National Highways Accelerating Low Carbon Innovation Programme Cohort Brochure
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News
Carbon reduction champions shortlisted in National Highways programme
Innovative low carbon approaches to road construction and maintenance will receive funding and business support.
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.
“Connected Places Catapult is proud to have been chosen as a delivery partner for this accelerator project. We look forward to supporting the SMEs in the development of their solutions, and turning bright ideas into commercial products and services.”Alex Weedon, Executive Director, Connected Places Catapult, SME Development and Academic Engagement
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.
“We want to speed up innovation within our sector and adopt new solutions. The innovation accelerator will help take potential solutions and drive them through the research and testing phases.”Dr Joanna White, National Highways Roads Development Director
Project
Unlocking the Value Chain of EVs and Micromobility in India
Unlocking the Value Chain of EVs and Micromobility in India has the goal of fostering mutually beneficial relationships between UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and Indian stakeholders within the electric vehicles (EVs) and micromobility sectors.
This initiative, funded by Innovate UK, is dedicated to working with Indian subnational governments to address the key challenges that hinder the wider adoption of EVs and the transition to net zero across India. In doing so, we aim to create valuable opportunities for UK innovators to access India’s rapidly growing market.
Project Objectives
Our project is designed to achieve the following key objectives:
- Identify and Validate Market Challenges: We will work closely with Indian stakeholders to identify and validate critical market challenges and gaps in the EV and micromobility sectors that need to be addressed.
- Select Innovative UK SMEs: We will identify and select UK-based SMEs that offer innovative solutions to address these identified market gaps and challenges, ensuring they are well-positioned to meet the needs of the Indian market.
- Facilitate Knowledge Exchange: Through a series of knowledge exchange events, we will provide UK SMEs with the necessary tools, information, and insights to effectively collaborate with Indian stakeholders.
- Promote Long-Term Partnerships: Our program is committed to promoting sustainable, long-term partnerships between UK SMEs and local stakeholders in academia, industry, and government across India.
Our Vision
We envision a future where India’s journey towards net zero is accelerated by cutting-edge solutions from UK innovators. By unlocking the value chain of EVs and micromobility, we aim to support bilateral trade, drive investment, and foster equitable and inclusive economic growth in both nations. Through this programme, we are not just addressing immediate market needs but also laying the foundation for enduring collaborations that benefit all involved.
This initiative is being implemented by Connected Places Catapult in collaboration with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office in India, and local partners. Join us in shaping the future of sustainable mobility in India and beyond.
Contact the project team
If you’d like to work with us or find out more, please email aline.martins@cp.catapult.org.uk
news
Innovations sought to help National Highways on road to net zero
Applications to a National Highways competition seeking new approaches to reducing emissions associated with road construction and maintenance are now open.
Funding to develop innovative trials of net zero carbon approaches to road construction and maintenance will be offered to up to ten small to medium sized businesses in a competition launched today by National Highways and Connected Places Catapult.
Phase one of the National Highways Accelerating Low Carbon Innovation Programme will see winning UK based firms awarded between £15,000 and £30,000 each to develop feasibility studies in collaboration with the strategic road operator and its tier one suppliers.
Phase two will see further funding of up to £80,000 provided to support a selected number of organisations to trial their solutions.
Applicants are invited to put forward proposals that address at least one of three challenges:
- Development or application of alternative materials and techniques;
- Innovations that can improve asset management decision-making;
- Innovations which can contribute to reusing, redeploying and recycling construction materials and assets.
There is also an open challenge category for other ideas that can contribute to National Highways’ target of zero emissions in maintenance and construction by 2040.
Up to five larger tier one organisations will also be selected to develop net zero solutions either on their own or in collaboration with an SME, but will not be eligible for funding as part of the programme.
Firms interested in putting themselves forward for the competition have until midnight on 30 April to enter.
The aim of the competition is to reach a wider pool of innovators, exploring firms with potential outside of National Highways’ existing supply chain, that promise to make a difference in lowering its carbon footprint.
“National Highways’ Accelerating Low Carbon Innovation Programme is open to companies of all sizes – from tier one firms developing solutions in-house or collaborating with SMEs, to smaller businesses who do not always get the chance to interface with large clients – to showcase their innovative ideas and see how they can be scaled up.”Connected Places Catapult’s Executive Director for SME Development & Academic Engagement, Alex Weedon
The innovation accelerator seeks to take new materials and solutions described as being ‘low maturity’ and put them through a consistent, standardised process of prioritisation, feasibility and initial trialling, with the aim of assessing viability for wider testing and adoption.
Successful firms will be offered coaching and help with marketing strategy and investment support, as well as trial design training, deployment support, trial monitoring and evaluation. There will also be the chance to take part in a demonstration day for investors, industry and potential customers and ten months’ tailored business support.
“We want to speed up innovation within our sector and adopt new solutions. The innovation accelerator will help take potential solutions and drive them through the research and testing phases.”National Highways Roads Development Director, Dr Joanna White
events
Future of Air Mobility Accelerator 2022-23 Celebration Dinner
Celebrate the success of the 2022-23 Future of Air Mobility Accelerator! Meet with key stakeholders over dinner and talks.
Event finished: 18th April 2023
Connected Places Catapult is pleased to invite you to celebrate the success of the Future of Air Mobility Accelerator 2022-23!
This will be an opportunity to meet key stakeholders in this sector, including the 9 innovators in this year’s cohort, and learn about the programme as a tool for accelerating innovations to market. We will showcase the programme-sponsored trials the cohort have delivered and celebrate their development thanks to the commercial support provided.
This event will take place in partnership with the Sustainable Skies Summit, which is also taking place at Farnborough International Conference Centre from the 17-18th April.
We will be hosting networking drinks and a dinner on the 18th April. Seats are limited, if you would like to attend the dinner please register your interest as soon as possible and we will get back to you if you have been successful.
The SME’s will be exhibiting at the show for the full two days and by registering to attend the dinner you are automatically registered for the Sustainable Skies Summit and will have access to the full two day show and all it has to offer!
Come and network with the cohort, programme partners and other key players and investors in the Air Mobility sector and hear about how, by collaborating across the industry, we can test, validate and accelerate these technologies to market successfully.
About the programme
The Future of Air Mobility accelerator is a challenge-led, 6-month programme in partnership with the Future Flight Challenge from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Alongside access to funding for trials and testbeds for demonstrations, the SMEs received mentorship and support from a consortium of experts, industry partners, academic institutions and regulatory bodies.
Our partners on this programme were Supernal, BAE Systems, GKN Aerospace and Heathrow; academic collaborators Cranfield University and Coventry University; and the UK Civil Aviation Authority and BSI.
events
Future of Air Mobility Insights
You are invited to the first interactive insights event for the Future of Air Mobility Accelerator where corporate, investment and technology leaders will come together to exchange value.
Event finished: 15th March 2023
Co-hosted by:
Sponsored by:
Connected Places Catapult and WeSprint invite you to a Future of Air Mobility insights event at the Urban Innovation Centre. Join us to hear industry insights from corporate, investor and technology leaders and to network with disruptive technologies in this space. We will have conversations around challenges within the sector with a focus on Future Airport & Vertiport Operations, Aviation Sustainability, Future Air & Space Traffic Management and Enabling End-to-End Mobility.
Who will attend?
At this event we expect a variety of stakeholders from the venture community to attend, including public, private and defence leaders from funds, fund of funds, venture studios, and technology providers, buyers and partners.
We will also be joined by representatives from the Future of Air Mobility Accelerator 2022-23 cohort who have been selected by a consortium of partners a cross industry, government, academia and regulation to test and scale new technologies, de-risking innovation in the marketplace.
We are pleased to welcome Supernal as the sponsor for this event. Supernal is Hyundai Motor Group’s Advanced Air Mobility company and are a valued industry partner on the Future of Air Mobility Accelerator programme.
We will also be joined by special guest Sanjeev Gordhan, General Partner at Type One Ventures
Please apply to attend and we will get back to you shortly if you have secured a spot! If you have any questions please contact natasha.giroux@cp.catapult.org.uk
articles
Zero-Emission Road Freight – What’s next?
Connected Places Catapult is working alongside Government, industry and academia to help accelerate the transition to zero-emission road freight. It’s been 18 months since we published our ‘Pathway for Long-Haul Heavy Goods Vehicles’ report. So, what has happened since, and what’s next?
articles
Zero-Emission Road Freight – What’s next?
Connected Places Catapult is working alongside Government, industry and academia to help accelerate the transition to zero-emission road freight. It’s been 18 months since we published our ‘Pathway for Long-Haul Heavy Goods Vehicles’ report. So, what has happened since, and what’s next?
articles
Zero-Emission Road Freight – What’s next?
Connected Places Catapult is working alongside Government, industry and academia to help accelerate the transition to zero-emission road freight. It’s been 18 months since we published our ‘Pathway for Long-Haul Heavy Goods Vehicles’ report. So, what has happened since, and what’s next?
The scale of the challenge is clear. 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. 89% of domestic goods transported in the UK in 2020 were moved by road – the vast majority of which in HGVs. However, these vehicles produced 16% of UK domestic transport greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, and this needs to be reduced to zero by 2050.
The Pathway to Long Haul HGVs report was, itself, a culmination of extensive research and stakeholder consultation. Connected Places Catapult investigated the promising technologies for zero-emission road freight and started to build the business case for large scale trials and wider deployment. We consulted widely on state of the art and barriers to deployment.
Potential pathways to zero or low emission HGVs, produced by Professor Neville Jackson on behalf of Connected Places Catapult.
Within the Pathway document, we set out actions that we felt would enable the transition, which included:
- Setting a clear vision
- Funding and de-risking the transition
- Developing trust in the technology
- Deploying initial infrastructure
- Progressing regulations and standards
- Building the UK supply chain
- Enabling a sustainable market
The key recommendation was to gather evidence and mature the technologies through large-scale demonstrations operating in real-world conditions in the UK.
The Catapult’s business case work helped to secure £20m of funding to accelerate the rollout of zero-emission road freight, and following the publication of our study in March 2021, Innovate UK launched the Zero Emission Road Freight competitions, covering areas such as hydrogen fuel cells, electric road systems, supply chain technology, battery electric HGVs and supply chain technologies. The winners of these competitions were published in August 2021.
This funding enabled industry partners, such as vehicle manufacturers, infrastructure providers and technology companies, to come together with local authority representatives, freight operators and academics to develop detailed plans for the rollout of large-scale trials. The Catapult has been at the heart of these conversations, which have included representatives from the Department for Transport, Innovate UK, National Highways, National Grid, the Zemo Partnership, Logistics UK, the Road Haulage Association, and many others.
Further good news arrived earlier this year, as it was confirmed that major funding has been secured to deploy the significant infrastructure and large number of vehicles needed for successful trialling of zero-emission HGVS, in a real-world commercial context in the UK. Again, the Catapult’s technical and cost modelling inputs contributed to this funding award.
In addition, the Catapult has produced a suite of outputs to help inform partners and build robust foundations for the trials. The Catapult’s focus areas have included trial data strategy, export potential, safety and regulations, standards and market operations. This has included publication of the following reports which are available to download.
ZERFT Phase 1 – Standards landscape and gap analysis – January 2022
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The purpose of this report is to document findings from a review of global standards and provide recommendations on a standardisation programme that would enable safe and effective roll out of Zero Emission Road Freight Trials and establishment of a longer-term sustainable market.
ZERFT Phase 1 – Market opportunity mapping – March 2022
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The purpose of this report is to examine the UK’s export opportunity in three emerging zero-emission HGV technologies: Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Battery Electric Vehicles, and Electric Road Systems.
ZERFT Phase 1 – Regulation and safety roadmap – March 2022
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File size: 187.43Mb
The purpose of this report is to set out the safety activities that are required for safe on-road Zero Emission Road Freight Trials.
ZERFT Phase 1 – Summary of Concept Safety Analysis – March 2022
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File size: 184.09Mb
The purpose of this report is to set out findings from a review of the hazard landscape and key safety considerations for the proposed Zero Emission Road Freight Trials.
ZERFT Phase 1 – Data objectives and data stakeholder mapping – March 2022
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File size: 20.47Mb
The purpose of this report is to identify what data needs to be collected from trials for evaluation purposes, to outline necessary data collection methods and to identify key stakeholders that would need to engage with this data collection approach.
ZERFT Phase 1 – Comparison of Transport Decarbonisation projects – March 2022
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File size: 51.1Mb
The purpose of this report is to explore Connected Places Catapult decarbonisation projects across road, rail, maritime and aviation. To consider potential alignment, pre-empt interoperability challenges, highlight operational and implementation synergies and accelerate industry learning.
What’s Next?
Now that funding has been secured and foundations have been laid, the next step is to progress with the design of the demonstrator projects, and consider how such demonstrations can progress to wide-scale commercial deployments of the right infrastructure and vehicles to meet the needs of freight operators.
Meanwhile, the Catapult will be undertaking work on a host of enabling actions, as per the recommendations detailed within reports, to ensure technology can be deployed in a safe and secure manner. This will include investigations into standards, regulations, safety and security and UK export potential. If you would like to be involved in these discussions, please send an email to zeroemissionroadfreight@cp.catapult.org.uk.
Connected Places Catapult is looking forward to continuing on this exciting journey towards a cleaner future!
events
A Future Rail Experience
Organised in collaboration with University of Bristol
Event finished: 20th October 2022
In an increasingly complicated world, where road haulage is struggling and petrol prices are spiking, the rail industry could offer a key part of the future transport solution our society is looking for. Expanding rail capability, and integrating rail better with other public transport systems, can meet societies changing needs in a more sustainable and accessible way. But this is not simple: the continuing impact of the COVID pandemic, along with the challenge of updating a large and complex legacy rail and station network have been hindering the impact and efforts to push forward with a long-term strategy.
Organised in collaboration with University of Bristol, this industry day aims to explore what the future of rail travel looks like in the near future; how it is possible to build a pipeline of activity that works cohesively, underpinning industry, government, academia, and the wider rail ecosystem more generally. During the event, we will investigate synergies across different transport systems as well as their integration. We will delve into the challenges and hurdles preventing them from coming together and working holistically. Finally, we will test societal readiness level, and question what needs to be done to make rail more accessible to all.
This event is intended for central and local government, industry, academia. The SMEs’ pitching sessions is particularly intended for Local Authorities across the country.
reports
Rural innovation for sustainable environments – decarbonising last mile road freight
In 2020, domestic transport carbon dioxide emissions fell by 19.6% against 2019 levels due to reduced transport usage in response to the COVID 19 pandemic. However, contribution from vans to the UK’s total emissions reached 19% in 2020, an increase of 2% from 2019.
The government has committed to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035. Using DfT uptake trajectories, there is predicted to be a critical mass of 40% Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) on the roads in 2035. However, effectively benchmarking policy interventions which could reduce emissions from the last mile sector is hindered by a lack of relevant data on emissions generated by last mile deliveries and travel patterns derived from logistic activities. There is a risk this lack of data could delay the uptake of zero emissions vehicles, modal shift and demand consolidation among logistics firms which would support the decarbonisation of the sector. Freight travel patterns are usually considered commercially sensitive and require a considerable effort in anonymisation and aggregation, which often hinders data sharing.
The Rural Innovation for Sustainable Environments (RISE) for Decarbonising Last Mile Road Freight project, jointly funded by SciTech and the Decarbonisation Strategy team at the Department for Transport, looked at ways to decarbonise road freight using 2021 mobile phone data to derive anonymised and aggregated travel patterns for last mile deliveries. It used this data to develop an integrated agent-based and emissions modelling tool to quantify emissions reduction from different interventions. The advantage of using MND is that it allows users to overcome the silos present in the Freight industry with logistic activities derived from all supply chains and for all last mile operators.
The RISE agent-based model represents a multimodal, transport model of the North East, where movements of people and goods are modelled. The model highlights bottlenecks and hot-spots with higher carbon emissions, which could help cities and towns develop strategies to meet their own transport decarbonisation targets. Scenarios were modelled for years 2021, 2031 and 2035 to explore the impact electrification, shipment consolidation and mode shift had on emissions generated from the last mile sector.
Rural innovation for sustainable environments for decarbonising last mile road freight
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File size: 18.23Mb
reports
Skybus: The Public Transport Revolution
Skybus is an innovative air mobility concept which could represent a significant advancement for transport in the UK.
With a range of 25-100 miles and a capacity of 30-50 passengers, the Skybus concept could greatly complement existing transport modes.
This white paper highlights the potential of this technology including travel time savings, environmental benefits and reduced congestion. It presents the findings of initial demand and price modelling, as well as a competitive and benefits analysis, and presents recommendations for further analysis.
Connected Places Catapult worked closely with Skybus lead GKN as well as partners Pascall+Watson and Swanson Aviation Consultancy to assess the potential of Skybus.
Skybus: The Public Transport Revolution White Paper
File type: pdf
File size: 8.17Mb
