2158: Contracts for Innovation: FOAK 2025 – Personal Safety

Who can apply

Your project

Projects must:

• start by 1 September 2025

• end by 31 March 2026

• last between three to seven months

• have total costs of no more than £200,000, inclusive of VAT

Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day. You must not start your project until your Contract has been approved by Innovate UK.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs. For specific guidance, see the eligibility section in this competition.

Applicant

To lead a project, you can:

• be an organisation of any size

• work alone or with the subcontracted skills and expertise of others from businesses, research organisations, research and technology organisations or the third sector (charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups)

Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only. The majority of the project work and key deliverables including the project demonstration and trialling must be completed by the applicant and be carried out in the UK. Subcontractors can be used, but only for specialist skills.

We expect you to include an integration supporter in your project to help facilitate the demonstration of your technology. The demonstration should be in a suitable railway environment to allow the effective evaluation of the solution.

Your project could involve, for example:

• 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

We recommend approaching potential integration supporters as early as possible during the application process or early stages of your project. This ensures your industry relationships are well established before delivering the project demonstration. We welcome projects that include an innovative startup supply company that is already delivering in another sector.

Previously funded projects

If you have previously been funded for the same or similar innovations, you will not be eligible for this competition. Applications for this competition need to be materially different from previously funded innovations. The decision of Innovate UK and the DfT on this matter will be final.

Sanctions

This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions. For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups.

Use of animals in research and innovation

Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.

Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both that in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation.

Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.

Funding

A total of up to £4.7 million, inclusive of VAT, is allocated to this competition across all four themes.

Contracts of up to £200,000, inclusive of VAT will be awarded to develop a prototype and undertake field testing between three to seven months and must be completed by 31 March 2026.

We expect to fund a minimum of two projects per theme and up to 23 projects across all four themes.

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

• adjust the provisional funding allocations between the competition themes and priorities within the themes

• apply a ‘portfolio’ approach

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

Value Added Tax (VAT)

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

VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business. We will not provide any further advice and suggest you seek independent advice from HMRC.

VAT registered

If you select you are VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT. As part of the application process VAT will be automatically calculated and added to your project cost total. Your total eligible project costs inclusive of VAT must not exceed £200,000.

Not VAT registered

If you select you are not VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT and no VAT will be added. You will not be able to increase total project costs to cover VAT later should you become VAT registered. Your total project costs must not exceed £200,000.

Research and development (R&D)

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

Subsidy control

Contracts for Innovation competitions involve procurement of R&D services at a fair market value and are not subject to subsidy control criteria that typically apply to grant funding.

Your project

Innovate UK and the Department for Transport (DfT) are collaborating with the rail industry to accelerate and increase the adoption of innovation to improve UK railways. This is through the DfT’s First of a Kind (FOAK) Programme.

The FOAK Programme addresses industry challenges by running innovation competitions. The competitions focus on collaboration with industry and deliver high maturity demonstrations, enabling efficient integration into the railway system. This competition aims to support innovative suppliers for market readiness.

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

The aim of the competition is to develop innovative solutions which address the following themes:

• Platform Train Interfaces

• personal safety

• bridge strikes

• AI for complex processes

You must select a single theme to apply for. If a project covers multiple themes, choose the one in which the majority of the work will be undertaken.

Your project must:

• show how your solution aligns with one of the competition themes

• demonstrate your solution can be integrated into an operational or construction railway environment as a ‘First of a Kind’

• prove the commercial benefits of your solution to railway stakeholders and customers

• provide a business case for commercial adoption, reducing risks and accelerating uptake of new technologies

• collect customer and performance feedback

• gather evidence about implementation challenges and explain how you will de-risk the implementation

• demonstrate how your solution integrates into larger complex systems and delivers the expected outcomes

Although software for mobile devices (also known as applications) may be in scope, only a limited number of these projects will be supported to ensure a range of solutions are developed.

Contracts will be given to successful applicants.

Demonstration event and trialling

A key project deliverable, that must be included in your milestones, is a demonstration event and trial.

The demonstration and trialling must take place in an environment representative of where the solution will be deployed, allowing for effective evaluation.

You must invite potential customers from the railway industry, along with other industry representatives, to your demonstration event.

You will be expected to include an integration partner in your project to help facilitate the demonstration and trialling of your solution. In their role as potential future customers, they will be well placed to propose an appropriately representative environment.

The demonstration and trial must take place in a setting where railway customers and industry representatives can witness the solution as a compelling business proposition. It should be as close to a live railway environment as possible. You will be expected to collaborate with your integration partner to achieve this, securing all necessary permissions and approvals.

Example environments include:

• within a railway station

• in rolling stock

• on railway infrastructure

• in the environment close to the railway

This list is not exhaustive, and other environments may be more appropriate to demonstrate certain types of solutions.

Where necessary, the demonstration event may be held online to reach a wider range of stakeholders. However, in this case, it must be supplemented with evidence from a trial demonstrating the effectiveness of your solution.

You should de-risk all aspects of your project before submitting a bid to this competition, ensuring it can be delivered in line with the requirements of the DfT and Innovate UK.

Evaluation activity

Projects must include an evaluation activity at the end, measuring data to assess the anticipated impact of the solution on the railway network.

This should compare baseline data related to the competition theme and outline the improvement from your solution using data from the demonstration or trial.

This could be a measurement of the time taken to complete a task, or the costs incurred before and after adoption of the technology. Alternatively, the activity might take the form of a survey of railway staff or customers to solicit feedback and to anticipate cost benefit.

In all cases the collection of objective data where possible is preferred over the collection of subjective feedback.

This evaluation activity is a key deliverable and must be included as part of your milestones.

Portfolio approach

We want to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, markets, technological maturities, strand, location and research categories. We call this a portfolio approach.

Specific themes

This competition theme focuses on personal safety. We are seeking innovative solutions to identify, mitigate, and improve responses to personal safety incidents on the railway, ensuring a safer experience for all passengers.

Feeling safe and secure on the railway is essential for travel. However, incidents such as trespassing, suicides, anti-social behaviour and violence are increasing across the network. These incidents not only cause delays for passengers but also create distress for everyone involved.

In particular, existing research suggests that both the occurrence and fear of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) can influence their travel choices. However, assessing VAWG incidents is challenging due to underreporting and underrepresentation in surveys and crime statistics.

There is an urgent need for innovative solutions to identify safety incidents, mitigate their impact, and improve response measures.

We encourage applicants to focus on innovative solutions which:

• address prevention, through measures such as raising awareness and education, designing and providing safer infrastructure, predicting crime hotspots, and improving understanding of perpetrators, particularly in cases of VAWG

• address the immediate response, through measures such as equipping staff with tools and training to handle incidents effectively, enhancing personal safety, and making intervention during incidents easier

• address the post-incident reaction, through measures such as improving intelligence via feedback and reporting, supporting investigations by identifying perpetrators effectively and promptly, and providing evidence; additionally, offer support to survivors, particularly those affected by VAWG

• detect trespass events and incidents occurring in the absence of a train, including those involving mobility impaired individuals and the challenges they face if they fall onto the tracks, particularly from motorised wheelchairs and scooters

• can be trialled and evaluated in a live station environment to gather feedback from staff and customers

• at a minimum of Rail Industry Readiness Level 5 and capable of delivering an immediate impact

• can be trialled in a railway environment, with effectiveness measured to help operators better understand the problem

We discourage applicants from focusing on solutions which:

• are complex and difficult to operate

• require high capital expenditure

• require significant modifications or investments to train fleets and stations

• cannot integrate into existing systems or processes

• duplicate or fail to integrate with existing technologies and systems such as the British Transport Police’s Railway Guardian app

Research categories

Prototype development and evaluation

This can include prototyping, demonstrating, piloting, testing and validation of new or improved products, processes or services in environments representative of real-life operating conditions. The primary objective is to make further technical improvements on products, processes or services that are not substantially set.

Projects we will not fund

We will not fund projects that:

• are not original in scope and duplicates someone else’s work

• 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 at Rail Industry Readiness level 5 or above

• are unable to deliver a demonstration event and trial within a representative environment, offering potential customers a chance to use the innovation and give feedback

• do not include an evaluation and a plan to collect information to inform a cost or benefit analysis

• 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

8 April 2025

Online briefing event: register to attend.

Briefing slides will be available to download from supporting information after the event.

30 June 2025

Applicants notified

30 June 2025

Feedback

1 September 2025

Contracts awarded

1 September 2025

Projects start by

Before you start

By submitting an application, you agree to the terms of the draft contract which is available once you start your application. The terms of the contract are non-negotiable and are included in the draft contract. We reserve the right to change the terms and conditions if necessary.

The final contract will include any milestones you have agreed with the funding authority and will be sent to you if your application is successful. The contract is binding once it is returned by you and signed by both parties.

When you start an application, you will be prompted to create an account as the lead applicant or sign in as a representative of your organisation. Using your account, you will be able to track your applications progress.

As the applicant you are responsible for:

• collecting the information for your application

• representing your organisation in leading the project if your application is successful

You will be able to invite colleagues from your organisation to contribute to the application.

What happens next

A selected panel of assessors will review and score your application. You will be notified of the outcome and feedback will be provided. Contracts for this competition will then be issued to all successful applicants.

What we will ask you

The application is split into four sections:

1. Project details.

2. Application questions.

3. Finances.

4. Project Impact.

You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.

Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure:

• that all the information provided in the application is correct

• your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria

• all sections of the application are marked as complete

You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.

Accessibility and Inclusion

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.

You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.

We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.

You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

Note that the closing date for this competition is 28 May and our offices will be closed 26 and 27 May.

Project details

This section provides background for your application and is not scored.

Do not include any URLs in your answers unless we have explicitly requested a link to a video. If you do, your application will be made ineligible.

Application details

Give your project’s title, start date and duration.

Who made you aware of the competition?

Select a category to state who made you aware of the competition. You cannot choose more than one.

How long has your organisation been established for?

Select a category to state how long has your organisation been established for. You cannot choose more than one.

What is your organisation’s primary area focus?

Select a category to state your organisation’s primary focus area. You cannot choose more than one.

Project and scope summary

Please provide a short summary of your project.

Describe your project briefly. Be clear about what makes it innovative and how it relates to the scope of the competition. How does it tackle different aspects of the challenge and how will it provide an integrated solution?

Give details of the lead organisation. Before you submit, we expect you to have discussed your application within your organisation.

Your answer for this section can be up to 800 words long.

This section is not scored, but we will use it to decide whether the project fits the scope of the competition. If it does not, it may be rejected.

Public description

Please provide a brief description of your project. If your application is successful, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project. This question is mandatory, but we will not assess this content as part of your application.

Describe your project in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. We have the right to amend the description before publication if necessary but will consult you about any changes.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Applicant location

You must state the name of your organisation along with your full registered address.

You must also state the name and full registered address of any potential or confirmed subcontractors.

We are collecting this information to understand the geographical location of all participants of a project.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

2. Application questions

The assessors will score all of your questions except questions 1 to 4 which are not scored. You will receive feedback for each scored question. Find out more about how our assessors assess and how we select applications for funding.

Do not include any URLs in your answers unless we have explicitly requested a link to a video. If you do, your application will be made ineligible.

Question 1. Public synopsis (not scored)

You must provide a short synopsis of your project. If your application is successful, we may publish this synopsis. This could happen before you start your project. This question is mandatory, but we will not assess this content as part of your application.

This synopsis should be different from the public description requested in the project details section and it should be a brief summary statement of the main project points. It should be understandable to the wider public and to the non-technical audience outside of the rail sector.

Describe your project in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. We have the right to amend the description before publication if necessary but will consult you about any changes.

Your answer can be up to 50 words long.

Question 2. Previous applications (not scored)

You must list out any previously funded Innovate UK, or other funded projects, that are the same, or similar to your solution, made over the last ten years.

In terms of your project goals, describe or explain:

• the commonality and differentiation between this application and previous projects

• the outcomes of previous projects and their commercial success

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 3. Animal testing (not scored)

Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing?

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare.

Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance.

Question 4. Permits and licences (not scored)

Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project?

We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date.

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

• In process of being applied for

• Not applicable

Question 5. Proposed idea or technology and Rail Industry Readiness Level (RIRL)

How does the project meet the challenge described in the competition scope?

You must provide evidence that what you are proposing is at Rail Industry Readiness Level 5 or above. If your technology is below RIRL 5, the application will be rejected.

Provide a description of your proposed idea or technology and how the railway will benefit from what you propose.

Include a description of the current state of development or readiness of the idea.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

You can submit a single appendix as a PDF containing images and diagrams to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

This question will be scored against this assessment criterion: How well does the proposal meet the challenge?

Question 6. Technical project summary

What are the main technical challenges you are addressing?

Explain:

• how you will address the challenge

• what the innovation is

• the main technical deliverables

• the research and development that will prove the scientific, environmental and commercial merit of the project

• what might be achieved by deploying the innovation to address the selected challenge

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

This question will be scored against this assessment criterion: How valid is the technical approach?

Question 7. Current state of the art and intellectual property

Are similar products currently available in the market?

How is your proposed project differentiated from them?

You must include details of:

• any existing intellectual property (IP)

• its significance to your freedom to operate

• novel concepts you develop or employ

• new approaches or technologies you use

• new tools or technologies

You must explain how you would handle any intellectual property (IP) issues which might arise during the project.

If you are working with subcontractors (specialist skills only), include details of how you will maintain freedom to operate and fulfil the IP requirements detailed in the contract.

This question will be scored against these assessment criteria: How innovative is this project? How much does the project develop or employ novel concepts, approaches, methodologies, tools or technologies for this area?

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 8. Project plan and methodology

Describe your project plan and identify the main milestones.

The plan for this project must be comprehensive. The emphasis throughout should be on practicality.

Provide evidence that the technology works, can be made into a viable product and can achieve the proposed benefits.

You must:

• describe resources that will be needed to deliver the project

• describe what the main success criteria will be

• identify the project management processes that will ensure you achieve the milestones

·provide a clear plan for establishing technical and commercial feasibility

• describe the main technical, commercial and environmental risks and what you will do to mitigate them

• provide a clear plan for development of a working prototype

• provide a plan for your demonstration and trialling and include this in your milestones

• provide a plan for your project evaluation and include this in your milestones

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

You must upload a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix in PDF format. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Your milestones must:

• be clear

• be defined using SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) criteria

• be associated with the appropriate deliverables and payments

• indicate your payment schedule by month

This question will be assessed against these assessment criteria:

• does the proposal show a clear plan for establishing technical and commercial feasibility

• is there a clear management plan

• what are the main technical, commercial, and environmental risks to the project’s success

• how will these be effectively managed

• are demonstration and evaluation plans outlined in the milestones

• are the milestones and evaluation procedures appropriate

Note: information from the finances section will be used to support the assessment of this question. Proposed milestones and associated payments stated in this section must match those entered in the finance summary on your application.

Question 9. Technical team and expertise

Who is in the technical team? What expertise do they offer?

Provide a brief description of your technical team, including any subcontractors.

Describe:

• how each organisation has the skills, capabilities, and experience to deliver the intended benefits

• how much of their time will be spent on the project

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

This question will be scored against this assessment criterion: Does the applicant have the skills, capabilities and experience to deliver the intended benefits?

Question 10. Costs and value for money

How much will the project cost? How does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer?

Describe:

• the total costs inclusive of VAT (if applicable) you are requesting in terms of the project goals

• how this project represents value for money for you, the railway industry and the taxpayer

• your expected overall costs

Proposed costs stated in this section must match those entered in the finance summary.

All costs quoted must reflect actual costs at a ‘fair market value’ and not include profit.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

You can submit a single appendix as a spreadsheet in PDF format. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Note that all payments are made quarterly in arrears on submission of an invoice. The invoice must be submitted within 30 days of the end of each monitoring period for all completed milestones. Your project will be monitored on a three monthly basis by Innovate UK monitoring services.

Full Economic Cost (FEC) calculations are not relevant for Contracts for Innovation competitions. Contracts for Innovation is a competitive process and applications will come from a variety of organisations. Whatever calculation you use to arrive at your total eligible project costs your application will be assessed against applications from other organisations. Bear this in mind when calculating your total eligible project costs. You can include overheads but remember that this is a competitive process.

The assessors are required to judge the application finances in terms of value for money. They will score your finances against this assessment criterion: Are the budget and costs realistic, justified and appropriate for the aims and methods?

Note: information from the finances section will be used to support the assessment of this question.

Question 11. Commercial potential

What is the commercial potential of your project? You must focus on your proposed customer’s needs.

Describe your:

• timescales

• projects commercial potential for a marketable product, process or service

• delivery plan

• expected route to market

Describe the competitive advantage that your project has over existing or alternative technologies that meet market needs.

Describe any existing commercial relationships relevant to the project.

Describe your potential customers within the UK railway industry.

With the focus on your proposed customer’s needs, you can also mention the future commercial potential across the public or private sector and international markets.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

This question will be scored against these assessment criteria:

• is there a clear commercial potential for a marketable product, process or service

• is there a clear plan to deliver that and a clear route to market

• how significant is the competitive advantage of this technology over the nearest currently available solutions to the challenge identified.

3. Finances

Enter your project costs, organisation details and funding details.

You must select whether you are VAT registered before entering your eligible project costs. We advise you answer the VAT registered question first before entering your eligible costs. Your total eligible project costs must not exceed £200,000.

If you select you are VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT. As part of the application process VAT will be automatically calculated and added to your eligible project cost total.

If you select you are not VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT and no VAT will be added. You will not be able to increase total project costs to cover VAT later should you become VAT registered.

VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business. We will not provide any further advice and advise you to seek independent advice from HMRC.

Full Economic Cost (FEC) calculations are not relevant for Contracts for Innovation competitions. Contracts for Innovation is a competitive process and applications will come from a variety of organisations.

Whatever calculation you use to arrive at your total eligible project costs your application will be assessed against applications from other organisations. Bear this in mind when calculating your total eligible project costs. You can include overheads but remember that this is a competitive process.

For an overview on what costs you can claim, see our project costs guidance. Note this is general guidance, for specific guidance please see the eligibility section in this competition. You can also view our application finances video.

4. Project Impact

This section is not scored but will provide background to your project.

You must complete the Project Impact questions before being able to submit the application.

More information can be found in our Project Impact guidance and by viewing our Impact Management Framework video.

Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.

Assessment

Your application will be reviewed by three independent assessors based on the content of your application and their skills or expertise relevant to your project. All of the scores awarded will count towards the total score used to make the funding decision unless you are notified otherwise.

You can find out more about our assessment process in the General Guidance.

Your submitted application will be assessed against these criteria:

FOAK 2025 - Contracts For Innovation - assessor guidance.pdf (opens in a new window)

Background and further information

About Contracts for Innovation competitions

Contracts for Innovation provides innovative solutions to challenges faced by the public sector. This can lead to better public services and improved efficiency and effectiveness.

The Contracts for Innovation programme:

• supports economic growth and enables the development of innovative products and services through the public procurement of R&D

• generates new business opportunities for companies

• provides a route to market for new ideas

• creates opportunities to work directly with the public sector

Contracts for Innovation competitions are open to all eligible organisations that can demonstrate a route to market for their solution. Developments are 100% funded and focused on specific identified needs, increasing the chance of exploitation.

Contracts for Innovation encourages the creation and protection of new intellectual property (IP). Applicants retain all the rights to both foreground and background IP but will be expected to grant certain royalty-free licences to the funder for use of the foreground IP.

Contracts for Innovation is a procurement of R&D services. If successful, you will receive a contract to deliver the proposed activity. Costs quoted must reflect actual costs at a ‘fair market value’ and not include profit.

You must submit an invoice for the work undertaken. All payments are made in arrears on submission of an invoice. Invoices must be submitted within 30 days of the end of each monitoring period for all completed milestones.

If you are VAT registered, your total costs are expected to include VAT that you would charge as a service provider. VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business and applicants should ensure that VAT has been calculated correctly as part of their application. You will need to confirm your VAT status as part of the application process

Note: we are seeing a rise in double counting of VAT during the application process, making some applicants ineligible. To avoid this, it is important you input your costs minus VAT. VAT is added on by us in the Innovation Funding Service (IFS).

Suppliers for each project will be selected by an open competition process and retain the intellectual property generated from the project, with certain rights of use retained by the contracting authority. This is an excellent opportunity to establish an early customer for a new technology and to fund its development.

Broader Information

The potential stakeholders for this competition include but are not limited to:

• Network Rail (NR)

• Transport for London (TfL)

• High Speed One (HS1)

• High Speed Two (HS2)

• rolling stock operating companies (ROSCO)

• freight operating companies (FOCs)

• train operating companies (TOCs)

• infrastructure owners and providers

• Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE)

• owning groups

• others

Rail industry

For more information on the railway industry’s priorities, please refer to:

• Network Rail Challenges

• Rail Industry Readiness Level definitions

• Rail Data Action Plan

• Rail Data Marketplace

• Rail Technical Strategy

• others

Some representatives from these organisations will be invited to the competition briefing events to discuss their priorities.

Rail Innovation Exhibition

If you are awarded a contract, you will be expected to exhibit your project at the next Innovate UK annual Rail Innovation Exhibition. You will also be invited to future events, with Innovate UK notifying you of the date and location when available. We will provide the space and advise you of any technology you need to organise.

Innovate UK monitoring and evaluation framework

Innovate UK will work with projects awarded grants or contracts, to implement a new monitoring and evaluation framework. Your project will be required to collect and report key metrics and data as specified by the programme and in line with the centralised evaluation framework. This will include the collection of both evidence and counterfactual data to support impact and attribution claims.

You will be briefed on the specific metrics and evidence following notification of your award. For planning, forecasting and budgeting purposes, your organisation will be expected to allocate three working days to supporting this requirement over the life of the project.

You will also be asked to respond periodically to further requests, following your project’s conclusion, recognising Innovate UK’s obligations, and the benefits of evaluating impact over time.

Briefing recording and slides

Briefing recording and slides will be available to download here after the briefing event.

What happens if you receive a contract

If you have passed your initial assessment and have received an email with a contract, you will be asked to complete the project set up process on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS).

We will ask for information that will allow us to undertake mandatory checks on your organisation and the eligibility of your costs, as well as review the documentation for your project.

You must follow the unique link embedded in your email notification. This takes you to your project's dedicated IFS Set Up portal, where we gather the information required to set up your project.

Watch our video on what steps there are before a project starts or read more about Project Setup in our general guidance.

If your application is unsuccessful

If you are unsuccessful with your application this time, you can view feedback from the assessors. This will be available to you on your IFS portal following notification.

Sometimes your application will have scored well, and you will receive positive comments from the assessors. You may be unsuccessful as your average score was not above the funding threshold or your project has not been selected under the portfolio approach if this is applied for this competition.

We would like to remind you that eligible non-funded business can still benefit from fully funded and bespoke support from the Innovate UK Business Growth service.

Support for SMEs from Innovate UK Business Growth service

Innovate UK Business Growth helps innovation focused businesses make the best strategic choices and access the right resources, in order to grow and ultimately achieve scale.

Our innovation and growth specialists provide our fully funded and bespoke support to clients nationwide. Visit the service’s website to discover whether you could benefit from this advisory support, which is available to Innovate UK funded and non-funded businesses alike.

Protecting your innovation

A Secure Innovation campaign has been developed to help founders and leaders of innovative startups protect their technology, competitive advantage, and reputation.

This was developed by UK’s National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Data sharing

This competition is jointly operated by Innovate UK and the Department for Transport (DfT) (each an ‘agency’).

Any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application can be shared by one agency with the other, for its individual storage, processing and use.

Innovate UK may also share any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application with Innovate UK’s regional UK third parties. For more information see how we handle applicant data.

This means that any information given to or generated by Innovate UK in respect of your application may be passed on to the DfT and vice versa. This would include, but is not restricted to:

• the information stated on the application, including the personal details of all applicants

• scoring and feedback on the application

• information received during the management and administration of the contract, such as Monitoring Service Provider reports

Innovate UK and the DfT are directly accountable to you for their holding and processing of your information, including any personal data and confidential information. Data is held in accordance with their own policies. Accordingly, Innovate UK, Innovate UK Business Connect and the DfT will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application.

Innovate UK’s Privacy Policy

Innovate UK Business Connect Privacy Policy

Department for Transport Data Protection Policy

Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) Privacy Notice

Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.

The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a useful guide for organisations, which outlines the data protection principles.

All applications may be shared with the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) to help reduce duplication of funding across the rail industry and to check your solution is innovative.

We may also share your public summary and public synopsis from your application with other related organisations that manage alternative funding opportunities, for example, Network Rail, HS2, TfL and others.

Further help and guidance

If you want help to find an organisation to work with, contact the Innovate UK Business Connect.

If you need more information about how to apply or you want to submit your application in Welsh, email support@iuk.ukri.org or call 0300 321 4357.

Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

Note that the closing date for this competition is 28 May and our offices will be closed 26 and 27 May.

Innovate UK or any of our partners will not tolerate abusive language in any written or verbal correspondence, applications, social media or any other form that might affect staff.