Six winners of the Local Council Roads Innovation Group’s Innovation Festival have been paired with local authorities and will now work to develop or facilitate a trial of their product or solution on each of the council’s networks.
Innovations including a multi-purpose dual fuel hydrogen vehicle, a multi-sensor weather station device and a road surfacing carbon emissions calculator will all be adopted by councils across the country.
The LCRIG Innovation Festival, which took place at Newark Showground in July 2022, was a first of its kind event – giving qualifying innovators the chance to receive funding or secure trials.
In advance of the Festival, a number of local authorities committed to making their networks available for trials and a portion of all exhibition space and sponsor sales at the event was put into the LCRIG / Steve Berry Innovation Fund.
The winners of each category and the council they have been paired with are as follows:
| Fleet & Equipment – Multevo – Multi-purpose dual fuel hydrogen vehicle – East Riding of Yorkshire Council. |  |
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| Health & Safety – WJ – ThermoPrint – Blackburn with Darwen Council. |  |
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| Highway Defects – QROS – QED Hydrocarbon Analyser – Wigan Council. |  |
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| Winter maintenance – Rennicks – Internet of Things Weather Station – Bolton Council. |  |
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| Watercourse management – Kaarbontech – Risk SMART Drainage Management – Wigan Council | |
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| Green Estate – Asphalt-IQ – Road Surfacing Carbon Emissions Calculator and Smart Tag System – Knowsley Council. |  |
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Local authority delegates were asked to judge entries from Qualifying Innovators over the two days of the event. All scores were then collated at the end of the festival and the LCRIG Infrastructure Innovation Board reviewed the results, before making a final decision on the winning innovations. Details of each of the winners can be found here.
In the lead up to the 2023 event, which will take place between 4-5 July at Newark Showground, LCRIG will provide regular updates from the pairings on where they are up to with each of their respective trials.
As part of the conference programme at this year’s Festival, LCRIG are planning to put on an interactive session where each of the pairings will be given an opportunity to provide a brief update on where they are up to with the process and answer questions from those in attendance.
LCRIG Infrastructure Innovation Board Chair, Ian Large said: “We are delighted that last year’s winners have now been paired with highway authorities and that trials can take place on their networks. Following each of the winners’ journeys is an important next step as it will showcase how innovations that were seen and demonstrated at the event are now making a difference in real life.
“The Festival really highlighted how LCRIG is making the case for innovation. The event provides local authorities with a chance to find out about new innovations from the supply chain that will help to meet their current and future challenges and we look forward to welcoming everyone to Newark again this year.“
To find out more or register your interest for 2023, please contact Charlotte Bromley via email at charlotte.bromley@lcrig.org.uk.