UK launches innovation fund to decarbonise freight

The UK’s Department for Transport has launched a new scheme offering £7 million (US$8.58 million) to help businesses develop greener and more efficient freight solutions.

The Freight Innovation Fund (FIF) will be available for up to 36 small and medium-sized UK enterprises (SMEs) to develop innovations to make freight “more efficient, resilient, and greener”.

Companies will be selected over three open calls (running until 2024), and join a six-month programme where they will each have the opportunity to access up to £150,000 of grant funding to trial their solutions with industry partners.  

“Our freight industry is vital to underpinning the economy and keeps Britain moving, so it is crucial we invest in new innovations to make it greener and quicker,” said UK Roads and Local Transport Minister Richard Holden.

“This fund will accelerate new ideas and technologies, helping to develop a future pipeline of innovations that can be rolled out to create jobs and allow everyone to get their goods faster and easier.”

By giving innovators the opportunity to test their ideas, the fund hopes to help SMEs roll out new technology and ways of working to reduce inefficiencies and emissions across the sector.

This can include how to organise containers better so they can be more easily broken up for the final part of their journey or how to improve links between rail, maritime and road transport.

The first round of funding is open for applications until 5 February 2023.

Three issues

Specifically, the department is looking for solutions that address three key issues that it has identified within the freight sector: a lack of large-scale cross-industry data collection and sharing, difficulties in inter-modal transport, and inefficiency in freight distribution.

Delivered by Connected Places Catapult, the fund will give SMEs access to technical and business support from the organisation.

“Each year in the UK, we transport 1.6 billion tonnes of freight using many different modes of transport, and it has never been quicker or easier,” said Nicola Yates, CEO at Connected Places Catapult.

“The freight sector makes a huge contribution to our economy and contributes significantly to domestic carbon emissions.

“The fund will help us to work with innovators and industry partners to develop a pipeline of technology and data innovations that will tackle the freight sector’s emerging needs, ensuring that resilience, efficiency and carbon reduction are core to the sector’s future.”

The FIF builds on previous government initiatives designed to support increased research and development in the freight industry, with technologies supported including:

• Hypermile, which developed an artificial intelligence programme that offers real-time feedback to help heavy goods vehicle drivers save fuel.
• Fishbone Solutions, which developed a programme that uses vibrational data from rail freight wagons and artificial intelligence analysis to determine whether the wagons are working correctly.
• CGA Simulation, which created a tool that simulates urban environments to predict the best place for infrastructure.

Image:bernd-dittrich-unsplash