The Freight Innovation Fund (FIF) will be available to up to 36 SMEs, who will work with industry leaders to develop innovative solutions for more efficient, resilient, and environmentally friendly freight transportation.
The fund aims to help SMEs test and implement new technologies and processes that can improve efficiency and reduce emissions across the sector, including through the optimisation of container organisation and the improvement of connections between different modes of transport.
Roads Minister Richard Holden said: “Our freight industry is vital to underpinning the economy and keeps Britain moving, so it is crucial we invest in new innovations to make it greener and quicker.
“This fund will accelerate new ideas and technologies, helping to develop a future pipeline of innovations that can be rolled out to create jobs and allow everyone to get their goods faster and easier.”
The innovation fund was announced last year within the government’s Future of Freight plan, the first-ever cross-modal and cross-government plan for the UK freight transport sector. The Future of Freight plan targets the five priorities for the freight sector identified in the plan, including being cost-efficient, reliable, resilient, environmentally sustainable, and valued by society.
Working to bolster the capacity of the freight network – for example, to anticipate, absorb, resist or avoid disruption and quickly recover from disruption when it does occur – can increase the resilience of supply chains across the country for a wide variety of industries.
The fund will look to support ideas and tech addressing, in particular, three long-standing issues in the freight sector.
Previous technologies supported include:
The fund will delivered by Connected Places Catapult, who will give SMEs access to technical and business support from the organisation.
Nicola Yates OBE, CEO at Connected Places Catapult, said: “Each year in the UK, we transport 1.6 billion tonnes of freight using many different modes of transport, and it has never been quicker or easier. The freight sector makes a huge contribution to our economy and contributes significantly to domestic carbon emissions.
"We are delighted to be working with Department for Transport to launch this freight innovation fund as part of their future of freight strategy. The fund will help us to work with innovators and industry partners to develop a pipeline of technology and data innovations that will tackle the freight sector’s emerging needs, ensuring that resilience, efficiency and carbon reduction are core to the sector’s future.
“SMEs will benefit from a freight innovation fund accelerator, which will provide bespoke business support to innovators to help them access private investment, as well as a freight innovation cluster, a community of innovators within the freight industry that hosts regular networking events and activities.”
The recently appointed Director General of the British International Freight Association, Stephen Parker, said:
"One consequence of Brexit and the pandemic has been the spotlight that it has placed on the importance of freight and logistics on the health of the nation’s economy. So, we welcome the Road Minister's and the Government's further recognition of the vital role that the freight industry plays in underpinning the economy and keeping Britain's trade moving.
"BIFA members face requests from their clients to demonstrate how they are incorporating environmentally-focused policies into their business activities.
"So, any initiative that may help make the movement of freight more efficient, resilient and greener, is also welcomed by BIFA's members that manage the physical supply chains of so many companies trading to and from the UK; as well as the domestic market.
"BIFA hopes that £7 million shared by up to 36 small and medium-sized enterprises will be enough to help them work with industry-leading companies to develop new technology and working practices that enable efficiencies to be developed, which help to reduce emissions across the sector."