Local Authority Transport Decarbonisation Accelerator 2024

The Local Authority Transport Decarbonisation Accelerator programme is dedicated to supporting both small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and local areas to meet the opportunities and challenges of place-based net zero commitments.  It is being powered by Connected Places Catapult between September 2024 and March 2025, and is being run in collaboration with the following Local Authorities (LAs) and Subnational Transport Body (STB):

• Adur & Worthing Councils
• Cardiff County Council
• England’s Economic Heartland

The three partners have each developed a specific place-based challenge. Supported by Connected Places Catapult, up to 2 SMEs will be selected to work collaboratively with each partner, gaining critical insights which will enable them to refine their solutions to address the proposed place-based challenges. SMEs will be selected based on the strength of their solution’s challenge alignment, and not necessarily their geographical proximity to the partner.

Upon assessing the SME’s individual commercial needs, Connected Places Catapult will design a bespoke programme of commercial support focused on public sector integration. This may include:

• market analysis and validation
• refinement/development of specific use cases
• support to create and refine business models
• commercial strategies and communications adapted to public procurement
• development of ‘Go-To Market’ strategies
• introductions to potential LA and transport authority customers and/or investors.

The accelerator challenges and eligibility criteria can be found below.

Challenge 1: Adur and Worthing Councils – Decarbonisation of refuse collection vehicles

Adur & Worthing Councils are looking for innovative solutions that could help:

• Provide long term solutions to decarbonise refuse collection vehicles;
• Electrify the Councils’ existing internal combustion engine (ICE) refuse collection fleet;
• The councils to understand the lifespan costs of re-powered solutions.

Challenge 2: Cardiff Council – Incentivising the transition of taxis to EV

Incentivising the adoption of EVs by the current fleet of hackney carriages/taxis and/or providing a greater range of options to aid transition and to counter the major perceived barriers of affordability, suitability of available EVs (including range anxiety) and vehicle accessibility. Cardiff Council is looking for innovative solutions such as (but not limited to):

• Leaseback schemes (run by the council or from the market)
• Innovative investment structures
• Car sharing solutions
• Market advantage for EVs (e.g. increased income from EV service)
• EV range extension options/services
• Lease or insurance schemes to de-risk premature battery failure

Challenge 3: England’s Economic Heartland – Understanding the impact of local transport policy changes

Understanding the impact of implemented transport decarbonisation policies in a timelier way on residents’ transport choices (such as journey patterns, modes and behaviours), in terms of residents’ sentiments, and on environmental factors (such as air quality and noise pollution).

EEH is looking for innovative solutions that could help to:

• Streamline the feedback loop between policy implementation and policy impact on the listed measures above;
• Allow data to be used in a compelling way to communicate its story and influence policy makers;
• Identify and integrate novel and rich data sources in a cost-effective way

These are not exhaustive list, and all three councils would be interested in hearing about any solutions that will help to solve their challenge.

Eligibility

To be eligible, applicants must:

• be a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
• have a registered office inside the UK
• have a solution which addresses one or more of the identified challenges
• have a solution at technology readiness level (TRL) 7 or above. This equates to a minimum requirement of the solution having completed a technology prototype demonstration in an operational environment and/or having qualified the actual technology through successful mission operations
• be willing to travel on occasion for face-to-face meetings (but most of the programme will be conducted virtually)

Application Support Webinar

Connected Places Catapult will host an Application Support Webinar on 21 August, from 14:00-15:00. This event will give applicants the opportunity to find out more about the programme offering, challenges, the application process, scoring criteria and the assessment process. There will also be a live Q&A for prospective applicants to ask any further questions or check their eligibility. Register here.