National Highways has launched a competition to find ‘innovative’ solutions for net zero carbon maintenance and construction, with up to £110,000 available to successful entrants.
The government-owned company has pledged to cut emissions from its maintenance and construction activities to net zero by 2040 and said that a number of ‘intriguing challenges’ have been set as part of the National Highways Accelerating Low Carbon Innovation Programme.
Competition winners could receive £30,000 to create a detailed trial proposal to test their idea on the road network and a further £80,000 to make their plan a reality. National Highways has teamed up with Connected Places Catapult for the competition, which it said is worth £1.7m including delivery costs for the programme.
Roads development director Dr Joanna White said: ‘We want to speed up innovation within our sector and adopt new solutions. The innovation accelerator will help take potential solutions and drive them through the research and testing phases.’
National Highways said the aim of the competition is to reach a wider pool of innovators, exploring the innovation potential outside of its existing supply chain.
The competition is open to entries until midnight on 30 April and involves two phases.
In phase 1, up to 10 SMEs will be awarded between £15,000 and £30,000 to develop trial proposals in collaboration with National Highways and its Tier 1 suppliers.
In phase 2, further funding up to £80,000 will be provided to support a selected number of these organisations. On offer to successful entries will be pitch coaching, marketing strategy and investment support, as well as trial design training, deployment support, trial monitoring and evaluation, plus a demonstration day for investors, industry and potential customers and 10 months’ tailored business support.
The challenges
Challenge 1 is for alternative materials. National Highways said it wants to reduce its emissions from cement, concrete, asphalt and steel by developing or applying alternative materials and techniques. Options should reduce emissions by 50% or more, compared to materials used today, and should be usable for a large proportion of all applications including major projects and renewal schemes.
Challenge 2 covers decision-making enablers for asset management and whole life value of assets and recognises that as new build activities reduce over the coming years, maintenance and renewals of highway assets will form an increasingly important part of asset management.
Challenge 3 is headed ‘Enablers for the circular economy in construction and maintenance of highway assets’. National Highways said it is interested in innovations that can contribute to reusing, redeploying and recycling materials and assets in construction, especially those not recycled consistently to their highest value today.
National Highways said that under 'Open Challenge' it is also open to additional innovative ideas that can contribute to its 2040 target.
