The UK Department for Transport (DfT) has allocated £1m for the Transport-Technology Research and Innovation Grant (T-TRIG), which will be invested in tech-focused transport start-ups.

The grant is open for innovators and entrepreneurs who are creating new technologies for a better transport system.

The government primarily intends to invest in start-ups developing technologies related to decarbonisation, potholes, resilient infrastructure and age-friendly, accessible transport.

Each project will receive a maximum funding of £30,000. The investment is aimed at enabling start-ups and academics to quickly bring their products to the market.

The investment forms part of the UK’s Future of Mobility Grand Challenge strategy, through which the government aims to offer better and more sustainable journeys for citizens.

MP and Minister for the Future of Transport George Freeman will launch the competition at a roundtable with UK transport technology businesses.

Freeman said: “We now have an exciting opportunity to stimulate the brightest thinkers in our universities and small business networks to try out novel solutions to fix legacy problems across our transport system and realise their visions for the future.”

The government has provided around £4.6m under T-TRIG, which is now in its tenth year. Around 140 projects have received funding over the last five years.

The UK Government said that previous projects who received the grant were awarded additional funding from the private sector, which so far has totalled to £25m.

Freeman added: “Schemes like this grant will ensure the UK retains its reputation as a world-leading innovator and I encourage early-stage businesses in the transport sector to apply for the funds available.”

E-bike company Flit MD and co-founder Alex Murray said: “The grant allowed us to build our first prototype with a specialist in Essex. We learned an enormous amount from this process and these lessons have carried over to the FLIT-16, the first folding e-bike that we successfully launched through a crowdfunding campaign in the summer of 2019.”