SBRI: FOAK 2022 cost efficiency and performance priorities for a reliable railway

Overview

This is a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition funded by the Department for Transport (DfT).

This competition is part of a larger ‘first of a kind’ demonstrator initiative, on behalf of DfT. The initiative aims to accelerate innovation in the UK rail sector and enable technologies to be readily and efficiently integrated into the railway system. This competition is the sixth in the first of a kind portfolio.

This first of a kind competition has three themes:

Theme 1 – Low emissions and a greener railway
Theme 2 – Rail Freight
Theme 3 – Cost efficiency and performance priorities for a reliable railway (this theme). This will support industry cost efficiency and network performance priorities to support a reliable railway for customers.

Scope

The aim of the first of a kind competitions, is to deliver demonstrations to the UK’s railways. These must support low emissions and a greener railway, enhance rail freight, and address a range of key network performance priorities.

You must demonstrate how proven technologies can be integrated into a railway environment for the first time as ‘first of a kind’ demonstrations. This competition aims to support innovative suppliers in preparation for market readiness.

Your project must create a highly interactive and innovative demonstrator. This should be in an environment where railway customers and industry representatives can witness the product as a compelling business proposition.

Example environments can include:

within a railway station
in rolling stock
on railway infrastructure
in the environment close to the railway

You must describe your projects potential to be successfully exploited in a railway environment.

Your project must:

gather evidence about integration challenges and explain how you will de-risk the integration
demonstrate to railway stakeholders and customers the commercial benefits of the solution
make taking up technologies less risky and faster
be pre-commercial
collect customer and performance feedback
provide a business case for using the solution in a commercial environment
consider the priorities of current and future franchises
include an evaluation phase, collecting data to support the cost benefit assessment of your proposed solution

You must provide evidence, showing your innovation can attract customers, get insurance, supply warranties, and attract financing.

Your evidence must show:

the technology works as designed when integrated into larger complex systems and delivers the expected outcomes
the technology is accepted by and delivers benefits for customers and the broader rail industry
there is revenue potential for the innovation within a real commercial context
the financing and business models can be delivered within a complex programme and consortium structure

You must demonstrate potential benefits to passengers and customers, including:

why customers would buy the product
how the funding will help applicants grow and result in broader economic benefits

DfT will give preference to applications which:

help the innovation to be formally accepted for use on the railway, for example, through obtaining test certificates or product acceptance approvals
offer innovations that can be used by multiple railway organisations

For your theme 3 – Industry cost efficiency and network performance priorities to support a reliable railway for customers project, you must work with a railway partner to deliver a demonstration of your innovation in a live railway environment.

You must also include an evaluation activity to identify the cost and benefits of your deliverables, and to support commercial uptake of your product.

You must present at an industry briefing event to highlight the benefits you can bring to the railways.

Click here further information on specific themes.

Eligibility

Your project:

can start by 1 October 2022
must end by 31 March 2023
can last up to 6 months

Applicant

To lead a project, you can:

be an organisation of any size
work alone or with others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations or the third sector as subcontractors

Applicants are welcome from all sectors.

Your project must involve:

an owner of railway assets (for example stations, rolling stock or infrastructure)
an experienced railway organisation
a rail organisation that has the potential to become a customer

These criteria can be met by a single organisation or up to three separate organisations.

You must also:

include a potential integration partner
have a letter of support signed by a senior individual, from a potential railway customer organisation

Proposals into this competition must already be high maturity at Rail Industry Readiness level 5 or above. You must evidence this as part of your application.

DfT welcome projects that include either an:

innovative start-up supply company that is already delivering in another sector
organisation with railway expertise, such as train operating companies, a freight operator, rolling stock manufacturers or operators and infrastructure owners

If you have previously been funded for the same or similar innovations, you will not be eligible for this competition.

If your online application is assessed as eligible, you may be invited to attend an interview, where you must give a presentation.

Exclusions

DfT will not fund projects that:

are not likely to be successfully exploited by the rail industry to deliver benefits to rail or light-rail organisations and their customers
are not within a year of being ready for market
do not create a significant change in the level of innovation available in the rail industry
are not already well-developed technology at Rail Industry Readiness level 5, above or do not have low technical risk
that cannot effectively deliver a demonstration within a live railway environment
do not feature a demonstration phase, offering potential customers a chance to use the innovation and give feedback
do not include an evaluation phase, and a plan to collect information to inform a cost or benefit analysis
have total eligible costs or project terms outside of the eligibility guidance
would directly duplicate other UK government or EU funded initiatives you have already been funded to deliver
are covered by existing commercial agreements to deliver the proposed solutions
do not address how any potentially negative outcomes, such as on the environment or society, would be managed

Funding Costs

For theme 3 – Cost efficiency and performance priorities for a reliable railway a total of up to £2.5million, inclusive of VAT, is allocated. Contracts will be between £150,000 and £250,000, inclusive of VAT, for each project for up to 12 months. We expect to fund between 10 and 15 projects.

The total funding available for the competition can change. The funders have the right to:

adjust the provisional funding allocations between the themes and phases
apply a ‘portfolio’ approach

The contract is completed at the end of the competition, and the successful organisation is expected to pursue commercialisation of their solution.

You must select whether you are VAT registered before entering your project costs.

If you select you are VAT registered, you must enter your project costs exclusive of VAT.

Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design. R&D can also include prototyping and field-testing the product or service. This lets you incorporate the results of your exploration and design and demonstrate that you can produce in quantity to acceptable quality standards.

R&D does not include:

commercial development activities such as quantity production
supply to establish commercial viability or to recover R&D costs
integration, customisation or incremental adaptations and improvements to existing products or processes

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