National Highways launches call for innovators to help shape the future of England’s roads

National Highways is calling on problem-solvers and creative thinkers to contribute to the future development of England’s motorways and major A roads. 

Through National Highways Innovation and Research Designated Fund an Open Call is due to be launched on Monday 3 November which will run for five weeks until Monday 8 December, giving people the unique opportunity to suggest innovative solutions to five specific challenges that range from improving safety to creating a better customer experience.  

These challenges have been identified as part of the National Highways' challenge-led approach to innovation which connects strategy to delivery and sets a clear direction for programme development and investment over the next five years.  

Innovators are invited to submit ideas addressing five key areas: improving customer experience of journey time, increasing safety on A-roads, reducing live traffic risks, maximising safety benefits while improving asset resilience and reducing occupational health risks for road workers. 

We are welcoming submissions from colleagues within National Highways, suppliers and other interested parties. Applications are also welcome from partnerships made up of suppliers, start-ups and small and medium enterprises.  

The Challenges 

Challenge 1: Improving Customer Experience of Journey Time  

We want to make journeys easier and more reliable for customers. We’re looking for smart ideas to improve how we share information about delays, roadworks, and travel times. This challenge also focuses on reducing regular delays and congestion hotspots, cutting the time it takes to clear incidents, planning roadworks to cause less disruption, and using customer data to make travel smoother and more predictable.  

Challenge 2: Increase safety on A-roads  

We want to make roads safer for everyone, and we’re looking for ideas to improve safety on A-roads. This challenge is about reducing the number and severity of shunt collisions, cutting the risk of people being killed or seriously injured (KSI), and making both single and dual carriageway A-roads safer for all road users.  

Challenge 3: Maximising safety benefits while improving resilience of our network assets   

We’re looking for ways to make our assets stronger and safer. We want solutions that help reduce the need for frequent renewals and keep both road users and workers safe. We’re also looking for better asset data to plan costs and renewals over the long term, ways to make assets easier to access or reduce the need for on-site inspections, and a clearer understanding of how investment decisions affect safety and environmental outcomes.  

Challenge 4: Reducing risks of working next to live traffic   

We want to make working near live traffic as safe as possible. This challenge is about finding solutions that remove the need for people to work in live traffic environments, reduce how often and how long workers are exposed to traffic, strengthen safer working practices in high-risk areas, and encourage safer behaviour from both road workers and road users.  

Challenge 5: Reducing occupational health risks  

We’re looking for ideas that help protect the health of people working on our roads. This challenge is about reducing long-term health problems, cutting the number of working days lost to illness, and improving how we identify and manage key health risks. We also want to see more use of preventative hygiene practices and make sure health risk elimination and safer alternatives are built into design and planning from the start.   

More details about the challenges, their background, key statistics and expected benefits can be found here.  

Claire Hamar, Head of Innovation at National Highways, said:  

“We want to be more transparent about the business challenges where innovation can have greatest impact. We are looking for ideas and solutions that make our roads safer for road users and workers. We also want to improve our customers experience. That’s why we’re inviting colleagues, suppliers, and other interested parties to help shape the future of our roads.” 

One example of how innovation is tackling key infrastructure challenges is the Structures’ Moonshot Project. This ambitious initiative is testing non-destructive technologies to inspect hidden critical components in bridges and other structures, such as post tensioned tendons and concrete half joints, without the need for disruptive physical investigations. By enabling more accurate condition assessments, these technologies help reduce unplanned road closures and improve safety. 

 (Construction workers using non-destructive testing methods)

The Open Call 2025 is funded through National Highways’ Designated Funds. This is ring-fenced funding dedicated to investing in and supporting initiatives that deliver lasting benefits for road users, the environment and communities across England. 

Visit our website for full details of the challenges and how to apply.