Funding boost for transport innovation awards
I hope you’ve been putting some thought into your idea for the current GeoVation Challenge, ‘How can we improve transport in Britain’. You’ve got until the end of November to make your submission but in case the prospect of sharing a £25,000 prize fund wasn’t enough incentive for you, perhaps the news that the cash has been dramatically increased will be.
Entrants to the Ordnance Survey’s run awards will now have the chance to win a share of a whopping £150,000. The cash injection comes from the Ideas in Transit project, which in itself is funded by the Technology Strategy Board, the Department for Transport and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
For those that missed last month’s column, GeoVation is an innovation awards programme which supports geography based ideas that have a social, economic or environmental benefit. Now in its second year, the programme is focused on three key areas, the most current being all around transportation.
All the available funding will be go towards supporting geography based ventures that have the greatest potential to transform how we all travel, so get your thinking caps on!
The Ideas in Transit project is a collaboration between the University of the West of England, Loughborough University, ITO World Ltd and Ordnance Survey. It seeks to apply “bottom-up” innovations to the transport challenges faced by individuals and society, such as congestion and the rising cost of fuel. So its support for the GeoVation Challenge is a perfect fit.
Professor Glenn Lyons of the University of the West of England comments, “The project aims to promote the understanding, awareness and development of user innovations relevant to transport. This is firmly aligned with the focus of this GeoVation Challenge, so we’re delighted to be able to put forward these additional funds. I’m excited about the ideas we might uncover.”
Both universities have an interest in the user perspective to transport, from assessing the social context for travel through to user-centred design. Through Ideas in Transit and the GeoVation Challenge these capabilities will be available to the winners to help them develop their ideas.
It’s an exciting prospect.
Dr Richard Kemp-Harper of the Technology Strategy Board says, “Some of the most interesting and effective
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ideas in transport are coming from users solving their own problems. We are delighted that, through our funding of Ideas in Transit, some of these ideas are going to be developed to address transport challenges and potentially achieve commercial success.”
Possible applications include simple, local solutions such as the use of geography to bring together potential lift-share partners based on their location, interests and availability of public transport, thereby helping to reduce congestion and carbon emissions.
Or ideas could be more technologically advanced, such as the Sentience Project, which Ordnance Survey took part in during 2008. Sentience used GPS satellite data and digital map technology to enable a car to automatically accelerate and brake in the most economical way possible using foreknowledge of the road layout.
Dr Chris Parker, one of the GeoVation organisers at Ordnance Survey, adds, “Transport is something that has an obvious geographic foundation and I believe that we’re going to see ideas emerge that could improve our public services and could change how we travel. As such, we’re hugely grateful for the financial support that Ideas in Transit are offering because it means we have the opportunity to support even more ideas, with even greater investment.”
So if you fancy getting your hands on a slice of £150,000, the place to start is on the GeoVation website. From there, all shortlisted entries will be invited to develop their ideas at a GeoVation Camp before going on to pitch head-to-head for funding at a “Dragons’ Den” style showcase next year.
To enter the GeoVation Challenge, visit
www.geovation.
org.uk, and the latest news is also available through Twitter at GeoVation.
This GeoVation Challenge runs from 28 September–26 November.
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