The team for the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) has made £150,000 available for the development of mobile apps to support travellers with disabilities on public transport.
It has made the money available to the South East of Scotland Transport Partnership (SEStran) to run a competition to support up to five projects.
Up to £300,000 could be available in a second phase to prototype the two best ideas and test them in the field.
The competition is funded by Scottish Enterprise’s Can Do Innovation under the SBRI programme.
An announcement from national innovation agency Innovate UK said projects should identify and understand the challenges faced by travellers with a disability and how it affects the way they travel, to develop a mobile app that helps to overcome these issues.
Among the requirements for any app to receive support is that it should benefit people with serious disability – such as sight or hearing impairment, mobility problems or dementia – incorporate journey planning and wayfinding features, and allow designated groups such as family or transport providers to track the user in case of difficulty.
It should also have the potential to be developed over time for people with other disabilities.
The competition will be open until 2 January 2019, with an expectation that any projects will cost up to £30,000 and last up to six months. They will be completely funded by the competition.
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
