On the occasion of the World Congress on Railway Research in Sydney, the International Union of Railways announced the launch of the second edition of its “UIC Innovation Awards”.

Organised under the coordination of its International Railway Research Board (IRRB), this challenge aims at stimulating research towards the necessary innovations and step-changes for the sector at the global level.

“Technologies and operations must meet a growing need in the area of mobility. They are becoming increasingly complex and the spirit of innovation will therefore become increasingly necessary to make them safer and optimise their performance. UIC is making every effort to foster innovation and these UIC Innovation Awards demonstrate our strong investment in the stimulation of creativity”, said Mr Loubinoux, UIC Director General.

For this 2014 edition, a new prize has been proposed with the “Young Researchers’ Awards”. This new category is to encourage and support a new generation of researchers, engineers, managers in the rail sector that will lay the foundations for future innovative development of railway transport.

Mr Boris Lapidus, Chairman of the IRRB, stressed that “in awarding young researchers, we would like to uphold the tradition of continuity and pass the values of the railway sector and railway science from generation to generation.”

In addition to the new “Young Researchers Award” category a second category has been added for the 2014 edition, namely the “Lifetime Achievement Award” honouring an individual with outstanding career achievements in rail research.

All applicants can now submit their projects at www.uic-innovation-awards.org until 31 May 2014.