Commercial innovation
Working with us
We want to encourage market innovators to work with us. Whether you are a start-up or SME, a corporate, an accelerator or an investor, register your details on our innovator database so we can share relevant new innovation calls and programmes. For anything else, email us at innovation@tfl.gov.uk.
Our innovation activities
Our Innovation Programmes
We have shared some of our most complex problems with the market and asked it to come up with new solutions.
Bus Driver Fatigue & Wellbeing Innovation Challenge - accepting applications
Our Latest Innovation challenge is exploring Bus driver fatigue and wellbeing.
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Fatigue is thought to be a contributing factor for road traffic collisions in London, with 21% of surveyed London bus drivers stating that they have to fight sleepiness at least 2-3 times a week
- Health and wellbeing was highlighted as an area to build on in the UCL report commissioned by TfL looking into the death of bus drivers as a result of COVID-19
TfL and the Bus operators want to improve engagement with health promotion initiatives and uptake of interventions to manage diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disease as well addressing known issues around wellbeing for drivers.
As such, we are looking for innovative solutions that can reduce incidents of driver fatigue occurring and/or improve driver's health and wellbeing. Novel solutions which can achieve the objective and scale are to be the main focus of this innovation competition.
If you are interested in applying, please complete a short questionnaire.
Please respond by 12:00 on 8 April 2021.
If you have any difficulties in accessing the online questionnaire, please email us at Innovation@tfl.gov.uk quoting 'Bus Driver Fatigue & Wellbeing Innovation Challenge' in the subject of the email.
Tender: Visual AI Survey on the London Principal Road Network
We have issued a tender for a service provider to provide an annual Visual Artificial Intelligence-Based Carriageway Condition Survey (Visual AI Survey) across the London Borough Principal Road Network (BPRN) and the provision and storage of the survey data and other deliverables to identify and support asset investment decisions
Apply here or search the Pro Contract portal for 'Visual AI Survey on the London Principal Road Network'. Applications close by 12:00 on 8 April 2021.
Future Neighbourhoods 2030
To help support a green recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, the Mayor has launched a new funding programme called Future Neighbourhoods 2030. It aims to tackle some of London's defining environmental challenges, including the climate emergency and toxic air quality, while creating jobs, developing skills and supporting a just transition to a low carbon circular economy.
Future Neighbourhoods will be located in London's most disadvantaged and climate-vulnerable areas, or areas where residents have been most severely affected by the pandemic. £3m is being made available for the first phase of the programme. A further £4.5m is expected to be made available for the second phase, subject to further decision making and budget process.
This programme will support 2 to 4 Future Neighbourhoods to:
- Develop visionary strategies to 2030
- Implement pioneering environmental projects
The application for this programme will be a two-stage process, consisting of an Expression of Interest followed by a full application. The process remains competitive at both stages. Potential applicants can also read more about the programme in the prospectus.
Apply on the Mayor of London's website by 17:00 on 17 May 2021.
Digital Property Innovation Programme
We are looking for ways to modernise the management of its vast commercial property estate by implementing digital technologies. We want to give our tenants an effortless customer experience, making our estate an attractive community to be a part of.
To do this, we are launching the opportunity for four digital solutions to be trialled on our estate, each helping us to solve a different problem:
- Location intelligence - a tool to deepen insight on our estate using geospatial data
- Communication interface - a tool to help our tenants communicate with us, their customers, and their tenant community
- Digital keys - a solution to streamline how physical access to our units can be managed securely and efficiently
- Affordability calculator - a tool to help our prospective tenants better understand which spaces are affordable for their business
To understand the interest and capability of the innovator market, we are launching a Market Sounding Questionnaire (MSQ) for each project. The best solutions will be trialled on a portion of our property estate, and expanded across our portfolio if successful. Innovators interested in these opportunities should contact Paul at pauldevine@tfl.gov.uk. Deadlines are:
- Location Intelligence - 12:00, 8 March
- Communication Interface - 12:00, 8 March
- Digital Keys - 12:00, 22 March
- Affordability calculator - 12:00, 24 March
London FreightLab
In collaboration with the Mayor's Civic Innovation Challenge, we launched London FreightLab to collaborate with market innovators to develop new ways of tackling some of the biggest issues associated with freight and servicing in London.
During the pilot stage, London FreightLab offers funding, land sites and subject matter expertise for up to six innovative ideas which aim to make the way goods move around London safer, cleaner and more efficient. These initiatives could be further developed and tested in later phases of the challenge. We have chosen six companies who will be taking part in our London FreightLab challenge, working alongside leading industry Partners.
These companies are set to be awarded £20,000 each to develop their ideas, to help tackle the congestion caused by freight deliveries in the capital:
The winners are:
- AppyWay, which exists to help cities with digital kerbside management
- EMSOL, who work with organisations to help them take steps to reduce air and noise pollution caused by transport
- ENSO Tyres, who are looking to disrupt the tyre industry by developing a new generation of more energy efficient tyres for electric vehicles
- Fernhay Partners, who have developed a freight delivery solution utilised last mile delivery methods such as e-bikes and walkers
- Ford Mobility, who have a software platform to make deliveries more efficient by connecting van drivers with last mile couriers on foot or on bike
- Humanising Autonomy, who have developed behavioural analysis for accident and near-miss prevention to increase the safety of vulnerable road users
Applications for innovators have now closed.
Bus Safety Innovation Challenge
A key part of our Vision Zero programme is tackling safety on the bus network. The Bus Safety Innovation Challenge seeks to identify new, innovative products and solutions to improve the safety of our buses.
The cohort which has been selected to partner with bus operators to develop and trial their solutions are:
- Humanising Autonomy
- Fusion Processing
- JBDL - Vehicle Avoidance Lateral Lights
- Datik
- Lytx
For more information visit the Bus Safety Innovation Challenge website.
Connected Retail London
The Connected Retail London competition challenged businesses to come up with an innovative technical concept that reimagines physical retail space to meet the needs of our customers.
From 29 entries and 10 shortlisted concepts, we picked Sook as the winner. Sook's technology allows businesses and individuals to have a physical space as and when they need it. With time slots as short as one hour, Sook enables tailored retail space and encourages retailers to create their own digital interior.
For more information, visit the Connected Retail London website.
London RoadLab
For our first open innovation programme, London RoadLab, we partnered with utilities, London councils and Plexal, an innovation centre based in Here East at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. It aims to reduce the adverse impact of roadworks.
The cohort:
Following 10 weeks of co-development with us, the cohort developed some great innovations and we're excited to announce Immense Simulations, Mobilized Construction, Route Reports and SAM as winners.
Winners of the TfL challenges, Go Jauntly, VU.CITY and Crossmap at the awards
Mayor's Civic Innovation Challenge
In 2018, we worked with the Mayor's Office on the inaugural Civic Innovation Challenge. The challenge looked for start-ups to develop ways to reduce inequality, prevent climate change and support London's ageing population.
The winners were each given £15,000 to jointly test and refine their ideas. We're now working with Go Jauntly to encourage more leisure time walking, and with VU.CITY and Crossmap to use our data to develop a housing analytics and visualisation platform.
Our Innovation Partnerships
We partner with large corporates with notable R&D capabilities and a focus on London mobility to develop new products and services that deliver against our objectives in the Mayor's Transport Strategy.
London Connectory
We trialled a 20-month partnership with Bosch to give small businesses and start-ups the opportunity to work with renowned experts and use cutting-edge data to tackle crucial transport challenges in London.
Working with Nitrous (a platform facilitating projects between the private sector, start ups and government), Bosch opened a new 'Connectory' facility in Shoreditch, providing space and facilities for us and selected start-ups to work alongside Bosch's experts as well as private, academic and public sector partners.
The London Connectory focused on London's urban mobility challenges, including innovations that mean more efficient, greener and safer vehicles, reducing congestion, improving accessibility and encouraging more people to walk, cycle and take public transport.
We provided technical knowledge and a wide range of datasets, leveraging our Unified API and open data products, to allow companies to trial new products. In return, Bosch dedicated professionals to provide technical expertise, guidance and mentoring.
Waze
Getting the latest traffic information direct to drivers when and where they want it is crucial to avoiding delays and minimising congestion in the city.
In 2016, we joined Waze's global Connected Citizens Program which enables us to share our data with Waze and receive their real time incident data in exchange. Our partnership means that London's road users have accurate information to plan their journeys and opens up Waze's valuable real time data to help us manage London's busy road network.
Our partnership has grown and developed over the years as we've worked together to deliver a range of benefits to Londonners. In 2017, we used their platform to remind drivers approaching the Blackwall Tunnel to refuel before entering the tunnel. As a result, we saw a significant increase in Waze users re-routing to nearby petrol stations, reducing the risk of breakdowns in the tunnel from lack of fuel.
What3Words
We have been working with What3Words to explore possible use cases for using their innovative geocode system to communicate locations. Our Compliance, Policing and On-Street Operations (CPOS) Officers are trialling What3Words to identify precise locations during their everyday operations.
We're always on the lookout for partnerships that will help us continue our drive for innovation and customer empowerment, and we'd encourage any companies or organisations who are keen to work with us to get in touch to explore the possibilities.