Thales UK’s Transportation Business Achieves Investor in Innovations Award

Investor in Innovations gave us an effective platform to drive our innovation capability for growth.

The Transportation business of Thales UK achieves the prestigious Investor in Innovation Award.

Thales Transportation operates in the UK as a systems integrator in broadly three areas of signalling, supervision and control, and integrated communications delivering solutions for mainline rail and infrastructure, urban transportation, roads, and smart cities. It participates in national and European research projects as well as through open innovation interventions through its supply chain partners to nourish and underpin its innovation capability and strengthen its reputation within its customer base.

Ben Pritchard FIKE, Innovation Lead from the organisation’s Technical Directorate said:

“The continuous drive for safety, efficiency, reliability and the application of digital technologies to serve the ever changing customer expectations are significantly reshaping the landscape of the ground transportation infrastructure businesses. This means we have to constantly innovate to improve value to customers and users of our solutions.

“Investor in Innovations gave us an effective platform to drive our innovation capability for growth.” Pritchard added “The Investor in Innovations programme also provided expert guidance of Advisors from the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange, areas for improvement and further focus. We intend to extend the impact of this achievement beyond our business operation to embrace to our partners, suppliers and stakeholders and ultimately, our customers. We are pleased to be the first organisation in the ground transportation industry sector to achieve the Investor in Innovations standard.”

Prof Sa’ad Medhat, CEO of the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange said:

“Speed and connectivity are two determinants that define smart cities of the future. Ground transportation infrastructure projects offer cities their competitive advantage and set their economic trajectory. Companies like Thales have to innovate all the time to differentiate their solutions and ensure their business models drive growth.

“The Assessment Panel was particularly impressed by Thales UK’s Transportation business’ specific attention and promotion of innovation within the workforce to help inform and shape their future capability in developing intelligent and integrated infrastructure solutions and drive agile working to deliver performance excellence. “

About Thales UK’s Transportation business
(https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/global/presence/europe/united...)
Thales UK’s Transportation business), focuses on systems integration solutions in three broad areas encompassing:
• signalling (train control, axle counters,
interlockings, train protection and warning
systems as well as services)
• supervision and control
• integrated communications, security and
information management (including revenue
collection).

These offerings target four-clustered activities including:
• Mainline rail and infrastructure
• Urban Transportation / Mobility Roads
• Smart Cities and Multi-modal Hubs

The business employs 1300 people in the UK. Its focus is on large-scale projects such as the Four Lines Modernisation (4LM), Docklands Light Railway (DLR), Manchester Metrolink (MML) and implementing widely-adopted solutions such as SelTrac, Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) and Axle Counters, and operates across ten sites (Birmingham, Crawley, Glasgow, Manchester, London (Poplar, Quadrant House, Palestra House, Westferry, Waterloo) and York.

About the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (IKE Institute)
(www.InnovationInstitute.org.uk)
IKE Institute is the professional body for innovators in the UK. It accredits and certifies innovation practices, and confers the Investor in Innovations® standard and the IKE Assured® accreditation. The Institute influences the inter-relationship between education, business, and government through research and collaborative networks. IKE’s Innovation Manifesto highlights its commitment to support the development of innovative people and organisations.

IKE’s accreditation work is guided by the Innovation Council (http://innovationinstitute.org.uk/innovation_council), which brings together over forty C-suite executives representing different economic sectors. Companies such as Thales UK and Panasonic (Research and Development) have also been through the Investor in Innovations Standard.

Investor in Innovations® (http://innovationinstitute.org.uk/product/investor_in_innova...) is an integrated, leading-edge Standard that offers a practical way for an organisation to assess, validate and benchmark its innovation capability. It uses a well-defined six-category Framework that brings together: strategy and alignment; organisational readiness; core capabilities, technologies and IP; industry foresight; customer awareness and impact and value. In addition, Investor in Innovations® is a business diagnostic, used to understand where an organisation is and where it needs to be from an innovation standpoint. A coherent Action Plan to close the innovation gap is a key outcome from this programme.

PRESS CONTACT - IKE INSTITUTE
Emma Crates & Michelle Medhat
07720 286633
020 8786 3677
michelle.medhat@ikeinstitute.org

PRESS CONTACT - THALES UK TRANSPORTATION
Nicola McMillan
0203 300 6000