Funding for Research Ideas
The scheme facilitates the development of products and solutions by enabling sharing of the costs and risks associated. It encourages stakeholder 'buy-in' to the delivery and implementation of the outputs and in doing so it ensures findings are shared across the industry to avoid duplication and allow cross-fertilisation.
Eligibility for the Grant Scheme
For a research proposal to be eligible these conditions must be met:
- The application must be made by a consortium of at least two potential users of the research outputs, one of which must be a RSSB member. A list of RSSB members can be found on the RSSB website at https://www.rssb.co.uk/who-we-are/rssb-members.
- The RSSB member shall play a key role in the consortium, including providing a financial and/or in-kind contribution.
- The project must be research or development. Commercial product development cannot be included, though work to produce early prototypes or carry out trials may considered, if a generic benefit can be shown.
- There must be a wider benefit to the rail industry from the work.
- Intellectual property rights must be formally agreed in advance, and findings are expected to be published after an agreed period.
- The consortium should have an agreement in place, with an identified lead organisation, for contractual purposes.
- Grants are made up to a maximum of 50% of the total combined incremental ‘in-kind’ and ‘cash’ costs associated with the project. The consortium’s total contribution must be made up of at least 20% cash, the remainder being in-kind contributions.
Assessment of your Proposal
Proposals are assessed on three criteria with equal weighting. Award decisions are based on the relative strengths shown in these areas. The results of the assessment will be fed back to applicants.
Assessment criterion:
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1. Planning and commitment
Strong consortia, that have clear objectives and well-defined plans, will have the greatest probability of success. These criteria are given special consideration:
- credibility of the lead organisation
- size and credibility of the consortium
- clarity and depth of information provided on research costs, delivery plan, and implementation actions
- credibility of the intellectual property proposal
- evidence of preparatory work (e.g., literature review, to ensure the proposed work is well informed).
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2. Likelihood of success
Proposals with clearly identified risks to delivery of the research, and plans to minimise them, are most likely to succeed. Precedence will be given to proposals that have considered implementation and how benefits will be gained. In particular, the assessment considers:
- clarity and depth of information about research deliverables and method.
- soundness of the research method and budget, and the project plan.
- evidence of the identification and mitigation of key project risks.
- probability of achieving the expected outcomes at the end of the project.
- probability of implementation of the findings.
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3. Rewards including wider industry benefits
The project outcomes should be implementable and deliver benefit. Precedence is given to proposals that can show a clear path from research outcomes to benefit delivery, and bring about valuable innovation. In particular, the assessment considers:
- evidence, soundness, size, and impact of the rewards
- expected cost-to-benefit ratio, once implementation costs are considered
- the number of parties that would potentially benefit from the research
- the consortium's willingness, and any conditions, to sharing findings with industry.
Data Protection and Confidentiality
RSSB will use the personal information for: research; information and databank administration; accounts and records. We may disclose your information to our representatives for these purposes. We or they may contact you to discuss, clarify or request more information about the submitted R&D idea for the purposes of appraising or developing it further. By submitting this form, you consent to our processing your personal data for the above purposes. You also consent to our transferring your information to other countries that may not provide the same level of data protection as the UK, for the above purposes if necessary. If we do make such a transfer, we will put a contract in place to ensure your information is protected. You have a right to ask for a copy of your information and to correct any inaccuracies in your data.
Applications must not include any proprietary or confidential information. All applications, irrespective of any markings or statements to the contrary, will be considered by RSSB to be non-confidential and non-proprietary.
