i3P involved in diverse initiatives from removing graffiti to a tunnelling competition

i3P is a community of client and supply chain organisations in the infrastructure and construction sectors and it is often involved varied opportunities and initiatives.  Two of the latest are Elon Musk’s international tunnelling competition and the development of technology that could remove and/or prevent graffiti.

i3P is supporting ‘The Warwick Boring Team’ in Elon Musk’s Boring Company’s tunnelling competition this summer. The team is heading to LA to compete, building their prototype tunnelling machine, demonstrating its ability to build 30m long and 500mm wide tunnels and testing it against competitors from other top universities and industry tunnelling professionals.

Current tunnelling systems are 14x times slower than a snail and cost from $100m-$1bn, therefore the race to make tunnels faster and cheaper is really picking up and the competitors will be evaluated on speed.

Warwick Boring team is supported by several industry experts as well as university academics. Team members are STEM students, from various fields including mechanical, electrical, system engineering, physics and mathematics.

Highways England competition

Tunnels and graffiti are not the most unlikely bedfellows, but this competition is to combat graffiti on the road network.  An initiative from i3P member Highways England is support for the development of technology that could remove and/or prevent graffiti on the strategic road network and reduce the disruption that removing graffiti causes.

Highways England is offering funding of up to £30k to commercial organisations and universities who are developing technologies that could contribute to this agenda. These could include;

• Behaviour detection and analysis
• Solutions to reduce disruption to the road network while maintenance work is being carried out
• Visual deterrents
• Surveillance and CCTV
• Removable green walls
• Anti-graffiti coatings and paint
• Asset management solutions

If you would like to submit an application, click here.

The deadline for submitting applications has been extended to midnight on 27th June 2021.

About i3P

i3P is a community of client and supply chain organisations that have made a commitment to delivering collaborative innovation through projects supported by a large network of experts, innovators and world leading industry knowledge that will drive the future transformation of the infrastructure and construction industry.

KTN facilitates the secretariat and management of i3P, tapping into its broad network of diverse industries and knowledge management.