COMMENT
Funding innovation F
RTM talks to Technology Strategy Board lead technologist for the rail sector, Richard Kemp-Harper, about its decision to launch a second innovation competition.
rom 2011-12, the Technology Strategy Board and RSSB ran the ‘Accelerating Innovation in Rail’ competition, which was so over-subscribed that the organisers decided to raise the amount of funding available from £4m to £5m.
Ultimately 19 projects, involving 46 companies, universities and other organisations won funding.
Now a second competition is being developed, focused more tightly this time on digital and ICT solutions to specifi c rail problems.
Bringing capability to bear
Richard Kemp-Harper, who leads the TSB’s work in this area, told RTM: “We were looking for an area where the TSB could really add some value to the activities already happening in the rail industry.
“We’ve been working in this digital and ICT area for a number of years and developed some good relationships with businesses, developing technologies and capabilities and strengthening what the UK companies can do. There’s some real UK strength in this area.
“They have great ideas: we want to see what will happen if we help those companies engage
with the rail industry and bring that capability to bear on specifi c rail problems.
“Digital ICT and data management underpins a lot of what’s in the Rail Technical Strategy, and it’s an area where we’ve got great capability in terms of business and academia in the UK.”
Specifi c challenges
The competition organisers are liaising with Network Rail,
“ It’s unusual for one company to have all the answers and you need different capabilities to pull together a solution.”
currently London
Underground, ATOC and others to specify the precise challenges that the competition entrants will be responding to.
He said: “They’re going through a process of identifying challenges and pulling together a shortlist of things they’d like addressed.
“We’re building in a close working relationship into projects, so that ideas have got sponsorship and insights into what’s available – and, as projects come forward, potentially support from those organisations to make sure we get best possible success.”
Insight and engagement
Collaboration is a key element in this competition: both between businesses, and between business and the leading rail organisations.
Kemp-Harper explained: “It’s unusual for one company to have all the answers and you need different capabilities to pull together a solution.
“So we’re hoping for greater collaboration between innovative digital and ICT companies and businesses that are already embedded in the rail industry and the universities, which have got some great insight into the rail sector and how it works.
“It is also critical that we involve in that collaboration the sponsoring organisations as potential clients of solutions, to help consortia develop services that are relevant to specifi c business problems.
“Then, you’ve got a much better chance of a route to market. It’s not ‘technology push’; we’re trying to build in ‘market pull’.
“That’s based on a lot of experience we’ve had on trying to do these sort of projects in transport before.
16 | rail technology magazine Feb/Mar 13
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