Freight Innovation Fund drives invention

Michelle Gardner, Deputy Director – Policy at Logistics UK, reflects on the Freight Innovation Fund and how it helps spur advancements in green transportation

The government recently announced the latest tranche of projects as part of the Freight Innovation Accelerator and, with funding for the programme currently scheduled to end in the next few months, it is critical that the new government chooses to continue it into the next spending period, beyond March 2025.
 
The fund was first announced in The Future of Freight in 2022 and committed £7 million of government investment over three years to support the innovation and decarbonisation in the freight sector. Since then, almost 30 businesses have been successful in securing support to develop and trial their creative solutions in real-world environments, with those implemented including drone delivery services, digital twinning and technology to reduce particulate matter emissions from HGVs and buses.
 
The novel structure of the funding programme uses logistics companies as test beds which has been critical to its success and sign posts the direction future funding programmes for our sector should take. By recognising the value logistics businesses can offer by providing the test environment, it allows tech companies to develop their solutions in operational situations while minimising the financial burden on the logistics sector. Demonstrating their solutions work, has helped the businesses from the first year of the Freight Innovation Fund raise £97 million in additional funding.
 
The success of the Freight Innovation Fund shows that the government should extend the mechanic of using logistics companies as test beds into other areas of funding and specifically for the next phase of government-backed autonomous vehicle trials. Moving away from an investment match-funding model removes the risk for the logistics sector, when margins are notoriously narrow, while providing the real-world testing environment that manufacturers and technology companies need to prove the viability of their solutions.
 
The logistics sector is already making progress on its decarbonisation journey but initiatives such as the Freight Innovation Fund help ensure that innovation and technology is part of the solution in help driving a fair transition to a green economy. The Freight Innovation Fund has shown that a well-structured partnership approach works, and it is critical that it continues to be funded by the government in the next spending period.