A £2.5 million package of awards for companies, individuals and academics to make travelling safer, quicker and more reliable was announced on 6 December 2016 by the government.

These grants include:

• 33 Transport Technology Research Innovation Grants (T-TRIG) worth a total of £833,000 awarded to early-stage science, engineering or technology innovations

• a further round of competition for T-TRIG awards worth approximately £700,000 opened today

• a new Innovation Challenge Fund (worth approximately £1 million) to invest in development of promising technology ideas

Taken together, these schemes aim to reduce barriers to innovation and advance technology in transport.

Transport Minister John Hayes said:

This government is committed to delivering a much better transport system, and innovation is a vital part of that.

We are already making headway and expect to see more smart ideas and technologies coming from this funding.

Through these schemes, small businesses and academics gain access to much needed financial support allowing them to explore new ideas and move innovations on to the next stage of development.

Transport Technology Research Innovation Grants (T-TRIG) cover all forms of transport and help develop high quality ideas from concept to prototype stage.

The winners of the July 2016 T-TRIG scheme have each been awarded around £25,000 each to provide innovative transport solutions which improve safety, improve customer experience, or increase efficiency. Successful projects from this round include:

• development of thermally conductive concrete slabs so that train station platforms can automatically de-ice themselves, thereby reducing accidents

• a smart country road reporting system, which uses sensors to collect real-time data to monitor the environment, road temperature and traffic flow

• a solar powered eBike charging solution to offer more sustainable travel choices

Find out more information and details on the December phase.

T-TRIG July 2016 awards and their potential transport benefits

The Innovation Challenge Fund is a new grant scheme designed to encourage the development of technologies, methods or processes that could help tackle transport problems.

The competition is opens to entrants from 12 December 2016.