The ‘Lab by Transport for Wales‘ is an initiative which was created by Transport for Wales and Alt Labs and is a project which allows innovative businesses from the Wales and Borders area to bring on their ideas to improve safety, performance, and customer experience on the network.

The virtual demonstration will take place on Friday the 3rd of September at 1:30 pm and will provide businesses taking part the chance to showcase their ideas and designs directly to senior Transport for Wales (TfW) managers along with industry leaders.

The event will also stream live via YouTube. 

The businesses have all been through a dedicated mentoring process by experts both remotely and also at TfW’s high-tech facility, which is situated in Newport.

The five start-up companies who will pitch to TfW at the virtual demo are:

Jnction, who are developing Aubin which is an innovative multi-modal journey planner and passenger assistance app. Aubin has been designed to keep stress to a minimum for passengers with autism and hidden disabilities whilst using public transport.

Quinean is bringing forward a low-code machine learning platform, which will mean that domain experts can deploy digital twins, trial hypotheses, and advance outcomes at speed.

RoboK who are evolving efficient AI-based computer vision solutions which will introduce an accessible to all approach to safety in transportation.

Stofl is developing infrastructure and solutions that amalgamate Blockchain and Low-Power-WAN technologies, which will allow machines to communicate and create solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues more efficiently, securely and in differing locations.

Utility AR work alongside innovators within the industrial sector and seek to realise the potential of Augmented Reality applications which will let a user interact with the real world whilst also accessing existing databases and software systems.

Video pitching of the final products will be shared from each of the start-ups with a chance for questions to be asked later. It is hoped that the demonstration will provide inspiration for innovation within business and will raise awareness of some of the leading edge developments which will be making their way to the Wales and Borders network.

This is the third set of companies that have worked with Lab by Transport for Wales. The previous two cohorts saw the initiative work with 20 start-up companies, of which 9 went on to work with TfW.

Michael Davies, TfW’s Insight and Innovation Manager, said: “We’re really looking forward to seeing how these companies have developed their ideas with the mentorship of TfW and with the guidance of Alt Labs and the different solutions they have produced.

“Our industry needs innovation and to nurture new talent and ideas to deliver an even better experience for customers.

“For this group we have widened the scope of our search to meet some of the other challenge areas we feel exist, including fresh ways of tackling one of the biggest challenges public transport has faced in recent times: how we encourage people to choose public transport in the future.”

Adam Foster of Alt Labs added: “So far each of our cohorts have been delivered remotely, and whilst today’s demo day is still taking place remote – it’s been great seeing lockdown restrictions relax and some normality return, allowing us to bring cohort 3 start-ups into the Lab. Having worked with these start-ups throughout the past couple of months, I’m really excited to see them showcase the developments they’ve made and the positive impact they’re going to have across Transport for Wales”

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