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Cities integrated by design

Innovate UK is to invest up to £800,000 in technical feasibility studies that explore the operational and financial feasibility of integrating planned new or retrofit infrastructure projects into other urban systems in a beneficial way.

Infrastructure projects traditionally find it difficult to look beyond their own system – usually because integration into other systems is not seen as being critical to the success of a project. Yet, integration of infrastructure systems is a significant commercial opportunity. This competition seeks to take advantage of existing investment in major infrastructure projects to test out new concepts in integration across city systems, which create long-term success and maximise value for all stakeholders.

Projects must be led by a business and be collaborative. Small businesses could receive up to 70% of their eligible project costs, medium-sized businesses 60% and large businesses 50%.

We expect projects to last 9 to 12 months and to range in size from total costs of £50,000 to £75,000, although we may consider projects outside this range.

This competition will fund technical feasibility studies that demonstrate the business case for integrating infrastructure projects into other urban systems. The purpose of these studies is not to implement the projects, but to give project teams the resources they need to collaborate with stakeholders in a facilitated process to find new technical and business model solutions. See the full competition brief for more information.