SBRI Rail Competition Briefing: An SBRI competition - 'SBRI rail demonstrations: first of a kind 2020', funded by DfT opened on 13 January 2020. Businesses from the UK, EU or EEA can apply for a share of up to £9.4m, including VAT, to develop demonstrators for sustainability, customer experience, operations or maintenance. This competition has 4 themes: - environmental sustainability - customer experience - optimised railway operations - optimised and cost-effective maintenance Find out more: https://ktn-uk.co.uk/news/sbri-rail-demonstrations-first-of-a-kind-2020-competition

1. First of a Kind 2020
Application Process & Eligibility
Rhianne Montgomery
Kelvin Davies
Michael Fritchley
Steve Sopp

2. 1SBRI Overview
2 Competition Eligibility Criteria
3 Application Criteria & Process
4Submitting your Application
Contents
5 Q&A

3. SBRI Overview

4. What is SBRI?
Small business research initiative
Pre-commercial procurement
Requires a lead customer
Outcome-driven solutions
Well-defined challenges of un-met needs
Open to applicants within the EU/ EEA

5. 5
SBRI: the small business
research initiative
Helping government:
SBRI helps government organisations solve tough
challenges by connecting them with innovative businesses.
Helping businesses:
SBRI offers innovators the chance to win a government
contract to help demonstrate and develop their new
technologies.
Helping government, helping businesses
Jenny Griffiths, founder, Snap Fashion

6. Development Contracts
• 100% funded (procurement contract)
• At least 50% of the contract must be R&D
• Operate under procurement rules rather than state aid rules
• UK implementation of EU pre-commercial procurement
• Deliverable based and focused on milestones
Contract with Prime Supplier
• who may choose to sub-contract but remains accountable
IP rests with Supplier
• You will keep all rights to your IPR, but DfT may require a royalty-free licence. However, if you create
significant capability but do not choose to exploit it, DfT reserve the right to do so under licence.
SBRI Key Features

7. FOAK 2020 Eligibility
• Open to all organisations. There is no limit on the size or type of company.
• Open to companies from all sectors
• Research organisations are eligible, however they must demonstrate a route to market, i.e., have a plan
to commercialise the results before the contract is issued
• Must carry out demonstration work in the UK
• Must involve a railway asset owner (stations, rolling stock, infrastructure), an experienced rail
organisation and a rail organisation that has the potential to become a customer (these can all be the
same organisation)
• Must work in partnership with organisations that have rail-sector expertise

8. Application Process

9. Information Required
Section 1. Application Details
Section 2. Details of Lead Applicant Organisation
Section 3. Contact Details
Section 4. Title and Abstract for Publication
Section 5. Q1 : Description of Proposed Idea / Technology
Section 6. Q2: Technical Project Summary
Section 7. Q3: Current state of the art and intellectual property
Section 8. Q4 :Project plan and methodology
Section 9. Q5: Technical Team and Expertise
Section 10. Q6: Application Finances
Section 11. Q7: Commercial Potential
Section 12. Q8: Application to the Rail Industry – Practicality
Section 13. Q9: Application to the Rail Industry – Benefits
Section 14. Declaration
Application Form
Appendices permitted
Appendices permitted

10. 1. Application
• Please enter information solely on the project
2. Details of Lead Applicant Organisation
3. Contact Details
4. Title and Abstract for Publication
• Please provide a brief, public facing description of the
project. Should your project be successful, this information
will be made public once the award is confirmed.
Non-technical Questions

11. 5. Description of Proposed Idea/Technology
• Avoiding the use of unnecessary technical jargon, describe clearly how the proposed project will deliver the
outcomes as described in the competition documentation.
• You may submit 2 A4 pages of appendices for this question, such as an image or diagram
6. Technical Project Summary
• Please provide a structured summary of the technical basis of the project. This should outline the
background to the technology, including what the innovation is, and the key deliverables. This would
typically involve highlighting the research and development that will prove the scientific and commercial
merit of the project.
Project-specific Questions

12. Project-specific Questions
7. Current State of the Art and Intellectual Property (IP)
Please provide details of any competing technologies / market alternatives and the relative benefits of the proposed
technology. Include details of any existing IP and its significance to your freedom to operate.
8. Project Plan and Methodology
Describe the project plan and detail the key project milestones and deliverables.
Project Management
• Identify the project management processes that will ensure milestones are achieved and describe key risks (in the
categories of technical, commercial and environmental) and mitigation actions.
• Provide a Gantt chart to support this section, in PDF format, maximum 2 A4 pages

13. Project-specific Questions
9. Technical Team and Expertise
• Provide a detailed description of the skills and expertise and track record of the team, including the relevant
knowledge and skills of each member.
• Outline the proportion of time each member will spend on the project. Relevant commercial and
management expertise should also be included. Also include details of any sub-contractors and the
expertise they bring to the project.
10. Application Finances
Please provide a summary of costs for the project. All costs MUST include VAT (where applicable)
• “Fair market value”
• Profit not included

14. Eligible Costs
Direct costs:
• Labour costs for all those contributing to the project, broken
down by individual
• Material Costs (including consumables specific to the project)
• Capital Equipment Costs
• Sub-contract costs
• Travel and subsistence
• Other costs specifically attributed to the project
Indirect Costs:
• General office and basic laboratory consumables
• Library services/learning resources
• Typing/secretarial
• Finance, personnel, public relations and departmental services
• Central and distributed computing
• Cost of capital employed
• Overheads

15. Project-specific Questions
11. Commercial Potential
• Please provide details of the clear
commercial potential to lead to a marketable
product, process or service and a clear plan
to deliver that and route to market.
• You will need to describe the significance of
the competitive advantage which this
technology affords over existing/alternate
technologies that can meet the market
needs.

16. Project-specific Questions
12. Application to the Rail Industry – Practicality
Please explain the application to the rail industry, in particular how this demonstration:
• delivers a plausible innovation that has a good probability of being successfully exploited in the context of
one or more railway systems operating in the UK
• will deliver operational evidence, and an opportunity to assess public confidence and commercial
incentives to help accelerate the commercialisation of this innovation in the rail industry?
• will support rail staff in gaining an understanding of the need and impact of this innovation, and an
opportunity to assess the whole system benefits and opportunities
• will help open-up markets for this rail innovation based on evidence, technical data and intelligence
gathered from the demonstrator experience?

17. Project-specific Questions
13. Application to the Rail Industry – Benefits
Please explain the application to the rail industry, in particular how this demonstration will:
• deliver an opportunity for rail passengers to experience an enhancement in the experience of using the railway or
for rail staff to experience an enhancement in the experience of operating the railway?
• support SMEs and Tier 1 suppliers in demonstrating this rail innovation, with the potential to open-up new rail
export opportunities for UK PLC?
• provide an opportunity for media coverage and the reporting of an innovation success to help drive an increase in
rail staff and rail customer experience and satisfaction levels?
• help to provide evidence in relation to relevant regulations to show where they may impact on the delivery of
railway innovations, and to help ensure that barriers and risks to commercialisation are evident and readily
managed?

18. The Final Question
14. Declarations
• The lead applicant is expected to have discussed the application within their
own company and any other body whose co-operation will be required to
deliver the project.
• The lead applicant will need to obtain consent from an authorised officer or
appropriate signatory who will sign the contract if successful; we will provide a
contract for review. The contract is a legally binding document and subject to
the outcome of this competition.

19. • Application Form (must not be converted to different format)
• Appendices - font size no smaller than 10 (Arial) in PDF format
o Q5 appendices - 2 A4 sides: pictures; diagrams; technical documents etc.
o Q8 - Gantt Chart – 2 A4 sides
• Applications must be complete
o All mandatory information supplied to ensure eligibility
Forms Required
Applicants must have a letter of support from a rail organisation, but please do not
submit these with your application. These will be requested as part of the
assessment process.

20. Assessment & Selection

21. All applications are assessed by independent assessors drawn from industry and academia
Each application will be reviewed by several assessors to provide an average score.
Application Assessment
What do the assessors look for?
• Clear and concise answers
• The right amount of information
• not too much detail
• no assumptions
• Quantification and justification
• That the applicant (team) has presented a viable opportunity for growth, a level of innovation that
necessitates public sector investment and an appropriate team and approach to take it forward

22. Application Scoring
Assessment Criteria
Weighting
(points available)
1. How well does the proposed idea, solution or technology meet the challenge as detailed in the brief? 10
2. How valid is the technical approach that will be adopted? 10
3. Have the applicants made a good case for application of this idea, solution or technology to the rail industry? (See
particularly questions 8 and 9 on the application form)
40
4. How innovative is this project? To what extent does the project develop or employ novel concepts, approaches,
methodologies, tools or technologies for this area?
10
5. To what extent does the proposal show a clear plan for establishing technical and commercial feasibility and the
development of a working prototype?
How does the proposal demonstrate that there is a clear management plan What are the risks (technical, commercial and
environmental) to project success? How effectively will these be managed? How appropriate are the milestones and
evaluation procedures?
10
6. To what extent does the applicant appear to have the right skills, capabilities and experience to deliver the intended
benefits?
10
7. How appropriate is the proposal financially? Is the overall budget realistic and justified in terms of the aims and methods
proposed? Are the costs appropriate and justified?
10
8. Is there a clear commercial potential to lead to a marketable product, process or service and a clear plan to deliver that
and route to market? How significant is the competitive advantage which this technology affords over existing or alternate
technologies that can meet the market needs?
20

23. Final Assessor Question
Recommendation
Recommended Would you recommend this project for
funding and if not why not?

24. Submitting Your
Application & Next Steps

25. The Application Submission Process
Take your time, use all space providedCOMPLETE documents
DOWNLOAD documents
Don’t leave it to the last minute. Do it early!UPLOAD documents
On date providedNOTIFICATION received
Within 4 weeks of receiving your notificationFEEDBACK received
REGISTER Via competition website
Invitation to tender

26. 1. If you intend to make an application, you must first REGISTER for the competition.
(Remember: Registration ends 1 week prior to the competition close)
2. You will receive an email with your username and password along with a link to the
secure upload area. This email will also contain your application form with unique
application number.
3. For multiple projects: please contact the support team (support@innovateuk.gov.uk)
after your first registration for additional unique application forms.
REGISTER

27. Public area
Click Login to access the Secure
area
DOWNLOAD
documents

28. Check: your application number matches your login username number
Naming
a) Your documents should contain your unique application number (e.g. App12345.docx)
b) Appendices begin with APPENDIX and supplied in PDF format.
Format
a) Application Form submitted as a Word file (.doc /.docx)
Full stage only:
b) Appendices submitted as PDF file
COMPLETE documents

29. Secure area
Enter your login details
and accept the T and Cs.
Click the Login button at
the bottom.
Click Upload and follow the
on-screen instructions.
UPLOAD documents

30. Notification will be received by email on or before the date stated in the timeline.
For successful projects:
• Financial project cost review and viability checks undertaken
• Contracts will be issued approximately 4 weeks after notification
• The Project may not start until the organisation has received and returned signed acceptance
of Contract
NOTIFICATION
received

31. Issued for both successful and unsuccessful applicants within 4 weeks of receiving your notification
Word document
Uploaded to your
secure area
Not issued via email
FEEDBACK received

32. Important Points
• Applicants must fully complete the application form
• Any size or type of organisation is eligible, providing a route to market is
demonstrated
• All contract values quoted include VAT
• Fair Market Value
• The contract terms and conditions are not negotiable

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