A common language for INNOVATION
Enabling better collaboration
Helping industry work together more effectively to speed up innovation and maximise the benefits derived from new technology.
With so many different ways to describe innovation, there are inevitable inefficiencies and misunderstandings.
A common language embedded in the emerging new industry structure will be key to successfully unlocking innovation across the sector.
A common language embedded in the emerging new industry structure will be key to successfully unlocking innovation across the sector.
Defining effective innovation
The following definition of effective innovation captures the key elements and frames them with essential requirements.
Effective innovation...
…translates new
solutions
Successful research
& development
& development
...into established
new practice
Successful
change
change
…and delivers them with
urgency & pace
Effective
innovation
innovation
Critically, the solutions must...
- Be practical, reliable and affordable
- Satisfy customers’ and society’s needs
- Minimise the demand on funding and resources
Types of innovation
There are many ways to categorise innovation. The following categorisation is based around the drivers for change.
Click on areas within the chart to see a description of each type. These are explored more fully later in this page.
Optimisation
Make the most of today’s railway
How can we optimise the way we operate and utilise current assets?
We need innovation that improves how rail uses existing assets, processes and capabilities to make the most of them.
Incremental
Improve assets and capabilities
How can we significantly improve rail offering and value for money when we renew and upgrade railway assets?
We need innovation that enhances the functionalities and reliability of the next generation of solutions that rail will buy.
Radical
Drive a fundamental change
How can we transform the railway and drive a fundamental change in its value proposition?
We need innovation that pursue transformational change to technologies or process, creating new capabilities and fundamentally changing the paradigm.
Benefit-
Cost Ratio (BCR)
Cost Ratio (BCR)
Risk
High
Low
Low
High
Optimisation
Make the most of today’s railway
How can we optimise the way we operate and utilise current assets?
We need innovation that improves how rail uses existing assets, processes and capabilities to make the most of them.
A framework of roles and responsibilities
To succeed innovation requires team effort and clarity of roles. Organisations, and individuals within them, may have multiple roles to play, or perform different roles in different innovation journeys. It might also not be clear who can fulfil a role. Knowing strengths, weaknesses and gaps in the ‘innovation team’ relevant to what you are working on is vital.
Innovation orchestration
Coordination that can speed up innovation and maximise the overall value derived from investment in innovation.
Role:
– Determine, with challenge owners where innovation is needed, and communicate these needs to the right audiences.
– Identify where market forces will address challenges and needs, and where they cannot.
– Consider the mix of mechanisms best suited to deliver different solutions, and support funding agents in pursuing them.
– Work with buyers and adopters to ensure innovation has buy-in and is planned for.
– Support solution developers by defining pathways and linking them with the right organisations and roles.
– Support and capture lessons from early deployments.
Challenge owners
People that run the railway, and have direct experience of how things are done, and the challenges and opportunities that result from the current ways of working. The organisations these people work for will usually benefit (directly or indirectly) from introducing changes.
Role:
– Define business and user requirements for all three types of innovation.
– Steer the development of new solutions and champion their adoption.
Solutions developers
These can range from academia to supply chain. Research institutions working in conjunction with start-ups and Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can be a powerful accelerator for new solutions.
Role:
– Apply new thinking to address challenges and explore the art of the possible.
– Fully develop, prove and scale new solutions.
Buyers and adopters
Organisations in the rail sector that will buy and operate the solutions. May not always be the organisations that own the challenge and derive direct benefit from addressing it.
Role:
– Make sound asset investment decisions that take a whole-life-cycle perspective and proactively manage the complexity and risk of roll-out.
– Ensure technology deployments go hand-in-hand with skills and processes to induce change successfully.
Funding agents
Organisations within and beyond the rail sector allocating and prioritising public or private money to rail research, development and innovation.
Role:
– Ensure funding is spent in an effective and efficient way.
– Deliver for the public good, and/or secure a competitive advantage that returns profit to investors.
Innovation orchestration
Coordination that can speed up innovation and maximise the overall value derived from investment in innovation.
Role:
– Determine, with challenge owners where innovation is needed, and communicate these needs to the right audiences.
– Identify where market forces will address challenges and needs, and where they cannot.
– Consider the mix of mechanisms best suited to deliver different solutions, and support funding agents in pursuing them.
– Work with buyers and adopters to ensure innovation has buy-in and is planned for.
– Support solution developers by defining pathways and linking them with the right organisations and roles.
– Support and capture lessons from early deployments.
Exploring the types of innovation
Having defined the three broad types of innovation, it is useful to consider the differences between them, and what it means for the roles and responsibilities.
Technical novelty vs application novelty
Existing solutions applied in broadly existing ways
Typical investment return timeframe
6 to 24 months with zero or limited further investment
Risk of failure vs BCR
Low failure risk, with a medium to high Benefit-Cost Ratio.
Proportion of rail specific efforts and funding
Must be driven by rail specific knowledge and relies on funding from within the industry.
Examples
– Rationalisation of differential speeds
– Optimisation of driving policies
Better technologies and components to enhance service provision.
Technical novelty vs application novelty
Evolved technology deployed in similar and slightly changed ways
Typical investment return timeframe
2 to 5 years, with introduction often linked to to asset replacement or renewal windows.
Risk of failure vs BCR
Medium failure risk, with a medium Benefit-Cost Ratio.
Proportion of rail specific efforts and funding
Benefits from access to rail specific knowledge efforts. Able to use resources and funds wider than rail specific ones.
Examples
– Double variable rate sanders
– Lightweight modular, low cost, rapid-install rural footbridges
New capabilities and fundamental change in methodology or systems.
Technical novelty vs application novelty
Completely new technology utilised in completely new ways.
Typical Investment return timeframe
5+ years from completion of the initial research.
Risk of failure vs BCR
High failure risk, with a high Benefit-Cost Ratio.
Proportion of rail specific efforts and funding
Leveraging efforts across other modes and industries is essential.
Examples
– Application of interter technology in vehicle suspension
– Fault-tolerant track switches