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Innovation, Technology UK - 2015 PDF
Innovation, Technology UK - 2015 PDF
Why innovate?
Innovation will support our strategic objectives The Innovation Designated Fund, which provides
and create value for customers and stakeholders. £150 million for innovation capital projects
Innovation will also be critical in helping us meet between now and 2021, will deliver a step change
the economic, environmental and efficiency in how we demonstrate and implement emerging
challenges we will face in our changing world over technologies, new materials, and ways of working.
the next 25 years.
Our vision is that no one should
be harmed when travelling or
working on the SRN
Safety
cy
Ca
pacit
vi
innovations as we
40
2019/20 progress through
35
2018/19 the funding period
30 2017/18 2020/21 from 2015 to 2021. £5m
25 Safety
20
15
10 2016/17
5
A number of specific activities will support the
0 2015/16
planned and future innovation projects, including:
RP1 RP2
Financial Year
Exploring the creation of a Test and Innovation
� Innovation Designated Fund (capital spend) Centre, which would provide a safe (off road)
environment to test and develop new highway
Initial projects to be funded include: technology solutions.
The first motorway to motorway traffic Seeking to use smart motorways to test
management scheme, to improve journeys for innovations and prepare them for connected
our customers. vehicles, for example trialling radar technology
to detect stationary vehicles in live lanes.
Testing tunnel detection systems in the
Hindhead tunnel contributing to improved safety Other Designated Funds will also support
in these environments. innovation including the:
For Highways England, innovation means the application of a new process or product that benefits
our customers and stakeholders. To maximise those benefits we will work to ensure we
have the right processes and culture to support innovation. We want our staff
and our external stakeholders to see us as an organisation that
can make innovation happen.
The safety and welfare of all those who use, work We will radically improve the experience of
on, or are indirectly impacted by the road network, road users to achieve the highest levels of user
is our priority and is at the core of everything we satisfaction. We will keep abreast of the changing
do. We aspire to reduce the number of people technology landscape and actively seek new
killed or injured on the network as close as possible opportunities to deliver better information to our
to zero by 2040. customers over new and emerging channels.
All this work to improve the way we gather and We will continue to capture and share continuous
use information about our assets will support our improvements to construction and material technology,
ability to manage the associated risks to safety, with a particular focus on the pavement and
serviceability, availability and environmental improvements to extend the life of the road surface.
outcomes. This will strengthen our collaboration
Our speed of capital delivery will increase through
with others to deliver a resilient national
the use of lean techniques, modular construction
infrastructure system.
and building information modelling, and the
development and definition of a common data
6. Supporting the smooth flow of traffic environment for highways.
We are already supporting platooning and We have talked to our existing supply chain through
connected vehicle trials on our network to help us our Engagement Council, and we know that our
plan and prepare for the introduction of new vehicle suppliers can be better incentivised to deliver to
technologies. We will use these trials to ensure quality, time and budget through new types of
we are providing the necessary infrastructure and contracts, clear instructions, improved partnering
technology to support the vehicles of the future. This and predictable work flow.
has the potential to bring dramatic improvements to
network capacity and the management of traffic.
8. Helping cyclists, walkers and other
vulnerable users of the network
There is huge potential to use “Big data” (the By looking at how innovative technologies, or new
massive volumes of data we now own and road and junction design approaches, can be
can access) to improve our understanding of employed, we will ensure that we are a considerate
customers’ expectations. We can draw valuable neighbour and make the minimum impact on the
communities our network serves.
insights from monitoring social media, or analysing
and understanding travel patterns better. By Other options such as walking and cycling shall be
making smarter use of this data we can ensure we made available on appropriate routes, and we will
make the right decisions about the services we make it easier and safer to access and cross
the network.
deliver and how we invest in our network.
A prime example of break-through innovation is Robust systems for governance and decision
future-proofing the network for connected and making will be put in place. Adopting a stage
autonomous vehicle technologies, which could gate process around the lifecycle for innovation,
unlock major safety, traffic flow, environmental as illustrated below, will allow us to monitor and
and economic benefits. mitigate risks.
Timescales
While many innovations and technologies will improvements resulting from ultra-low emission
deliver short-term benefits, some will take longer to vehicles, or safety benefits of autonomous vehicles.
realise large-scale benefits - for example, air quality We will consider innovation activities across three
time periods.
Year
2015 2020 2030 2040
This strategy for innovation will be refreshed at the beginning of the next road period (2020).
Next steps
Implementation Plan
Innovation Strategy Innovation Delivered
� The “How”
� The “Why” and “What” � Implementation of
� Sets out the steps that the Innovation Strategy
� Sets out the ambition need to be undertaken and Plan
to realise this ambition
Innovation is about people working together to create value by implementing good ideas
and new ways of thinking. Please contact:
info@highwaysengland.co.uk
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