DfT publishes Science, Innovation and Technology Plan 2025

by Kevin Borras

A new policy paper has set out the role of science, innovation and technology within the Department for Transport. The plan outlines how DfT will ‘enhance the visibility and effective use of science, innovation and technology across DfT, transport agencies and arm’s length bodies’.

The plan’s purpose is to:

Outline how DfT will use science, innovation and technology to support its work and policies
Help staff understand how science, innovation and technology are used and supported
Show partners in industry and academia how they can collaborate with DfT to support innovation in transport
Demonstrate how science, innovation and technology activities will play a central role in achieving DfT’s outcomes, ambitions and aims

This plan replaces the DfT 2021 science plan.

Of particular interest to Highways News readers is the section headed ‘Driving Adoption and Delivering Impact’.

“The UK has a dynamic transport innovation marketplace, which has established mechanisms to accelerate the development, assessment and adoption of innovation (both products and services) into business-as-usual activities. DfT works with international partners, industry and academia to accelerate impactful innovation, using its influence, buying power, regulations and standards to promote market confidence and investment.

“Within the next 3 years, we will have:
• Influenced the market conditions, through the use of regulations, guidance, data and standards to drive the development and adoption of impactful innovation within the key areas of the transport systems, such as automated vehicles and drones.
• Used DfT and its ALBs combined buying power to drive the adoption of cross modal innovation and influence the market to invest in impactful innovation.
• Clearly demonstrated in numbers and examples DfT’s pivotal role in supporting the marketplace, guiding an active dialogue about opportunities and challenges, and leading UK innovators to achieve significant advancements in future transport systems.
• Identified a mature pathway for transport innovation for the sector, ALBs and the department, which allows the best innovations to move through the Technology Readiness Levels at pace.
• Established processes to scale, trial, and pilot early-scale technologies, accelerating progress towards clear outcomes for the transport system at both national and local levels, while mitigating risks and ensuring that technologies realise the benefits they were designed to deliver.
• Ensured the continuation of a key part of DfT’s security assurance by refreshing a National Capability Testing Facility.

Actions in the first year will include:
• Strengthening relationships between DfT and the commercial sector to foster better collaboration and understand and address barriers to the adoption and scaling of impactful innovation in the real world.
• Creating a community of practice between DfT and its ALBs to share knowledge and experience in both innovation management and monitoring and evaluation of the impacts of innovation.
• Collaborating with Arm’s Length Bodies and partners through the Transport Research and Innovation Board to identify and publish common priorities.
• Develop a shared programme of investment to tackle joint R&D challenges and barriers to innovation. 32 DfT Science, Innovation and Technology Plan 2025
• A targeted investment programme to support the scaling of innovative small businesses in the infrastructure sector and the translation of research into practice.
• Sharing lessons learned and best practice for the delivery of large innovation programmes and demonstrators to shape future investment. • Understanding that impact from innovation takes years to emerge, creating and reporting on a set of metrics to determine and demonstrate DfT’s impact on sector growth and technology adoption, and what further steps DfT can take to accelerate scaling and adoption of innovation.”