Vans

The fund, a government programme funded by the Department for Transport (DfT) and delivered by Connected Places Catapult, supports small and medium-sized enterprise to trial and adopt innovative, commercially ready solutions to make freight greener and more efficient.

The 15 projects will receive a share of the £150,000 funding to design a real-world trial plan to address specific challenges that their businesses currently face. This will include testing their technologies in real-world settings and addressing challenges like data sharing, load disaggregation and intermodal hub design.

The winning projects are all aimed at improving the way that logistics businesses operate, with many focussing on the challenges faced by van operators. Zizo, a specialist data analytics company, has been awarded funding to develop its Confluence platform, which combines its award winning technology with AI capabilities, to provide van operators with  access to data to allow clients to drive improvements in decarbonisation, improve operational efficiency and develop new products and services. Meanwhile, Anteam has been selected to expand its AI tool for fleet operators which identifies empty journeys and optimises loads to reduce the miles travelled, thus helping to reduce carbon emission and improve the efficiency of deliveries.

For more information about the Fund and the projects awarded funding, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freight-innovation-fund-winning-projects/freight-innovation-fund-fourth-round-winning-projects