Key dates
The UK Net Zero Neighbourhood Prospectus
File type: pdf
File size: 219.62Mb
events
Innovation Zero 2024
The UK's largest net-zero congress
Event finished: 1st May 2024
We are delighted to once again participate in Innovation Zero, and we’re contributing to a number of sessions, including:
Andrew Chadwick, Ecosystem Director, Air Mobility & Airports, joining the Fuelling Flight: Hydrogen session on 1 May at 11:45.
Alison Young, Head of Global Investment, joining the session on Funding the Automotive Transformation, on 1 May at 12:25 in the Transport & Mobility Forum.
events
Connected North 2024
Delivering the North's Connected Future
Event finished: 23rd April 2024
We are hosting a Digital Twin Hub session on Day 1, 22 April at 2pm, titled ‘Digital twins driving innovation in the North – Explore innovative projects that look to catapult the North of the UK into a bright digital future’. Join Nury Moreira, Community Manager of Digital Twin Hub, and other speakers for an inspiring conversation.
events
UKREiiF 2024
The UK's Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum
Event finished: 23rd May 2024
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!
reports
The UK Net Zero Neighbourhood Prospectus
Identifying potential Net Zero Neighbourhoods across the UK for investment.
From 2021 to 2025, the Cities Commission for Climate Investment (3Ci) was a partnership between Connected Places Catapult, Core Cities UK, London Councils, Key Cities, the Scottish Cities Alliance, and other local authorities across the UK.
3Ci’s purpose was to support local authorities in securing the long-term finance required to achieve net zero. By bringing together local authorities, investors, and businesses, 3Ci developed innovative investment models and helped mobilise large-scale capital for decarbonisation. Its mission was to create investable propositions that deliver carbon reduction, resilience, and community benefit across the UK.
About the report
The concept of a Net Zero Neighbourhood was developed by 3Ci. The approach embraces the principles and opportunities of a place-based approach, including;
- Increase local prosperity through enhanced growth in green businesses and access to associated jobs.
- Creation of more vibrant and cohesive communities through engagement and collaborative design.
- Enhanced attractiveness and quality of neighbourhoods, designed and delivered in an integrated way creating a more affordable, greener and cleaner built environment.
- An integrated local investment model that aggregates different domains and sectors to optimise co-benefits and facilitate cross-investment.
In March 2023, 3Ci completed work on the Outline Business Case for a national programme of Net Zero Neighbourhoods. This prospectus represents the next stage of that work, which is to identify potential Net Zero Neighbourhoods across the UK for investment.
The Opportunity
Hydrogen presents a huge opportunity for UK to build new supply chains, targeting the $2.5trillion global hydrogen market by 2050.
The Hydrogen Innovation Initiative (HII) has been created as a strategic national programme to make hydrogen work for the UK and ensure that we seize this opportunity.
Connected Places Catapult, acting as a partner of the HII, is looking to procure results from near term demonstrations, and has allocated a budget of up to £50,000 per project to contribute to the costs of the demonstration activities. In exchange, Connected Places Catapult and HII partners will be entitled to widely disseminate the results from the demonstration activities.
This high TRL demonstration must cover 2 or more of:
- Hydrogen production
- Hydrogen conversion
- Hydrogen distribution
- Hydrogen end use.
The demonstration needs to be in the latter stages of planning, with a consortium of funded and suitable partners already engaged. The demonstration activity and reporting should be complete by November 2024.
There will be a requirement for the applicant to submit a demonstration methodology and deliver an end of project report, which HII partners will publish, to help disseminate the learnings from the demonstration to the wider hydrogen supply chain. HII partners would encourage applicants to also articulate any specific requests for further support from HII partners which could support this demonstration (for example, developing material data sets in collaboration with this demonstration).
Eligibility
Your business must:
- Have a UK-registered address
- Be in the latter stages of planning a high TRL (5-7) hydrogen demonstrator.’
- Be willing to attend regular online meetings with HII partners, and any final showcase of demonstration activities in person, to be discussed in due course.
Companies have until midday on 12 January 2024 to apply.
If you have any questions about this opportunity, please contact Raj Ragiwala.
opportunities
Shaping the Future, Today
Applications are now closed
Future Focused Solutions for Climate Mitigation and Adaptation – Open Call and Investment Forum for UK and UAE Businesses
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.
Application Support Webinar
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.
Programme Challenges
Learn more about the challenges here
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.
1: What if the next wave of car technology innovation was in the wheels?
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.
2: What if we could absorb greenhouse gas emissions and particulate matter on demand anywhere in the world?
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.
3: What if deliveries went underground?
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.
Whats’ on offer to SMEs?
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 SMEs will receive:
- Workshops to prepare their showcase presentations.
- Funding to create a showcase.
- Bespoke support from Connected Places Catapult to prepare for investment pitches
- A trip to Dubai which will include:
- An Investment Summit
- A Showcase Event
- In-country networking and introductions
UAE SMEs will receive:
- Bespoke support from the Connected Places Catapult to prepare for investment pitches.
- A trip to Dubai which will include:
- An Investment Summit
- A Showcase Event
- In-country networking and introductions
- Excursions
Am I eligible for this programme?
UK SME eligibility criteria for UK organisations:
- You must be a registered UK company.
- You are ready and willing to collaborate and showcase your solution in the UAE.
- You need to be export-ready, but no previous export experience is required.
- The technology on which your solution (product or service) will be based should be TRL 3-4 and above, e.g., at proof of concept stage or above.
- Desire to expand internationally.
UAE SME eligibility criteria:
- You must be a registered organisation according to your national legislation.
- You are ready and willing to collaborate and showcase your solution.
- You need to be export-ready, but no previous export experience is required.
- The technology on which your solution (product or service) will be based should be TRL 3-4 and above.
- Desire to expand internationally.
How to apply
Please register through the link below. Applications close midnight 28 January 2024
Supporting documents
Point of contact
If you have any questions about the programme and application, please contact:
Megan Ford, SME Ecosystem Support Officer, megan.ford@cp.catapult.org.uk
Application Support Webinar
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.
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
National Highways Accelerating Low Carbon Innovation Programme Cohort Brochure
File type: pdf
File size: 214.86Mb
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.
Learn more
Watch our two Knowledge Sharing webinars.
Report
Opportunities for UK SMEs in the Indian Electric Two- And Three-Wheel Micromobility Market
This report supports Connected Places Catapult’s knowledge-sharing programme for UK SMEs looking to enter the Indian E2/3W vehicle ecosystem by partnering with Indian companies.
Contact the project team
If you’d like to work with us or find out more, please email aline.martins@cp.catapult.org.uk
projects
UK – India Innovation for Net Zero: Exploring place-based bilateral partnerships
International collaboration can boost the power of places to deliver on net zero goals. A new partnership between the UK and India which involves Connected Places Catapult is hoping to achieve just that.
Specialists in the fields of science and technology from both the UK and India are coming together to make concerted progress in working towards net zero. Policymakers, research and development companies, start-up firms, investors and place leaders are all involved and have important roles to play.
The imperative to decarbonise is becoming ever more urgent. However the path to net zero will not be trodden alone, nation-by-nation, sector-by-sector, city-by-city. It will increasingly rely on innovation and the efforts of communities in districts, quarters, zones, clusters and hubs to share their learnings.
Connected Places Catapult is a partner in the UK-India Net Zero Centre Programme – a coalition of specialists from the two countries, along with Energy Systems Catapult and the Centre for Process Innovation. Together, they are working to harness the UK-India science and technology superpower partnership to accelerate the path to net zero.
As part of this, Connected Places Catapult investigated the scale of potential and the appetite for collaboration between UK and Indian cities. It identified potential pairings of innovative places with complimentary challenges and ambitions for decarbonisation.
Bilateral innovation to unlock opportunity
Primary challenges shared by the UK and India include industries that need to decarbonise, and built environment, transport and energy systems that must become greener and more efficient. Aligned to this, demand for more integrated approaches to planning infrastructure and land use is growing rapidly.
The UK and India share world-class expertise in science and technology, bold business leadership and ambitious cities seeking to drive action towards net zero. Both nations are committed to partner on investment, technology and joint leadership on climate and clean energy, set to grow in line with the India-UK Future Relations Roadmap 2030.
Building on this relationship, innovation partnerships between India and the UK offer huge promise to accelerate collaboration to meet net zero goals. We’ve explored a range of case studies that showcase best practice, including the West Midlands’ MIRA technology park which collaborated with the Hyderabad T-hub on battery and EV expertise.
Shared interests, challenges and opportunities are what fuels these kinds of international partnership projects, and the work between the UK and India serves as a leading example. Bringing both nations’ academic prowess on board is an important aspect of the initiative, with strong university links created to drive research and discovery on the topic of net zero.
Learning from Greater Manchester Region and Bengaluru
A Greater Manchester Region delegation visit to Bengaluru in March 2023 and a series of workshops represent another great example of the partnerships delivering benefit. This coalition was led by Connected Places Catapult in collaboration with The Business of Cities, Manchester India Partnership, and Global Business Inroads.
Through this engagement, several exciting opportunities were identified ranging from knowledge sharing on harnessing the power of hydrogen to innovation district partnerships.
Combining these learnings, a partnership model was designed to outline how place-based innovation collaborations can become both mutually beneficial and self-sustaining for city innovation ecosystems going forward.
The ambition is to build on these findings and unlock the scale of potential identified in a future phase of work. Through developing the Greater Manchester Region and Bengaluru partnership and engaging other high-potential pairings of innovation places, the programme hopes to demonstrate and scale the impact that can be achieved through international partnerships for net zero.
Contact the project team
If you are interested in the project or getting involved, please contact Roxana.Slavcheva@cp.catapult.org.uk or globalbusinessgrowth@cp.catapult.org.uk
Partners
Reports
Innovation Twins Places driving a Net Zero Future
File type: pdf
File size: 117.13Mb
UK-India Partnership Design Report
File type: pdf
File size: 57.79Mb
UK-India Executive Summary Report
File type: pdf
File size: 53.59Mb
events
London Regional Investor Event
Accelerating Finance for Net Zero Projects
Event finished: 29th June 2023
The event aims to bring together stakeholders to accelerate financial flows into London’s local net zero projects. It will showcase net zero projects at various stages of maturity and welcome an open dialogue about how early-stage schemes can be shaped into compelling investment opportunities. This regional investor event is organised in partnership between 3Ci, GLA and London Councils.
For local authority professionals in London, the event offers the opportunity to understand the ways local net zero projects attract investment, and how 3Ci, GLA and London Councils are collaborating to advance these projects for financing.
For investors, the event offers insight into local authority projects and open a dialogue to ensure the right investment decisions are factored into both local projects and regional programmes.
For professionals in business and national government, the event provides a chance to understand the opportunities that can be unlocked through net zero and help shape the agenda by sharing their priorities and challenges.
