UK: Innovators from across the UK are being invited to submit proposals for the Innovation in Railway Construction Competition, which is making £7·44m available for ideas which could be tested at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence in South Wales.
The competition is being run by Innovate UK with GCRE and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.
Entries for the first phase close at 12.00 on December 14, with funding available for feasibility studies of up to £25 000. This would be followed by an invite-only phase two, with successful first phase projects able to develop and demonstrate their innovations.
‘When it begins operation in 2025, GCRE will be a facility that enables world class research and testing of new infrastructure, rolling stock and rail technology right here in the UK’, said Chief Executive Simon Jones on December 8. ’It will be a one-stop shop for the industry, providing an innovation space quite unlike any other in Europe, filling a critical gap in rail that can help reduce costs in the industry and support decarbonisation.
‘GCRE is a place that will bring people and ideas together and so this Innovate UK fund provides a perfect home, helping develop new ideas that can support the railway of tomorrow.’
