Three AI Transport Innovators Secure Further Funding from Connected Places Catapult

Connected Places Catapult has announced three organisations developing AI-powered transport technologies have secured additional funding to advance their business cases.

The small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were selected as part of the ‘Smarter Transport Systems – AI in Transport’ competition, delivered by the Catapult and funded by the Department for Transport.

The initiative aims to harness the potential of artificial intelligence to digitalise and better integrate transport systems across the UK. The selected companies recently showcased their innovations at the Connected Places Summit in London, presenting to industry stakeholders and potential partners.

Selected companies and innovations:

• KIGO – Developing the School-Run Optimiser, an AI-powered mobility platform designed to help schools and local authorities optimise school travel, promote walking and cycling, and enable safer shared journeys.

• MoniRail – Delivering a predictive maintenance system for railway tracks, using data collected from in-service trains combined with AI to forecast track degradation.

• Trackbase – Applying Bayesian statistical AI models to assess rail asset condition, enabling early identification of potential failures before they impact services.

Each company will receive £13,000 in additional funding, along with support from Connected Places Catapult to refine their business cases and engage with prospective clients.

The competition attracted strong interest, with 83 applications submitted, of which 23 organisations were shortlisted. Shortlisted participants initially received £1,000 to develop use case proposals across a range of areas, including predictive maintenance, infrastructure intelligence, climate risk modelling and operational optimisation.

The final three were selected following a pitch event earlier this month, where eight companies presented their solutions to a panel of judges including Transport Minister Lilian Greenwood MP, Annette Pass from the Department for Transport, Justin Anderson of Connected Places Catapult, and Vaibhav Puri OBE from the Rail Safety & Standards Board.

Erika Lewis, CEO of Connected Places Catapult, said the programme highlights the growing importance of AI in the transport sector:

“AI is one of the greatest economic opportunities of this decade. The data and AI economy will unlock new transport markets, boost productivity, and create high-value jobs across the UK.

“Smarter, data-driven systems will cut costs, improve performance, and accelerate growth for the wider economy. At Connected Places Catapult, we’re committed to helping UK businesses harness AI’s full potential to create and scale solutions that deliver real economic impact.”

The funding marks a further step in supporting innovation across the UK transport sector, with a focus on improving efficiency, safety and sustainability through advanced data and AI technologies.