Intelligent mobility solutions
With support from Connected Places Catapult, Ginger Town, a micro-mobility fleet operator, is accelerating its deployment of e-mobility solutions in UK towns and cities.
“When we joined the programme, we had 7 members of staff at the company. Through the support provided and introductions to new commercial partners, we have since created more jobs and we have now grown to a team of 14. SIMULATE was vital for our growth and aided us in securing valuable investment to help us grow even further”.
Accelerating innovative air quality and intelligent mobility solutions
Ginger is a UK-based micro-mobility fleet operator focusing on the deployment of e-scooters and e-bikes, enabling cleaner and better-connected towns and cities. Through the SIMULATE programme, Connected Places Catapult provided Ginger with a unique combination of technical and market support, market access, investor readiness and the opportunity to deploy their services in a Live-Lab test bed in Staffordshire. The support provided throughout the programme enabled Ginger Town to generate the traction they needed to scale their business.
The ADEPT Live Labs SIMULATE programme is part of the partnership between Staffordshire County Council, Amey, Connected Places Catapult and Keele University, designed to accelerate innovative solutions in Air Quality and Intelligent Mobility within local authorities. The partnership was established to address the disconnect between an ever-maturing technology market and real-world use cases within a local infrastructure.
The Live Labs accelerator programme was just phase one of the SIMULATE initiative, which was aimed at identifying game-changing SMEs, providing them with an opportunity to pitch for funding and a place on a six-month curated accelerator programme.
Ginger were 1 of 10 businesses selected from 130 applications to be part of the SIMULATE accelerator programme. The support included access to mentorship and investors alongside technical and academic support, culminating in pitch events with local authorities and opportunities to showcase their innovative solutions.
Following Ginger’s participation on the SIMULATE programme, the company has gone on to double the size of their team and secured 17 commercial contracts with local authorities such as Lincolnshire, Cheshire, and Luton amongst others. As a result of the traction they have generated through the programme, the company is projected to be the 2nd largest provider of micro-mobility solutions in the UK in 2021.
The ADEPT SMART Places Live Labs programme is a two-year £22.9 million project funded by the Department for Transport and supported by project partners SNC-Lavalin’s Atkins business, EY, Kier, O2, Ringway and WSP. Staffordshire County Council is one of nine local authorities working on projects to introduce digital innovation across SMART mobility, transport, highways, maintenance, data, energy and communications. Live Labs is part of ADEPT’s SMART Places programme to support the use of digital technology in place-based services.
The Live Labs SIMULATE programme, run by Staffordshire County Council and Amey, is designed to test new innovations that can radically improve mobility and air quality across Staffordshire. Micromobility is seen as a key addition to the future of shared transport services and a means to enable people to connect more easily and sustainably.
