Open call: Driving a more sustainable transport network

Sunderland City Council is working with Digital Catapult to find a talented partner to drive forward their ambitious Transport Challenge. There’s £10,000 on offer to the successful solution provider – find out more about getting involved below.

What is the Transport Challenge?

The focus of the Transport Challenge is to consider how innovative technologies can help Sunderland to better understand travel choices and mobility patterns to influence behaviour towards more sustainable transport modes.

Currently blazing a trail as digital leaders in the UK, Sunderland has carved a strong reputation for digital transformation and is committed to leveraging the power of technology to continue to augment its standing as a great place to live, work and invest.

Aligned to their ambitious Smart City vision, a modern, accessible transport system is a key component to realise full potential of technology to inform future decisions and improvements across the city, and this challenge has an important role to play in its delivery.

The Transport Challenge is offering £10,000 to one company for a 3–4-month Proof of Concept (PoC) with the goal of trialling the solution with a selected user group of employees.

For this unique challenge, the Digital Catapult and the council are looking to join forces with the UK’s leading start-ups and medium sized companies. Successful applicants will need to work closely with the council’s Transport team and develop an intelligent and interactive data collection and analysis solution that can help understand users’ behaviour, the reasons behind residents’ transport choices and the influence of external factors such as traffic, weather or air pollution. The outputs of which will further support the council in developing interventions and future planning.

Why get involved?

A successful trial could potentially lead to a longer engagement with the council. This Transport Challenge presents many opportunities for businesses to showcase their expertise and raise their profile, whilst making a difference to the city, its residents and business community.

• Opportunity for up to six applicants to pitch their solutions to the Transport team at Sunderland City Council
• Opportunity for one company to progress to the PoC phase to trial their solution in Sunderland
• £10,000 on offer to the successful company selected for the PoC trial
• Showcase solutions in December 2021 at an advanced digital technology event in London
• Raise company profile by gaining valuable presence on Digital Catapult social platforms
• Gain commercially valuable feedback from Sunderland City Council about the viability of the solution
• Gain an understanding of the problems faced by the public sector and apply your solutions to real-world challenges

Who should apply?

Innovative start-ups and scale-ups who have experience in the fields of data collection using advanced digital technologies, data analysis and machine learning, user-experience and interactive design, and gamification.

Next steps

If you’re an innovative start-up or medium-sized business, find out more and register your interest before Monday 16^th August here.