21.03.13
EIT innovation competition launches for rail
£1m funding is available to boost innovation in customer experience in the rail industry, the Enabling Innovation Team (EIT) has announced.
The competition opens to applicants in May and is developed by InnoCentive and IXC UK Limited. The aim of the competition is to identify opportunities for innovation in service culture, business process, journey planning, the whole journey experience and design of facilities.
David Clarke, director of EIT, said: “The rail industry constantly strives to improve the customer experience, but there is always scope to do more.
“We want to use this competition to showcase successful ideas and approaches from other customer service sectors and create the environment where the best of these ideas can be brought into the rail industry.”
Jonathan Slater, director at InnoCentive said: “Through InnoCentive’s proven track record of designing and managing large-scale prize competitions and InnovationXchange’s network for connecting to the right people, the Customer Experience Competition will enable innovators to provide creative new technologies to solve today’s rail challenges.”
The contract for running the competition and the competition prize fund are funded from the Pilot Rail Innovation Fund, which is managed by the EIT on behalf of the rail industry.
The competition has been designed to complement the Technology Strategy Board’s Digital Railway competition.
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