands.
Clean Futures is led by Connected Places Catapult alongside programme partners the Black Country Innovative Manufacturing Organisation, Coventry University and CU Services Limited.
Companies chosen for the programme will each receive up to £50,000 to trial their solutions over the next six months, and address one of five challenge areas associated with the rail and automotive manufacturing sectors. The challenges cover greener electric vehicle components; the circular economy of transport; road freight alternatives; greener transport infrastructure; and future fuels.
The accelerator will also provide bespoke technical and commercial support as well as networking and showcasing events to connect the SMEs with industry and financial partners.
AceOn Group (trading as AceOn Battery Solar Technology) has developed a portable energy storage system using second-life electric car batteries, as an alternative to diesel powered generators.
Adelan will demonstrate its solid oxide fuel cell (hydrogen technology power generator) as a cleantech solution for applications including boats, trucks, planes, trains and cars to enable energy systems to decarbonise.
Box Tube has developed a rapid vehicle loading solution for tote boxes, which promises to reduce emissions by enabling efficient and convenient transfer between road and rail.
ChangeMaker 3D is developing a concrete printing technology for the UK rail sector. It is printing and installing a 3D printed toilet pod, which can integrate rainwater harvesting and solar power.
Coexlion has created a Smart Utility Case to fit to the Verdemoto food delivery vehicle to reduce last mile carbon emissions, and reduce short car journeys. It uses IoT connectivity to link orders with the vehicle.
Composite Braiding will demonstrate the net zero benefits of using lightweight advanced composites to manufacture sustainable and lower cost structural components.
Duck Tours (trading as Seahorse Amphibious Vehicles) is using second-life electric vehicle components to electrify amphibious passenger vehicles, to promote resource efficiency.
Gaussion designs magnetic systems that improve battery performance, and aims to significantly reduce charging times and increase the lifespan of batteries for use in automotive applications.
Global Nano Network has developed a high performance current collector, designed to dramatically improve the cycle life and discharge rate of li-ion and next generation batteries.
Harry Needle Railroad Company and Advanced Hydrogen Technologies are installing a hydrogen injection system and a carbon capture unit on to a test locomotive to improve the environmental and fuel efficiency of diesel locomotives.
Hixal has developed a high power, high voltage Power Distribution Unit (PDU) and Control System for its mobile, off-grid, ultra-fast chargers with zero emissions.
Hy-Met has created a rapid and non-contact battery inspection solution to evaluate battery cell quality, that offers data crucial for new regulatory procedures such as a ‘battery passport’.
Intelligent Power Generation (trading as IPG Energy) is delivering a clean, fuel-agnostic generator to help businesses accelerate their transition to renewable fuels for distributed power.
Nedra is developing a lightweight electric vehicle using natural fibre composites, to significantly cut carbon emissions over its lifetime compared to other urban delivery and taxi electric vehicles.
Newreg (trading as car.co.uk) is pioneering a digital platform using AI to perform vehicle inspections at the point of collection, while a dynamic pricing model evaluates a vehicle’s market value.
PowerUp Off-Grid Services is pioneering sustainable ‘Energy as a Service’ solutions, starting with the replacement of fossil fuel generators with its AI-driven battery ‘PowerStations’.
TaiSan Energy develops sustainable and low-cost battery packs for the automotive sector and has built sodium-ion battery packs, designed for micromobility vehicles.
Universal Signalling has developed a novel signalling architecture to create a step-change in the simplicity, cost and flexibility of railway signalling and train control systems.
Varamis Rail is working on a fully-electric express rail logistics business using existing 100mph former passenger trains repurposed to carry parcels, to allow freight to move between train and last-mile sustainable delivery solutions.
White Motorcycle Concepts is developing a first/last mile hybrid motorcycle with enhanced battery capacity, with a view to producing a commercially available vehicle by the middle of 2024.
Clean Futures is being led by Connected Places Catapult in collaboration with the Black Country Innovative Manufacturing Organisation, Coventry University and CU Services Limited. It is part of the wider West Midlands Innovation Accelerator, which is designed to bolster the region’s innovation and R&D capability and spark commercial growth and investment. The West Midlands Innovation Accelerator is delivered in partnership with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Innovate UK and the West Midlands Combined Authority.
The COP28 – Net Zero Mitigation & Resilience Solutions for the UAE programme is seeking to develop long-term, business led research and innovation collaborations between UAE based investors and SMEs and the UK to address pivotal climate change mitigation and resilience challenges.
Funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s Gulf Strategy Fund, this programme is responding to three opportunities outlined in the 2023 iteration of Dubai Future Foundation’s The Global 50 future opportunities report. The challenges have been chosen to create collaborations that merge local and UK expertise.
We will work with Dubai Future Foundation and Expo City Dubai to offer UK and UAE SMEs the opportunity to connect and collaborate on solutions to three challenges focusing on minimising environmental risks, harnessing nature’s capacity to restore itself and radically changing ways of life by replacing the models that countries, communities and individuals live by.
For each challenge, we will select 4 SMEs, two based in the UK and two based in UAE to showcase their solution to the challenge in Dubai at the end of March 2024. The selected companies will also present their business to a selected group of UAE– based investors at an Investor Pitch Evening. Where appropriate and viable, the showcase presentations may be selected to be installed at Expo City Dubai, or other suitable venues, for a period of 3 months.
We will host an application support webinar on 23 January.
This webinar will cover the background to the programme, the challenges it is aiming to address, how the programme will benefit SMEs, guidance on how to apply and information on the application process.
The Dubai Future Foundation is at the forefront of creating innovation platforms that allow for ideas to take shape through strategic collaboration locally in Dubai and globally, shaping a better future.
Among the organisation’s initiatives, The Global 50 shares Dubai Future Foundation’s view of the future and outlines 50 opportunities for growth, prosperity and well-being. Some of these opportunities may be in their early days of exploration, some require reflection and some feel very far away.
Connected Places Catapult’s technology experts have chosen three specific challenges from the 2023 edition of The Global 50 which link to accelerating innovation in our cities and will allow us to explore specific ideas and initiatives that can bring positive long-term financial, environmental and societal outcomes.
A series of technological innovations in the wheels redefine the future of car transport – from maglev (magnetic levitation) solutions and drone-like technologies to the replacement of rubber in tyres and new ways of conceptualising the function of wheels on a car.
We are particularly interested in sensor / AI driven solutions to optimising tyre and brake wear and reducing pollutants for EVs.
Why it matters today: Tyres and brake systems produce large amounts of microplastics as by-products. Up to 100,000 tonnes of microplastics from tyres end up in the ocean each year and a further 40,000 tonnes of microplastics come from wear and tear on car brakes. With the average scrapped car tyre weighing 9 kg, the amount of microplastics discharged into the ocean is equivalent to 11 million tyres each year. Research suggests that nanoparticles generated from road traffic can cause harm, and increased road traffic is a major cause of high particle concentrations in polluted urban areas. Atmospheric particulate matter was recognised as the leading cause of 43,000 premature deaths in Europe by the European Environment Agency in 2015.
The opportunity: The transport landscape is changing. Imaginative new applications of drone or maglev (magnetic levitation) technology could be the future. For example, in one scenario, there could be hybrid vehicles that are capable of running on electricity or alternative fuels but that switch over to maglev mode when the infrastructure is available. This would prevent the release of nanoparticles of dust, plastic and minerals into the atmosphere, as well as reducing noise levels. Such solutions would make the roads cleaner, improving ecosystems and human health.
Replacing rubber tyres with new materials and new wheel and brake technologies can minimise wear and tear on both vehicles and road surfaces. When used safely, lower-friction – or even frictionless solutions, augmented by advanced machine intelligence and autonomous systems – can cut energy consumption, enabling electric vehicles to travel further.
Wheels could become multifunctional. Rethinking the functionality of wheels and tyres beyond simply transportation and carrying the load of the car could lead to the development of wheels that can generate energy, filter nanoparticles and absorb emissions, among other applications.
Enabled by materials science, automation and advanced machine intelligence, emissions and particulate matter are absorbed on an as-needed basis, anywhere in the world, independent of technological capabilities available on hand.
Why it matters today: On average, those living in the largest urban cities in the MENA region breathe in 10 times the level of pollutants in the air that the World Health Organization considers safe.
The opportunity: Clean air will one day be a critical need if climate change persists. Materials science, automation and advanced machine intelligence could contribute to the invention of a mobile emissions and particulate matter (PM) scrubber that could absorb carbon dioxide, other greenhouse gases and PM anywhere in the world. If this idea were scaled, scrubbers could be positioned at sea as offshore platforms to absorb emissions and PM.
Mobile emissions and PM scrubbers could be standalone solutions powered by renewable sources of energy. Using advanced materials, they could efficiently absorb greenhouse gases and PM and either store them for later use or convert them into fuel and other non-harmful, possibly useful chemicals.
An AI-powered pneumatic tube system for city-wide delivery on demand that offers a completely integrated OnDemand delivery model reviving an old approach with the technological advances needed.
The opportunity: The idea of a city-wide pneumatic tube system is not new – no longer operational because of high operational costs, the New York postal service was connected in 1897 through pipes that delivered letters and parcels around the city.
New materials, new building techniques and automated, AI-powered distribution centres could offer completely integrated on-demand delivery models giving traction in reviving the former approach. Pneumatic tunnels (also called vacuum tunnels) embedded into the urban infrastructure to connect buildings and distribution nodes could offer ‘beyond-the-doorstep’ delivery solutions to hospitals and other critical services. With development costs integrated into zoning and real estate plans, the tunnel system could be run on a pay-per-use basis.
Integrating small robotic distribution centres around cities would mean that packages could be electronically tagged for delivery to an address and loaded into a sealed pipe for instant dispatch. Buildings would be equipped with hatches where goods could be sent and received. Perfect traceability of goods from dispatch to delivery would be guaranteed, as the system would automatically track tagged goods via distributed ledger technology databases.
6 UK and 6 UAE companies will be selected to participate in this programme and benefit from tailored support from Connected Places Catapult experts, and funding leading up to the presentation of their solutions and investor pitches.
UK Based SMEs will be provided with financial assistance up to £10k in total value to develop their showcase presentations and cover the travel and accommodation for the trip to Dubai in March 2024.
UK SME eligibility criteria for UK organisations:
UAE SME eligibility criteria:
Please register through the link below. Applications close midnight 28 January 2024
If you have any questions about the programme and application, please contact:
Megan Ford, SME Ecosystem Support Officer, megan.ford@cp.catapult.org.uk
We will host an application support webinar, with a date to be confirmed shortly.
This webinar will cover the background to the programme, the challenges it is aiming to address, how the programme will benefit SMEs, guidance on how to apply and information on the application process.
Visit the UK Pavilion Powered by Connected Places Catapult in Hall P1, stand 61, to discover exciting technological innovation from partners from across the UK.
Sam Markey, our Ecosystem Director, Place Leadership, will co-host an insight-rich event on innovation-friendly procurement with pioneering place leaders from across the world, on the UK Pavilion on Tuesday, 7 November, from 14:00.
On Wednesday, 8 November, our Principal Place Development Leader, Catherine Hadfield, will Chair a session on the role of Innovation Districts in the digital future of cities and regions, from noon.
Seven companies have been selected to join a carbon reduction competition organised by National Highways and Connected Places Catapult.
Innovative ideas put forward to proceed to the second phase of the National Highways Accelerating Low Carbon Innovation Programme include a climbing robot that carries out structural inspections, ‘smart fibre’ plastic bridge beams that monitor structural performance and low carbon fencing materials.
Each shortlisted company will receive between £15,000 and £30,000 to develop their proposals in collaboration with National Highways and several Tier 1 suppliers. Connected Places Catapult will provide coaching, help with marketing strategy and investment support.
The seven companies and their ideas making it through to the next stage of the competition are:
Asset International Structures (Cwmbran) – Developing smart fibre reinforced plastic bridge beams that incorporate optical fibre, enabling structural performance monitoring in real time.
Circular11 (Ferndown) – Providing durable, low carbon fencing and acoustic insulation products; turning mixed low-grade plastic waste into composite material.
HausBots (Birmingham) – Delivering a series of structural inspections using a unique climbing and crawling robot fitted with inspection sensors.
Loopcycle (London) – Creation of a whole life carbon measurement and circular economy tool for use across highway estate assets.
Low Carbon Materials (Seaham) – Delivering a carbon negative aggregate for use in carbon neutral asphalt.
PRG (Scotland) (Hamilton) – Turning waste tyres into useful materials such as a bitumen-like substance for use in road construction and repairs.
Xeroc (London) – Recycling old concrete into new concrete, returning each component to its original form with as little contamination as possible.
Alex Weedon, Executive Director, Connected Places Catapult, SME Development and Academic Engagement said: “National Highways’ goal of achieving net zero emissions involves finding innovative solutions to support decarbonisation, particularly in the maintenance and construction of the strategic road network.
National Highways aims for its maintenance and road construction activities to generate net zero emissions by 2040.
The competition set four challenges for innovative companies to address with their new ideas: alternative materials; decision making enablers for asset management and the whole life value of assets; enablers for the circular economy; and an open challenge.
Connected Places Catapult has been funded by the UK Government via Innovate UK to support an Indian city to pilot and scale a shared electric micro-mobility (shared two wheel electric vehicle) solution and sustainable business model.
Through this project we will collaborate with New Town, a planned satellite city within the Kolkata Metropolitan Area in West Bengal, and the New Town Kolkata Development Authority to design and deliver a pilot project which will demonstrate and refine a solution in partnership with the private sector.
Shared micro-mobility models are being adopted by cities across the world to shift trips to a greener mode of transport to help cities meet emissions reduction targets.
A study in Paris estimated that shared e-bikes could reduce transport emissions in cities by 23 tonnes of CO2 in a month. In addition, these models offer the potential to improve both air quality and transport accessibility.
In contrast to some private sector electric micro-mobility initiatives, the model we will develop will be designed to integrate with the city’s wider transport planning objectives. We will use a data-driven approach to ensure it serves the right areas of the city and target groups, and design the pilot to test and validate the operational and commercial model such that the solution can then be deployed at scale.
The Catapult team along with locally based partners will focus on convening relevant stakeholders to help create solutions, and design a pilot scheme with a view to enabling it to be scaled up and be commercially self-sustaining.
They will also look to design and implement a suitable means of data collection, and promote the innovative pilot to showcase its impact to the Indian government and its potential for deployment elsewhere.
If you’d like to work with us or find out more, please email Roxana.Slavcheva@cp.catapult.org.uk or globalbusinessgrowth@cp.catapult.org.uk
