Research and analysis

Exploring Smart Data opportunities in the transport sector

Qualitative research results on transport Smart Data use cases in England.

• From: Department for Business and Trade and Department for Transport
• Published: 5 June 2026

Applies to England

Documents

Exploring Smart Data opportunities in the transport sector: executive summary

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Exploring Smart Data opportunities in the transport sector (PDF version)

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Details

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the Department for Transport (DfT) commissioned Innovate UK Business Connect to identify use cases for a transport Smart Data scheme.

The report presents evidence from 3 stakeholder workshops:

• road in the North West
• rail in the East Midlands
• freight and logistics in the West Midlands

The research identified several cross-cutting data challenges and developed 12 Smart Data use cases for individual travellers and business-to-business applications. These span across:

• journey planning
• ticketing
• electric vehicle (EV) charging
• network management
• freight and logistics

The findings will inform further feasibility analysis and policy development decisions.

Published 5 June 2026