Network Rail & Innovate UK Railways SBRI Competition Briefing: Innovation in Railway Platform End and Edge Technology

SBRI competition briefing:
Innovation in Automated Survey Processing for
Railway Structure Gauging
&
Innovation in Railway Platform End & Edge
Technology
5 December 2019
London

Introduction to Innovate UK
Briefing Event
5 December 2019
Kelvin Davies
Innovation Lead Rail, Innovate UK

4
Innovate UK drives productivity and
economic growth by supporting
businesses to develop new ideas.
We connect businesses to the people
that can help them, and fund businesses
and research collaborations in all
economic sectors, value chains and
UK regions to accelerate innovation.
Innovate UK

8,500unique
organisations
involved
Up to
£6-7for every
£1 we’ve
invested
£2.5bnsince 2007
We’ve funded around
11,000projects
Up to
£18bnin added value
to the economy
Investment of Industry match funding
taking
the total value of
projects above
£4.3bn
70,000jobs created in total
9 jobs
for each
organisation
involved
5

 we are at the heart of delivering government’s
Industrial Strategy and target of UK R&D
expenditure reaching 2.4% of GDP
 we act as a transformative agent for change in
the UK economy by accelerating productivity and
driving disruptive innovation
 we support innovation, from spin-outs and start-
ups to companies with the ambition to scale and
grow in the UK and through global markets
 we help companies of all sizes in all sectors
access the research, partners, investors and
markets they need to innovate and grow
6
The UK’s innovation agency

7
- established and overseen by
Innovate UK
- part of a network of technology and
innovation centres
- bridge the gap between businesses,
academia, research and government
- transforming the UK’s ability to create
new products and services
- ensure global opportunities for the
UK and sustained economic growth
for the future
Catapult Centers
Fostering innovation to
drive economic growth
Connected Places
Connected Places

8
KTN is a network partner of Innovate UK.
It helps businesses get the best out of
creativity, ideas and the latest discoveries
to strengthen the UK economy and
improve people’s lives.
KTN links new ideas and opportunities
from all sectors with expertise, markets
and finance through a network of
businesses, universities, funders and
investors.
Knowledge Transfer
Network (KTN)
Find markets.
Find solutions.
Find funding.
KTN supported clean-tech company
FeTu
www.ktn-uk.co.uk

9
Innovate UK Opportunities
All InnovateUK opportunities are listed at:
https://apply-for-innovation-
funding.service.gov.uk/competition/search
Highlights:
- Smart grants (open) competition, rolling
programme of competitions at ~£20M
- Competitions delivered as part of ISCF
activities
- Circa 20-30 competitions open at any one
time, typically with each open for 2 months
- Future rail competitions will be listed here
- Other competitions may be equally
relevant
- Cross-sector activities are welcomed

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Summary: How to keep informed
Monitor
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/innovate-uk
https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/search
Register for ISCF Updates
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/industrial-strategy-challenge-fund-joint-research-and-innovation
Subscribe to Knowledge Transfer Network Updates
https://www.ktn-uk.co.uk/
Innovate UK Opportunities

SBRI: innovation in automated survey processing for railway structure
gauging, phase 1
SBRI: innovation in railway platform end and edge technology

@InnovateUK Innovate UKInnovate
UK

ResearchandDevelopment
Innovationisinournature
Pioneers Welcome
An introduction to the NR
R&D Portfolio
Charlie Kingdon– R&D Programme Manager
Huw Evans – R&D Programme Manager

Network Rail
• Own and operate 22,000 miles of track – The UK Rail Network
• Maintain that track and 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts
as well as thousands of signals level crossings and more
• Manage 20 major train stations
• Circa 40,000 employees in the UK
We are changing the way we work to Put Passen
• Arms Length Public Body, regulated
by the Office of Rail and Road
• Granted licences to operate the UK
Rail Network in 5 year periods
called “Control Periods” – Control
Period 6 started 1 April 2019
• Have a consulting arm including
business in Australia, Dubai,
Europe and the USA – NR Consulting

No of Programmes
7
No of Projects
137*
Projects starting
yr1
103
Inflight Projects
84
Portfolio Value
£357m
NR Funding
£245m
External Funding
£112m
External funding
secured
£26m
Delivery Team
33
Patents/Licences
protected
1
Portfolio Horizon
20 yrs
20 Year BCR
2.8
R&D in numbers
*excluding S2R

Key technologies
Artificial
intelligence
to support
Dat
a
Roboti
cs
Additive
manufacturing
(3D printing)
Materi
als
Autonom
y Locally
sourced
energy
Ener
gy

Demonstrating off network
Rail Innovation Development
Centres (RIDC)
• Tuxford and Melton
• Centre of Excellence for
Testing
• Providing a safe and controlled
environment
Part
of….

R&D in action
Track, Maintenance & Plant
Lead Customer
DRAM (Wales & Western)
Route Representation
Head of Maintenance (Wales & Borders)
Track RAM (Southern)
RASIM (Wales & Western, Eastern)
IMDM (North West & Central)
Civils & Sustainability
Lead Customer
DRAM (Scotland, North West & Central)
Structures RAM (Scotland)
Senior Asset Engineer, Geotech (Eastern)
Environmental Specialist (North West & Central)
Reliable & Sustainable
Power
Lead Customer
DRAM (Eastern)
EP RAM (Southern)
Senior Asset Engineer (Southern)
Safety, Security & Operations
Lead Customer
DRAM (Southern, Wales & Western)
Head of Operations Delivery (Eastern)
Ops Manager (Eastern)
Customer Relationship Exec. (Eastern)
Future Communications &
Train Control
Lead Customer
Route Programme Director (Eastern)
Head of Operations Delivery (Western)
Head of Operations Delivery (Eastern)
Technical Services Director (Eastern)
Agile Innovation
Janine Fountain
Karl Butler-GarnhamCharlie Kingdon
Huw Evans
Felicity OsbornRob Forde
Shift2Rail

How can the supply
chain engage with the
R&D Portfolio?

NR Challenge Statements
Google: “Network Rail
challenge Statements”
Or go to:
www.networkrail.co.uk/industry
-and-commercial/research-
development-and-
technology/research-and-
development-
programme/challenge-
statements/

Collaborative R&D
Small Business Research Initiative
Innovation Partnerships
Single Tender Actions
With innovative procurement
models
First Deployment
(Full business case)
Proposal
(Value proposition)
Proposa
l
Researc
h
Specify Develop First
in
class
Deploy Whole
life
manage
Proof of concept
Demonstration
Procurement
routes

And engagement with routes
Lead route customer
- for every programme and project
Route representatives
- seats on the board overseeing the R&D portfolio
- contributing to projects and programmes
Business planners
– engaged in building strong connections between
the R&D portfolio and business plans

Through our partners

Ready to become a pioneer?
Contact us at:
R&D@networkrail.co.uk
Start by browsing our
challenges by searching
‘Network Rail challenge
statements’

The Platform End and Edge
Challenge
Programme Manager’s Perspective

The challenge: Platform End &
Edge
The Problem:
• Trespass (not resulting
in fatality) costs
Network Rail
approximately £5m per
period
• Vandalism and theft
cost approximately £1m
per period
• The total cost of
security incidents has
risen from £43m per
year in 2006/7 to £130m
per year in 2017/18.
• From 2017-2019, 85% of
The Vision
• The Platform End and Edge
project will demonstrate
the capability of 3
solutions and test their
readiness for roll out
• The solutions will be
suitable and effective in
various railway
environments.
• They will provide more
accurate figures on
numbers of trespass
incidents
• Solutions will produce

Why SBRI for Platform End and
Edge?• Allows for innovations we haven’t seen
yet
• Encourages collaboration
• Open to companies of all sizes and
backgrounds
• Provides more diverse options for
solving the problem
• Need knowledge of:
1. Railway – platform requirements and
how we undertake work
2. Data collection
3. Change management – making processes
suitable for the staff who will
follow them
• Lots of technology and suppliers are

The Gauging Challenge
Challenge
Programme Manager’s Perspective

The challenge: Gauging
The Problem:
• Make sure trains don’t
hit structures
• Make sure trains don’t
hit other trains
• Make sure passengers
can get on and off
trains at platforms
• Overly conservative or
inaccurate
• Movement of ‘fixed’
infrastructure
• Poor data quality
The Vision
• Improve data processing
and availability
• Harness machine learning
techniques
• Hence – improve accuracy
and confidence

SBRI Competition Briefing:
Innovation in Automated Survey Processing for Railway
Structure Gauging
5 December 2019
London
Agenda
Facilitator: Michelle Carter, KTN
1. Background to competition James Sweeney & Rob Lacey
Network Rail
2. Competition Scope Steve Sopp, Innovate UK
3. Q&A

Structure Gauging
Automated Structure Gauge
Processing using Point Cloud
Data
James Sweeney
Senior Engineer, Safety Technical and
Engineering

Structure Gauging
Upholland Platform – note Pimbo Lane Bridge in background

Structure Gauging
• Pimbo Bridge Represented as a 2D slice in a text file containing survey
metadata and structure co-ordinates

Structure Gauging
• The NGD collates all structure profiles on the network into one
database

Structure Gauging
• Track Engineers then use these NGD Profiles to perform
clearance assessments of vehicles against relevant structures

Problems with current process
• Current surveying regime difficult to plan – existing equipment doesn’t capture large parts of
network
• Requirement for manual surveying of difficult areas that IM fleets do not survey – higher risk to
staff due to increased time on track surveying the “gaps”
• Current survey output is laborious to process – data can take years from collection, to post
processing, to manual checking, to final distribution to engineers in NGD
• Manual processing means large numbers of staff are required to perform extremely repetitive
tasks checking and converting output to text files – causes low morale, high turnover, and
subsequent staff retention issues
• Existing survey equipment is subject to calibration issues – our current gauging system is a
bespoke solution which has served us extremely well historically, but the skills required to
maintain it are becoming increasingly sparse as it becomes obsolescent
• It has been difficult to find replacement engineers that specialise in the maintenance of such
esoteric technologies as the existing expertise has been lost to retirement

Opportunities with New Data Sources
• Fast deployment of equipment - 15 minutes to attach to train prior to survey of required route
• Better coverage - covers the whole network – less time spent on track manually surveying
• High accuracy equipment – greater density of points surveyed
• Faster turnaround between survey collection and distribution to the industry
• Reusable data across the industry – countless other applications of the survey data
• Faster introduction of new vehicles to the network due to increased survey reliability
• Increased safety for passenger and freight due to the supply to more timely data to the maintainer
• More frequent surveying enabled by automated processing will enable accurate assessment of the movement of
track relative to structures in a way currently not feasible with existing technology
• Having more accurate records of the rate and direction of the movement of track relative to structures will
facilitate prediction and prevention of foul clearances with much greater precision

Structure Gauging
• TeraBytes of point cloud data are being
collected and stored all over the network
• Over 50% of the network is covered
• We are not using this data to its full
potential due to its shear volume
• Smarter ways of interrogating railway
point cloud data are required…

We want to go from this…
***Months/Years***

***Hours***
To this…

In summary, we want to move towards:
• Automated structure recognition
• Automated structure classification
• Automated vegetation recognition
• Automated conversion to 2D text files
• Automated updating of the NGD
• Providing accurate, real time clearance information to the engineers, allowing
• Simplified trend analysis, ultimately enabling
• A safer railway for passenger and freight
Structure Gauging

SBRI : innovation in automated survey
processing for railway structure
gauging, phase 1

SBRI : innovation in automated
survey processing for railway
structure gauging, phase 1
Briefing Event
5 December 2019
Kelvin Davies / Steve Sopp
Rail / SBRI Team, Innovate UK

Aims of Today’s Briefing
 Opportunity for Network Rail to brief on the
competition objectives
Additional
 Set out the background for this competition
 Bring the scope and guidance to life
 Opportunity for you to ask questions
 Highlight the roles of the Knowledge Transfer
Network (KTN), and Catapults in making
connections that may help you.
 Provide networking opportunities

• Organisations can apply for a share of £720k + VAT
• An extra £1.08m + VAT is available for Phase 2
• The competition is eligible to:
• organisation of any size
• project work to be carried out in the UK
• organisations should be based in the UK, EU or the EEA
• 100% funding with total project costs up to £90k + VAT for Phase 1,
and up to £360,000 plus VAT for Phase 2
• 3 month duration for Phase 1 (12 months for Phase 2)
• Development of a technological demonstrator for automated
structure gauging processing
Competition Summary
SBRI : INNOVATION IN AUTOMATED SURVEY
PROCESSING FOR RAILWAY STRUCTURE
GAUGING, PHASE 1

The objectives of the project are to replace traditional structure gauging processing with automated
methods. These will:
 identify and label existing structures correctly by comparison with the current National Gauging
Database
 identify changes to lines such as new structures or removed structures
 correctly categorise changes by structure type
Objectives

 reducing a major bottleneck in structure gauging processing
 reducing the time between processing each run on a line to be reduced from years to months
 a better understanding of the rate of movement of the track in relation to the structures over time
 more accurate prediction of the development of foul clearances
 proactive planning of maintenance and renewals
 more accurate understanding of the clearances between structure and track
 greater confidence in the data
 facilitating the introduction of new rolling stock
 reduced manual resurveying, and associated reduction in risk to staff
 increase in processing efficiency (e.g. reduced staff training)
 an improvement in the consistency of processing
Objectives

 Your organisation can work alone or, if you do not have all the required expertise, you can work
with others as subcontractors. Successful applicants will be expected to support quarterly
progress meetings held in the UK.
 Project teams must include organisations with expertise in infrastructure inspection, surveying
and measurement.
 We expect your demonstration to focus on data from an operational railway environment. If your
organisation is new to the rail sector, we would encourage you to partner with organisations with
appropriate rail experience.
Teaming Requirements

The competition objectives are :
 demonstrate innovations to Network Rail that will enhance the interpretation of
point-cloud data
 provide accurate information on the location and identity of trackside features to
enable accurate gauging clearance processing
Specific Objectives

 This is a 2 stage SBRI competition
 At the end of Phase 1 a separate application process will be applied for a
closed phase 2.
 During phase 1 teams, will demonstrate the feasibility of using their
technology for Phase 2 and train their application to identify the required
structures.
SBRI 2 Phase Competition

Phase 1 [3 months, up to £90k + VAT]
 A Feasibility phase to prove that you can:
 train the application to identify and categorise structures and vegetation
 Categorise 10 types of structure and vegetation
Phase 2: [12 months, up to £360k + VAT and covered by a separate contract]
 Development and testing phase to:
 demonstrate the application using real world data
 analyse and record structures
A decision to proceed with phase 2 will depend on the outcomes from phase 1 and an assessment
of your proposed phase 2 activity.
Objective:

For Phase 1
 Network Rail will give you point cloud data in .laz format or equivalent.
 you will be given a training set with identified structures, and a validation
and test set. Each will cover approximately 10 miles of track and contain up
to 1,000 structures.
 You will not need to collect point cloud data as this will be provided by
Network Rail.
Objectives

1May2020
KOM
Phase 1
Training
31July2020
Phase2Application
&Assessment
1September
2020
KOM
12monthreview
31August2021
3monthreview
6monthreview
9monthreview
Phase 2
Demonstration
~3 projects funded

~8 projects funded

Provisional Competition Timeline

The aim of this competition is to develop a solution for automating railway structure gauging
processing and to demonstrate this using data recorded from the live railway.
During Phase 1 you must achieve these objectives:
 Training the application to identify and categorise 10 types of structure and vegetation with
accuracy equivalent to a human.
 A supporting technical specification will be made available to organisations registering for
this competition, containing additional information on the structures.
 Record accurately with cant, curvature and clearance in 5 metre slices of point cloud to
meet the requirements of the standard structure gauging file template.
Objectives: Phase 1

Your system must be trained to identify these structures:
 crossing
 lineside furniture (miscellaneous minor structures)
 overbridge
 platform
 signal and telecommunications structures
 signal
 underbridge
 tunnel
 viaduct
 wall
Objectives: Phase 1

You must achieve these objectives
 You must analyse successive runs on the same line taken months apart. You must record
the rate and direction of movement of track relative to each structure, as well as recording
any structures added or removed.
 The success of the demonstrations will be based on their accuracy compared to current
human-centric methods. Successful demonstrations must achieve comparable or better
results than current processing methods, with the potential for cost saving and faster
processing times.
 The performance of the system will be compared to conventional manual inspections as
part of the validation. You must share the technical specification with Network Rail as part
of the deliverable report.
Objectives: Phase 2

If you are invited to phase 2 you will be given consecutive data sets of the same runs to enable
identification of changes in the structures. The competition aims to improve the accuracy and
efficiency of gauging processing.
Your project must accurately demonstrate:
 identification of existing structures by comparison with the existing National Gauging Database
 correct identification of vegetation and masonry
 repeatability and reproducibility
 reading of structure distance and track cant and curvature
 identification of changes such as removed structures and added structures
 conversion of point cloud slices into structural gauging files
Additional information will be provided upon registering for the competition.
Objectives: Phase 2

We are not funding projects that:
 cannot be successfully exploited by the rail industry to deliver benefits to rail or light-rail
organisations and their customers
 do not create a significant change in the level of innovation available in the rail industry
 are not high maturity
 have high technical risk
 are collaborations that cannot deliver an effective demonstration in a railway environment
 do not have a demonstration phase, offering the customer a chance to use and give feedback on
the innovation
 include anything that presents a risk to the operational railway or safety of workers
Projects we will not fund

Lead Organisations must:
 be an organisation of any size
 carry out its project work in the UK
 be based in the UK, EU or the EEA
Your organisation can work alone or, if you do not have all the required expertise,
you can work with others as subcontractors
Eligibility

Specific SBRI requirements:
Applications must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and
exclusively for research and development (R&D) services. 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
Eligibility

Background Information
Please also see Network Rail Challenges

Competition Opened 2 December 2019
Briefing Event 5 December 2019 London
Registration Close noon 22 January 2020
Application Close noon 29 January 2020
Interviews week commencing 9 March
Applicants Notified 20 March 2020
Contracts Awarded 17 April 2020
Projects Start 1 May 2020
Competition Dates

Competition Themes:
 SBRI: innovation in rail security surveillance analytics, phase 1
 SBRI: innovation in automated tunnel examination
 Competition Information (security analytics / tunnel examination)
 Competitions Opened : 16 September 2019
 Competitions Closed : 6 November 2019
 Budget Available : £968k / £1.5M
 Total project costs : up to £121k (£250k phase 2) / £ 350k - £500k (plus VAT)
 Competition Type : SBRI
 Project Duration : 3 months (12 months phase 2) / 12-18 months
 Projects to be Funded : 8 (2 for phase 2) / up to 3
Review of Recent Competitions delivered by InnovateUK on behalf of Network Rail

Typical Application Errors
 Incomplete application
 Inappropriate budget
 Project costs too high
 Project costs too low
 VAT to be included in costings (but is not included in the stated budgets available)
 Wrong collaborators
 Lack of evidence of being able to deliver demonstration in a railway environment
 Broken application format (must not convert format, note page limits, no figures in main application).
 Inappropriate level of maturity
 Late application
 Application submitted to the wrong competition

 Read carefully the scope document and the guidelines
(see particularly: scope documents & guidance for applicants)
 When you have finished your application, re-read these documents
 Pay attention to the expected outcomes in the priority areas
 Is there a need for your project? What’s the challenge? (business need, citizen need, technological challenge, or
market opportunity)
 Is your project within scope?
 Does it address Network Rail’s requirements?
 Why is it innovative?
 What’s the route to market?
 Take particular care not to go beyond the eligibility criteria (budget, application format, teaming requirements,
requirement for innovation)
Top Tips

Competition Information
Competition brief:
https://apply-for-innovation-
funding.service.gov.uk/competition/512/
overview
For further guidance for applicants visit:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/
competition-guidance-for-sbri-innovation-in-
automated-survey-processing-for-railway-
structure-gauging-phase-1

For questions on scope please contact
Or contact
0300 321 4357
To improve your chances of success, you can discuss your
application with the KTN
support@innovateuk.ukri.org

Applicant Briefing
5 December 2019
Kelvin Davies, Steve Sopp
Rail Team, Innovate UK

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Contents : Applicant Briefing
• SBRI Overview
• Competition eligibility criteria
• Application criteria & process
• Submitting your application & the way forward
• Q&A

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

76
SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative)
“a structured process enabling the Public Sector to engage
with innovative suppliers”
• Helping public sector fulfil objectives
Using Innovation to achieve step function improvements
• Accelerating commercialisation of ideas
Provide a route to market
• Supporting the development of innovative companies
Provide a lead customer/R&D partner
Provide funding & credibility for fund raising

77
SBRI Key Features
• Development Contracts
o 100% funded R&D (procurement contract)
o Operate under procurement rules rather than state aid rules
o UK implementation of EU pre-commercial procurement
o Deliverable based rather than hours worked or costs incurred
• Contract with Prime Supplier
o who may choose to sub contract but remains accountable
• IP generally rests with Supplier
o Certain usage rights with Public Sector – Companies are encouraged to exploit IP
and will be assessed on this basis – see draft contract for more information

79
• Open to all organisations. There is no limit on the size or type of company
• Open to companies not currently engaged in the rail sector
• Research organisations may apply, 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 your project work (demonstration activities) in the UK
Eligibility

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Note Description
Type of competition SBRI
Project composition Contract
Project Eligibility
• Organisation of any size
• Must carry out your project work in the UK
Project size (inc VAT)
• Innovation in railway platform end and edge technology, between £200k and £360k + VAT
• Automated survey processing for railway structure gauging, phase 1, up to £90k + VAT for
Phase 1 (up to £360,000 + VAT for Phase 2)
Project length
• Innovation in railway platform end and edge technology, 16 month project duration
• Automated survey processing for railway structure gauging 3 month duration for Phase 1 (12
months for Phase 2)
Application form 10 marked questions
Appendices Yes – for Section 5 & Section 8
Eligibility

82
Application Form
Appendices S5/Q1
Appendices S8/Q4
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 (including GDPR statements)

83
1.Application
• Please enter information solely on the project
2.Details of Lead Applicant Organisation
3.Contact Details
Application Form

84
Application Form
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.

85
Application Form
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

86
Application Form
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.

87
Application Form
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.

88
Application Form
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

89
Application Form
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.

90
Application Form
10. Application Finances
Please provide a summary of costs for the project. All costs
should include VAT.
•“Fair market value”
• Profit not included

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Eligible Costs (all to include VAT)
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

92
Application Form
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.

93
Application Form
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?

94
Application Form
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?

95
Application Form
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.
• Additional GDPR declarations

96
Forms Required
• Application Form (must not be converted to different format)
• Appendices - font size no smaller than 10 (Arial) in PDF format
oQ5 appendices - 2 A4 sides – pictures, diagrams, technical document
etc.
oQ8 - Gantt Chart – 2 A4 sides
• Applications must be complete
oAll mandatory information supplied to ensure eligibility

98
• 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
• Up to 2 assessors may be selected from Network Rail
Application Assessment

99
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

100
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

101
Recommendation
Recommended Would you recommend this project
for funding and if not why not?
Final Question for Assessors

102
Submitting Your Application and the Way
Forward

103
The Application Submission Process
Take your time, use all space provided
COMPLETE
documents
DOWNLOAD
documents
Don’t leave it to the last minute. Do it early!
UPLOAD
documents
On date provided
NOTIFICATION
received
Within 4 weeks of receiving your notification
FEEDBACK
received
REGISTER Via competition website
Invitation to tender

104
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.ukri.org) after your first registration for additional
unique application forms.
REGISTER

105
Public area
Click Login to access
the Secure area
DOWNLOAD
documents

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
106
Check: your application number matches
your login username number
COMPLETE
documents

107
Secure area
Enter your login details and
accept the T and Cs. Click the
Login button at the bottom.
UPLOAD
documents

108
Secure area
Click Upload and follow the on-
screen instructions.
UPLOAD
documents

109
• 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

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

111
Things to Note
 Applicants must fully complete the application form
 Any size or type of organisation is eligible
 As long as a route to market is demonstrated
 All budget values quoted exclude VAT
 VAT must be added and included in your costings
 Fair Market Value
 The contract terms and conditions are not negotiable

112
SPARK Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)
 Spark: the Technology Innovation
Marketplace to help public sector to
access new and emerging technology
products.
 uses a filter system that helps customers
find relevant suppliers.
 To register as a supplier see
https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/ag
reements/RM6094

113
For questions please contact
Or contact
0300 321 4357 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5:30pm)
To improve your chances of success, you can
discuss your application with the KTN
https://ktn.innovateuk.org
support@innovateuk.ukri.or
g

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