Background to the report

The transport sector has a long history of introducing new and improved ways of helping move people and goods. The Department for Transport (DfT) has identified innovation as a key enabler to achieving its priority outcomes of growth; greener, safer and healthier transport; and improving transport for people.

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It plans to spend approximately £1.1 billion on activities to support innovation between 2022-23 and 2029-30, spread across various activities and transport modes.

There are currently a wide range of opportunities and challenges across the sector. Successful innovation will be needed to make the most of emerging technologies and address the challenges of decarbonisation, and in a way that achieves reliable services for people and cost-effective solutions for the taxpayer.

Scope of the report

This report examines whether DfT’s support for innovation in transport is delivering value for money. It looks at whether DfT:

  • has set out a clear approach to supporting innovation
  • is managing its activity to support innovation effectively

The scope includes innovation spending by DfT’s three highest-spending arm’s-length bodies: Network Rail, National Highways and HS2 Ltd.

Video summary

Jonny Mood, the report’s director, summarises our findings.

Conclusions

The successful support and adoption of new ways of doing things is key to addressing the opportunities and challenges facing the transport sector.

In recent years, DfT has improved its approach to supporting innovation, taking steps to raise its profile within the department and to widen the type of interventions it makes.

To continue this positive trajectory there are several areas where DfT can improve what it does to ensure it achieves good value for money. In particular, DfT could better define how its innovation activity can support the full range of outcomes the department wants to achieve.

In doing so, it must be clearer on how much risk it is willing to take, collect the data and information it needs to manage and assess its activity, and help progress activity from early stages through to commercial readiness.

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Press release

View press release (18 May 2026)

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