Contracts for Innovation offers 100% funding to a single legal entity to help develop their proposed solution. Working with the public sector, organisations are able to access opportunities and build relationships that would otherwise be unavailable to them.

Competitions are open to all types and sizes of organisation, including businesses of any size, academic and research organisations and not-for-profits and charities.

Proposed solutions should be capable of:

• Integrating and analysing multiple data sources including visitor footfall, traffic flows, bookings, weather data, seasonal trends and other relevant datasets.
• Bringing together fragmented datasets to generate destination-wide operational intelligence.
• Providing predictive insights that enable destination managers to anticipate visitor demand, identify emerging pressures and understand the factors driving visitor behaviour.
• Supporting more effective operational planning, resource deployment and management of visitor services.
• Informing strategic decisions relating to destination development, infrastructure investment and long-term sustainability.

Desired Outcomes

Successful proposals should demonstrate the potential to:

• Identify, capture where appropriate, integrate and analyse data from multiple sources while ensuring full compliance with GDPR and data protection requirements.
• Deliver proof-of-concept solutions that demonstrate robust forecasting and predictive analytics capabilities.
• Provide actionable dashboards, visualisations and real-time alerts that support operational decision-making.
• Enable the forecasting of visitor demand, identification of congestion hotspots and optimisation of staffing and resource allocation.
• Operate effectively within the complex woodland and heritage environment of Castlewellan Forest Park while protecting sensitive habitats, biodiversity and the visitor experience.
• Generate evidence-based insights to support future destination planning, infrastructure investment and service improvement.
• Demonstrate a scalable approach that could be applied across other visitor destinations and tourism assets managed by local authorities.

What Success Could Look Like

While suppliers are encouraged to propose innovative and varied approaches, successful solutions may demonstrate the ability to:

• Predict visitor demand days or weeks in advance.
• Inform staffing, maintenance and operational planning decisions.
• Identify emerging congestion hotspots before they impact visitor experience.
• Support traffic management and visitor flow interventions.
• Optimise the deployment of staff, resources and visitor services.
• Provide real-time and predictive dashboards to support decision-makers.
• Enable evidence-based planning and future investment decisions.
• Enhance the sustainability, efficiency and resilience of destination management operations.

Total Project budget for funding is £640k. The R&D competition stage will be delivered in two phases:

Development Phase (Feb-May 2027)

Up to five suppliers will receive up to £50,000 (exc. VAT) each to develop a proof of concept.

Build Phase (Jun-Nov 2027)

It is anticipated that up to three suppliers will receive up to £130,000 each to further develop and refine their solutions.

The successful shortlisted supplier(s) from Stage 3  (Build Stage) may be appointed to a call off framework for all named Councils (as per the tender notice) to buy products/services from.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (NMDDC) will hold an information session for this competition on Wednesday 18 November 2026, 11am-noon. Click here to register for a place. The briefing will not be recorded but slides will be available afterwards.