Supporting Integrated Transportation Ecosystems
The Connected Places Catapult worked with Arrival to meet sustainability targets through the use of existing motorway infrastructure together with autonomous vehicles and new transport hubs, to provide more frequent services across the country.
At Connected Places Catapult, we provide ‘innovation as a service’ and our dedicated SME programme supports small businesses and enables them to get to their next growth level through our intensive accelerators, connections to pioneering practice and access to physical test beds and cutting-edge research.
Helping to drive growth
Arrival develops solutions for cities to help them meet sustainability targets. The company have a unique technology to assemble vehicles in locally placed microfactories. With plans to deploy 1,000 microfactories globally by 2026, Arrival will regenerate local communities and retain local talent.
In January 2020, Arrival successfully received €100m from Hyundai and Kia to jointly accelerate the adoption of commercial electric vehicles globally. This marked the transition from R&D to full-scale production for Arrival with Hyundai and Kia offering their combined expertise in mass manufacturing and vehicle launches to support Arrival’s ambition of scaling rapidly around the world.
The partnership with Hyundai was quickly followed by an order for 10,000 bespoke purpose-built electric vehicles from United Parcel Service (UPS) and accelerate UPS’ transition to a zero emissions fleet. The vehicles will be built using Arrival’s new method of assembly using low capital, low footprint microfactories.
Over 400 SMEs and Start-Ups have benefited from participation in the Connected Places Catapult’s SME Development Programme. As well as harnessing the Catapult’s technical knowledge, market expertise and regulatory experience, the programme provides intensive business support preparing start-ups to be investor ready. Connected Places Catapult recently launched the HS2 Accelerator; a collaboration between HS2 and Innovation Birmingham focusing on productivity, the environment and the circular economy. The first 10 UK companies were announced in the summer of 2020 and they join the 20 other SMEs that have benefitted from Catapult’s accelerator programmes which together have raised £44 million in investment so far.
