Roads and Maritime Services is today calling on industry partners, innovators and developers to pitch their innovative solutions in road maintenance to help make a difference in the lives of people living, working and travelling on regional and rural NSW roads.
The first initiative of its kind for the agency, Roads and Maritime is now accepting submissions for their ‘Innovation Network: Innovating regional road maintenance’ and Executive Director, Regional and Freight Roy Wakelin-King is encouraging those already innovating in the area of regional or rural road maintenance to apply.
“We’re looking for submissions to address a number of core areas – such as inspections, surveying, safety, vegetation clearance and more – but most importantly, they must offer efficiency savings and more value for our customers,” Mr Wakelin-King said.
“We all have a shared interest in maintaining a safe, environmentally sustainable and durable road network.
“By partnering with the engineers and innovators in industry, we can ensure we drive an innovation agenda and set a high standard for years to come.”
Mr Wakelin-King said working smarter and more efficiently in the regional road maintenance space is crucial for improving customer value and delivering greater efficiency in the growing maintenance task on the road network. This will be increasingly important into the future as road use increases. Our freight task is set to more than double by 2031 and our regional population is rapidly growing.
“It’s about being one step ahead in the game. Roads and Maritime is bringing together innovative people, systems, technologies and solutions which will make the most difference to how we maintain our road network and ultimately improve safety,” Mr Wakelin-King said.
“The ‘Top 10’ submissions, as chosen by Roads and Maritime, will be invited to present their innovations to an expert panel comprising top industry thought-leaders, a well-known academic and inventor, and Roads and Maritime Executives. Roads and Maritime will fund and support the trial and possible roll out of winning innovations.”
“Platforms such as Roads and Maritime’s Innovation Network encourage government and private sector collaboration with the ultimate benefit delivered to the end user – in this instance, our regional and rural road customers – and I’m looking forward to working closer with industry on this important initiative,” Mr Wakelin-King said.
For more information on Roads and Maritime’s Innovation Network, including how to make a submission and to download the guidelines, visit www.rms.nsw.gov.au/business-industry/innovation-network-initiative.html
