We are launching a competition, worth up to £10m, to fund collaborative projects that aim to develop innovative systems and services so that goods can move around the country more effectively.

This competition on ‘Informed Logistics' is looking for project consortia to develop innovative systems and services able to affect the entire supply chain, across the whole transport network. We are encouraging innovation across the whole spectrum of goods distribution, including; rural, local, regional, national and international distribution.

Working with the Highways Agency, the Department of Transport and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council we will fund projects that help cut the environmental impact of road congestion by influencing customer choices towards more sustainable goods movement, maximising intermodal freight solutions or demonstrating an integrated system approach to the movement of goods.

This competition also specifically seeks to drive efficiencies in the rail network to enable more effective movement of goods. We are encouraging projects that include local or regional test-bed sites across the UK.

Road transport is predicted to grow by 25% by 2015 and we need to support the UK logistics industry, given its importance to the UK economy as a whole, as well as address congestion and environmental issues.