In the UK, the leading trade body the Minerals Products Association (MPA) is setting up a Materials Innovation Hub in collaboration with Highways UK. The project aims to provide a focal point and meeting place for suppliers, contractors, specifiers and clients involved in pavement materials aspects of highways across the national, regional, local and urban road networks.
The hub will mainly focus on seeking solutions to a series of real world challenges, and a competition that addresses them will launch this summer. Short-listed entries will be invited to present at Highways UK in November in front a panel of judges in a Dragon’s Den style format.
In addition, an industry briefing theatre dedicated to materials and maintenance will also run alongside the hub. MPA and its members will work with Highways UK to ensure that the theatre provides an authoritative and topical account of what it can offer the highways sector.
