Press Release

RIA launches innovation Self-Assessment Tool to support businesses to get new products into rail

26 April 2022

The Railway Industry Association (RIA) has today launched a new Self-Assessment Tool to help assess rail supply businesses' 'innovation readiness' levels.

The Self-Assessment Tool provides users the ability to evaluate their 'innovation readiness' level by asking them a series of questions regarding how ready to innovate they currently are, and where they need to be to get their product or service to market. Each user is then given a unique spider-diagram allowing them to see where further work is required, with information about how they can improve their score.

Milda Manomaityte, Innovation Director at the Railway Industry Association, said: "RIA's new innovation Self-Assessment Tool helps railway individuals and organisations assess how ready they are to innovate, and what areas they need to work on to support getting their product or service into the rail industry.

"Getting new ideas from conception to deployment in rail is not easy, with challenges along the way. We hope this new tool provides a valuable resource to the rail supply community, allowing users to identify and prepare for any obstacles and ultimately enabling them to overcome them. By doing so, rail businesses will be more able to support a better service for passengers, thereby boosting the economy and helping achieve the goals of decarbonising, digitalising and growing the UK's railway network in the months and years ahead."

The Self-Assessment Tool is the first part of Innovation Navigator to go live, a new online guide to help businesses navigate the world of rail innovation. Part Two and Three of Innovation Navigator include 'The Innovation Landscape' and 'How to Build an Innovation Strategy', and will be launched later this year.

View the Self-Assessment Tool
Notes to Editors
  1. Visit the Innovation Navigator Self-Assessment Tool here. 
  2. The Innovation Navigator Self-Assessment Tool was launched at the RIA Innovation Conference taking place in Nottingham from 26 to 27 April 2022. Find out more here.
  3. About the Unlocking Innovation Programme: RIA’s Unlocking Innovation events bring together the people with ideas and ambition to drive change within the rail industry. The events create a platform for large and small companies, academics and innovators with the aim of developing and implementing improved products and services to meet the needs of industry clients. Unlocking Innovation events also aim to create new supply chains, to build value and benefit the UK economy, rail suppliers and ultimately the customers, the rail users. www.riagb.org.uk/UnlockingInnovation
  4. About RIA: The Railway Industry Association (RIA) is the voice of the UK rail supply community. We help to grow a sustainable, high-performing, railway supply industry, and to export UK rail expertise and products. RIA has 300+ companies in membership in a sector that contributes £43 billion in economic growth and £14 billion in tax revenue each year, as well as employing 710,000 people. It is also a vital industry for the UK’s economic recovery, supporting green investment and jobs in towns and communities across the UK; for every £1 spent in rail, £2.50 is generated in the wider economy. RIA’s membership is active across the whole of railway supply, covering a diverse range of products and services and including both multi-national companies and SMEs (60% by number). www.riagb.org.uk