Innovation and Research Designated Fund - Guidance 2025
This guidance explains our challenge-led approach and open calls for project ideas to be funded through the Innovation and Research Designated Fund. It outlines how you submit project ideas, how we assess them, how we notify you of assessment decisions, sets expectations of funded projects, and highlights important information to consider before applying.
Building our programme - the high-level process we follow
Ideas submission - the information you'll need to submit an idea
Ideas assessment - how we assess project ideas and inform you of a decision
Important information - please read before submitting a project idea
Overview
The purpose of the Innovation and Research theme within Designated Funds is to explore priority business challenges that will help us ensure the road network of tomorrow while creating efficiencies and value for money.
Our new challenge-led approach will set a clear direction for programme development and investment. By building a pipeline of challenges, we foster collaboration across National Highways and with the wider industry. Through this model, we ensure that innovation efforts are purposeful, measurable and strategically aligned with our long-term ambitions, resulting in a balanced, focused, and high-impact programme.
The Innovation and Research theme is designed to contribute to the delivery of our corporate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Performance Indicators (PIs), as set out in the Strategic Business Plan.
Due to the broad and cross-cutting nature of innovation, Innovation and Research has the potential to support progress across several corporate KPIs and PIs. Its flexibility allows it to address a wide range of business challenges, enabling targeted interventions that align with long-term ambitions and performance commitments.
As new priority challenges are identified through our challenge-led approach, the specific KPIs and PIs that innovation and research contribute to will evolve. This ensures our programme remains agile, responsive to change, and aligned with the outcomes that matter most to us and our stakeholders.
Challenge-led approach
The approach:
- aligns innovation and research with our long-term strategy
- sets top-down direction for programme development and investment
- identifies business challenges that must be solved or realised to reach strategic ambitions (where solutions are unknown)
- builds a pipeline of prioritised business challenges
- funds innovation and research to solve prioritised business challenges
- sends a signal to industry, external stakeholders and other interested parties
- enables collaboration to solve cross-cutting challenges
- establishes measures of success through granular statements that enable the right programme of projects to be identified and prioritised
Our long-term strategy defines our priorities and ambitions
We identify business challenges where innovation is key to achieving our ambitions
Clear communication of challenges highlights shared interests and fosters collaboration
Our programme is shaped by ideas with most potential to tackle challenges, deliver impact and measure success
Innovation pathway
This pathway provides a structured approach for managing innovation activity through our Innovation and Research Designated Fund. We use an incremental funding model with stage gates between each part of the pathway, where recommendations are made on continued investment.
| Stage | Description |
|---|---|
| Identify opportunities | Opportunities are identified to address defined business challenges through our open call process. |
| Create concepts | Opportunities are developed into early-stage concepts, forming structured initiatives designed to explore potential solutions. |
| Validate concepts | Concepts are tested on a small scale using appropriate tools and methods to validate assumptions and assess overall potential. |
| Develop solutions | Validated concepts are developed into robust solutions that can be deployed, marking the transition from concept (innovation initiative) to solution (change project). |
| Deploy solutions | Solutions are transitioned into operational BAU and scaled across relevant users and customers to enable widespread adoption. |
| Realise value | Benefits are measured, outcomes are assessed, and longer-term impact is evaluated. Demonstrating value to users and customers and supporting continued adoption and improvement. |
1. Business challenge development
Define and prioritise key business challenges.
2. Idea submission
Invite project ideas that respond to priority challenges.
3. Idea assessment
Assess ideas for fit, value, and feasibility.
4a. Programme approval
Approve investment in a programme built around priority challenges.
4b. Procurement (in parallel)
Progress via direct award or competitive tender if multiple suppliers respond.
5. Project approval
Approve business cases through the programme board before initiation.
6. Programme delivery and change
Oversee delivery and manage change through the programme board.
7. Programme review
Review outcomes, scorecard, and benefits to guide future investment.
Ideas submission
You'll need the following information to submit a project idea:
| Information required | Answer format |
|---|---|
| A project title | Short project title |
| A short project description | Briefly describe main goal or purpose, key activities, deliverables and resource required - max 300 words |
| Challenge the idea aligns to | Picklist |
| Desired outcomes the idea supports | Picklist |
| Expected benefits the idea supports | Picklist |
| Funding required | £ |
| Estimate of funding required in future years | £ |
| An identified National Highways project sponsor | Optional |
| An identified National Highways delivery arm and/or scheme | Optional |
| National Highways Digital Services engaged for relevant project ideas | Optional |
| Impact/effort assessment | Easy win = low effort, high impact Big bet = high effort, high impact |
| Time to value (when will we start seeing the benefits realised) | Short - 5 years Medium - 10 years Long > 10 years |
Idea assessment
How we assess project ideas, criteria we use and how you will be informed of a decision.
Ideas will be prioritised based on strength of alignment and creating a balanced portfolio.
Alignment
1. Alignment to the challenge
Strength of alignment to challenge, outcomes and expected benefits (High, Medium, Low)
2. Alignment to innovation and research
Strength of alignment to innovation and research (High, Medium, Low)
Portfolio balance
3. Impact-effort assessment
Easy win = low effort, high impact
Big bet = high effort, high impact
4. Time to value
When will we start seeing the benefits realised (Short - 5 years, Medium - 10 years, Long - >10 years)
How you'll be informed of a decision
Project ideas will be assessed to help shape future delivery opportunities, with applicants informed of the outcome and successful concepts progressing via a Pre-Market Engagement Notice published on the Find a Tender service.
Funding expectations
All projects must complete the following steps before and during delivery
1. Business case approval
Submit a business case for approval to the Innovation & Research Programme Board before commencing work.
2. Innovation Scorecard
Complete an Innovation Scorecard to support stage gate decisions. This tool assesses desirability, feasibility and viability to inform planning and delivery
3. Benefits management
Define, measure and track project benefits, with clear baselines, performance targets and accountability for delivery.
4. Case study
Produce a case study upon completion. This will be published on our website to share key learnings and outcomes.
Important information
Important information all applicants should read before submitting their project idea
Eligibility criteria for applicants
Applicants will not have any current project contract looking at the same challenge, unless it is the application for next stage.
Applicants will not have received previous funding, from any source, for solving the same challenge. If previous funding for the same challenge at an earlier stage of development has been received, state clearly: successful achievements and unsuccessful outcomes.
Procurement
Our open call is a multi-phase process designed to support both opportunity identification and opportunity delivery. In the initial phase, we invite ideas to solve prioritised business challenges and help shape our future programme. These ideas will be assessed against our assessment criteria and may inform future delivery opportunities.
Following assessment, a Pre-Market Engagement (PME) Notice will be published via the Find a Tender service. All interested parties should register via our Jaegger portal for immediate notifications of those notices, to test market interest and capability. The procurement route will then be determined based on the responses received:
- If only one viable response is identified, the opportunity may proceed via direct award.
- If multiple viable responses are received, the opportunity will be taken forward through a competitive tender process.
Please note: Submission of an idea does not imply or guarantee that the submitter will be contracted to deliver it. This approach enables early identification of high-potential ideas while ensuring a fair, transparent, and compliant route to delivery, in line with public procurement regulations.
