Connected Places Catapult, the UK’s innovation accelerator for cities, transport, and place leadership, today announced the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) selected to take part in the 2023 Maritime Accelerator.

The companies selected are developing technologies that respond to challenges in the sector around automation and decarbonisation. These areas of focus were identified by the programme partners: DP World Southampton; Houlder; Maersk; the National Shipbuilding Office; Port of Tyne; Serco and the University of Plymouth. These partners have recently been joined by the Royal Navy, which has agreed to provide support to SMEs on the accelerator.

Over the next three months, the cohort of SMEs will receive bespoke business development, investment readiness and technical support from Connected Places Catapult. They will also gain access to expertise and insights from the programme partners, and an opportunity to explore and design trials with them, funded through the accelerator where applicable.

Meet the SMEs selected for the Maritime Accelerator:

Cargo Stream UK provides a platform that encompasses essential management and integrates AI for the maritime and land transportation industries.

Geospatial Insight brings together data analytics with satellite imagery to help clients in the maritime sector to monitor air quality and greenhouse gas emissions.

Mission Zero Technologies develops negative emissions solutions to recover CO₂ from the atmosphere for circular use or permanent removal.

PurEmissions has developed filtration technology that allows vessels and ports to meet strict emission limits and reduce their carbon footprint.

Unitrove Innovation provides zero emission fuelling infrastructure such as green liquid hydrogen, green compressed gaseous hydrogen and renewable electricity for maritime applications.

Unmanned Life has developed a software platform known as U-Security that deploys autonomous drones for security surveillance at port facilities.

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. 

A greener approach to travel 

 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. 

Contact the project team 

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  

Connected Places Catapult is pleased to invite you to the Connected Places Networking Reception, an official UKREiiF event.

Meet existing and new key stakeholders and industry experts, national and international local government, investment community and built environment stakeholders driving the levelling up agenda, innovation and green finance. You’ll learn more about the Cities Commission for Climate Investment (3Ci) and Connected Places Catapult flagship initiatives in the levelling up and green finance agenda.

Venue: The Royal Armouries Museum, Armouries Drive, LS10 1LT, Leeds
Room: The Tournament Gallery

Places are limited to 200 attendees only. If you would like to attend please register your interest as soon as possible and we will get back to you if you have been successful.

Please note that to attend this reception you need to have a valid UKREiiF delegate pass. If you don’t, unfortunately you won’t be able to attend.

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.

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.

Localis’s project on local clean growth seeks to investigate what places can do, and what they need to be able to do, to unlock routes to clean growth in their area.

Our report, aimed at local growth practitioners, policy makers and industry partners maps and explains what good clean growth should look like in the context of local industrial strategy.

The event will be used to share the findings, debate the opportunities and explore through workshops and breakout sessions emerging good practice in clean growth.

Refreshments and a networking lunch will be provided.

Clean Local Growth – The Opportunity

Localis’ research project on local clean growth is investigating what places can do, and what they need to be able to do, to unlock routes to clean growth in their area.

Clean growth will represent different opportunities and challenges in different areas. How effectively the clean growth and net zero agenda for decarbonisation delivers inclusive growth and equitable outcomes throughout England depends on local areas using powers they already have to successfully navigate this transition.

Our report, aimed at local growth practitioners, policy makers and industry partners, will map and explain what good clean growth should look like in the context of the journey of decarbonisation and the route to attaining net zero.  We hope to provide pathways and direction for local stakeholders to work together to respond positively to the issues they face in moving to a net zero economy.

The event will be used to share key report findings, debate the opportunities and explore through workshops and breakout sessions emerging good practice in clean growth.

Countdown COP27 will gather experts to provide practical ideas to help you move faster. The 2nd annual Sustainability Week: Countdown to COP27 aims to prepare you for the event, refine your sustainability strategy, getting you ahead of your competition to become sustainable, and faster. Economist Impact offers an independent guide to sustainability, will help you cut through the topic noise, evaluate other organisations’ climate change commitments and set your strategy for 2023.

Connected Places Catapult is pleased to become a partner of Economist Impact Events’ 2nd annual Sustainability Week: Countdown to COP27.

Join us and other 8,000+ attendees online and 500+ in London to ensure you are part of the sustainable future. Hear more from our experts on the panel on ‘Governments Pledge, Cities Deliver’ on 3 October at 4.35pm.

The appetite for investing in net zero projects is there. The mechanisms to enable these investment flows is what is still missing. The UK is pioneering a new approach to stimulate collaboration between city leaders and urban investors to enable investment flows and support the transition to net zero. How can this model be replicated internationally? How can collaboration between local and national government, industry and financial institutions be ensured? What are the best ways to innovate in financial models, along with testing and deploying them to secure investment?

Use our discount code CPC/S15 to book your delegate pass.