SBRI: Accessible solutions for disrupted journeys

To lead a project, you can:

• be an organisation of any size
• work alone or with the subcontracted skills and expertise of others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations, or the third sector (charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups)

Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only. Subcontractors can be used, where justified, but only for specialist skills. The majority of the project work and key deliverables must be the responsibility of the applicant and be carried out in the UK.

Projects must:

• have costs of no more than £250,000, inclusive of VAT
• start on 1 June 2024
• end by 31 March 2025
• have a maximum duration of 10 months
• deliver user engagement throughout the duration of the project

Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design. R&D can also include prototyping and field-testing the product or service. This lets you incorporate the results of your exploration and design and demonstrate that you can produce in quantity to acceptable quality standards.

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

The aim of the competition is to develop an accessible and inclusive focussed solution, physical or digital, to support transport users when a journey is disrupted.

Your solution will provide an alternative option when a journey is disrupted, for users who may experience difficulties accessing and using the UK’s transport networks. It will enable them to continue their journeys in a safe and comfortable way.

We encourage solutions which can be used across multiple transportation modes or throughout the whole, door-to-door, journey.

Your project must:

• develop a solution which can provide a near-instant request or application, be used in real-time, or be a pre-emptive solution
• develop the solution with a targeted accessibility, or inclusivity perspective embedded within it
• consider how the proposed solution will benefit or impact other aspects of accessibility and inclusivity
• identify how you will engage with the target user group for the duration of the project, in order to provide feedback
• state whether your solution will be used for single or multiple transportation modes
• detail how the solution complies with UK accessibility standards, guidance and legislation, if required

Your project can:

• consider a national or local approach
• propose how your solution can be used on multiple transportation modes or adopted across the whole journey

Contracts will be given to successful applicants.

You must demonstrate a credible and practical route to market, so your application must include a plan to commercialise your results.

Your project can focus on one or more of the following:

• people with physical disabilities
• people with mental health conditions
• people with learning disabilities
• people who are neurodiverse
• age inclusion
• personal safety
• gender inclusion
• people with caring responsibilities
• access and inclusion for other barriers

You must explain which transport modes your proposed idea or technology will be adaptable for.

An online briefing was held on Wednesday 21 February: click here to watch the recording.

If you want help to find an organisation to work with, contact the Innovate UK Business Connect Transport team.