HS2 Hackathon

HS2 Ltd and the Transport Systems Catapult are calling on high tech businesses, innovators, designers, data scientists, coders and business strategists to come up with novel ideas to help deliver one of the biggest modern infrastructure projects in the UK - HS2.

At the “Hackathon” event on the 8th and 9th December we’ll be challenging teams of up to 5 people, formed from individuals or pre-formed groups, to explore how new technologies - such as wearable technology, machine learning and virtual reality - might revolutionise key aspects of the HS2 project, including staff wellbeing and safety, customer experience, maintenance operations and minimising impact on communities during construction. Areas to be explored include:

• Wellbeing Whether employee well-being and safety could be improved through wearable technology or human machine interface design
• Augmented and VR Inspection How augmented reality and virtual reality technology might create a step change in construction and operation practices such as training and maintenance inspection
• Systems Engineering and Integration How an integrated systems approach and the Internet of Things might revolutionise the operations which drive the customer’s experience of using HS2
• Asset Data How better asset data management can help reduce longer term assets management costs
• Being a Good Neighbour How existing and new technologies can help us gain understanding to minimize disruption to passengers and communities during construction of HS2 and make our new HS2 Stations perform even better for everyone. This could be framework for real-time operations monitoring or a technology demonstrator aimed at digitalising and reporting on real-time operations.

How does it work?

Taking place over two days. including Friday night, you will be tasked with forming teams and developing solutions which will help make HS2 a world leader in innovation, before pitching to a panel of judges at the end of the event. Pre-arranged teams are also allowed.

Teams who come up with the best ideas over the two days will be invited to take part in a showcase event on the 1st February where a panel of judges will decide which projects will be developed with HS2.

Food, drink and entertainment will be provided throughout!

Participants must not be employed by companies involved in open tenders for HS2 contracts. If you are unsure whether this applies to you, please register anyway and you will be contacted by TSC if you aren’t allowed to take part. Full Terms and Conditions can be found here.