News

HS2 targets technology that unlocks data

Justin Stanton

Editor, DC+

23 September 2025

HS2 wants to back innovative technology that addresses data-led safety management, provides smarter cost verification and unlocks the value of site and asset data.

HS2 staff reviewing notes on site — Image courtesy of HS2

Working in partnership with the Connected Places Catapult, HS2’s latest Innovation Accelerator programme (the eighth so far) will proceed in three phases. In phase one, HS2 will support 36 applicants for four weeks while they rapidly explore the challenge(s), engaging with relevant sponsors and user groups, to develop and refine their proposals.

In the second phase, HS2 will support up to 12 finalists to develop a small-scale demonstrator in four to six weeks, using real data provided by HS2. The finalists will each receive £5,000 in funding. And in the final phase, HS2 will support up to six winners with 12 weeks of bespoke support to accelerate and scale up their demonstration into a trial project with HS2, each receiving up to £50,000 of funding.

The challenges

HS2 sets out the data-led safety management challenge thus: “How can we harness data, AI, and predictive analytics to anticipate reportable incidents – identifying patterns, precursors, and risk factors that signal when and where the next serious event may occur?”

Specifically, HS2 wants to:

unlock predictive safety intelligence with historical data, near-miss reports, conditions and behaviours;

identify leading indicators to catch early warning signs before harm occurs;

enhance situational awareness through real-time site, sensor and digital data;

support targeted interventions with timely deployment of resources, training and controls; and

drive cultural change by embedding predictive insights into daily decision-making.

The smarter cost verification challenge asks: how can AI enhance HS2’s cost verification, “empowering commercial managers with sharper insights to proactively manage and mitigate disallowable costs?”

Specifically, HS2 wants to:

enable faster decision-making by finding contextual insights from previously inaccessible documents;

reduce the number of false positives that commercial managers must review, minimising time spent on irrelevant or low-risk items and allowing teams to focus their expertise on genuinely disallowable costs;

extract meaningful data from different formats (including Excel and pdf) using AI and optical character recognition; and

seamlessly move into Microsoft Fabric (likely via OneLake or Lakehouse using scalable pipelines).

For the third challenge, HS2 asks: “How can we harness data, AI, and digital technologies to verify site activity, automate assurance and unlock the full value of structured delivery information – improving transparency, productivity and confidence from design to delivery?”

In this challenge, HS2 is interested in:

capturing and integrating real-time site data (IoT, drones, imagery, BIM, laser scans);

validating progress by comparing planned versus actual delivery;

tracking workforce and equipment productivity;

linking site activity to costs for stronger financial alignment;

automating assurance by checking design data against as-built evidence;

aligning contractor delivery plans with programme schedules to reduce risk; and

using AI/ML to automate validation, detect anomalies and boost reporting confidence.

Back on track

Applications for the eighth round of the HS2 Innovation Accelerator programme open today and will close on 31 October 2025. Twelve finalists will be whittled down to six firms, which will have the opportunity to accelerate and scale up their demonstration into a trial project with HS2.

Since launching in 2020, the HS2 Innovation Accelerator has supported 37 small technology firms that have collectively secured 31 pilot projects across the rail project, realising more than £50m in cost savings.

More than 40% of alumni firms now work on other projects and contracts across the supply chain. They have subsequently raised over £240m in investment and funding, and more than doubled their headcounts, creating more than 580 new jobs.

HS2 Ltd senior innovation manager Jon Kelly said: “Getting HS2 back on track is our number one priority, and this is a unique opportunity for the country’s very best innovators to get on board and help us to achieve our goal.

“2025 has been a huge year for the project, with both the longest bridge and longest tunnel reaching completion. There is, however, still a vast amount to do. We must continue exploring new tech and innovative solutions to help us complete major construction milestones quickly, safely and efficiently.”

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