City Tech Spotlight: How Transport for London’s Rikesh Shah Approaches Innovation and Collaboration

COVID-19 underscores that the world’s most pressing problems cannot be solved by any single sector or organization alone. This sentiment is especially true when resources are stretched thin, forcing agencies to do more with less. The following interview from Fall 2019 highlights how creative thinking, innovation, and cross-sector collaboration have influenced Transport for London’s internal processes and strategic partnerships.

As Head of Commercial Innovation, Rikesh Shah is influencing a future in which creative thinking, technology integration, and strategic partnerships are inherently embedded across transit agencies to produce more results and impact change on a greater scale. Rikesh joined City Tech’s Advanced Mobility Initiative Advisory Committee in 2019, and he took the time to share his perspective on innovation within transit companies, London’s role, and implications for other cities globally.

The wider conversation about innovation within transit systems may seem like a recent concept, but according to Shah, innovation has been a key component of Transport for London’s history. Whether that is London opening the world’s first underground railway in 1863 or today’s open data, Shah and Transport for London are continuing to focus on making travel and life better for Londoners.

Today, Transport for London is continuing to prioritize innovation in mobility. “Our focus is being excellent, creative, and innovative to solve London’s challenges. Problems don’t always have to be solved by a certain sector of the market, so how can we be collaborative and open that to other sectors?” said Shah. “We recognize technology and data collection are advancing, and working with market innovators and startups can reduce some barriers of entrance.”

Shah outlined how London is thinking about urban challenges and how mobility systems can play a role in solving them. London is aiming for 80% of trips to be made by public transport, walking, or cycling by 2041. All of this leads back to the goal of creating a healthier city. “Fundamentally, how do we make our city healthier? How do we continue to provide a good public transport system? And, how does mobility help to create economic growth to the city?” he said. “Our job as a city is to curate the right dialogue and have the right players to solve urban problems – we can’t do that if we’re too distant from our residents or if no one understand what we’re trying to achieve.”

Beyond addressing mass transit accessibility, safety, and committing to Vision Zero, London is also tackling air quality, vehicle quality, encouraging physical activity, and using London’s land to unlock public housing or economic hubs – all through the less of mobility.

“These concepts are not specific to London. Cities around the world are asking how their mobility systems can be economic drivers and make quality of life better for their residents, all while battling budget issues or aging system components,” said Shah. “With London’s population expected to reach 10 million people in the next few years, it’s essential that we look at these problems with a comprehensive lens.”

While Transport for London is serving as a model agency for other cities, Shah recognizes that it is not the sole example. “We’re always talking to other cities, whether through formal networks and collaborative groups or conversations with city leaders,” said Shah. “We don’t have all the answers in London, so we want to understand what other cities are doing, and sometimes that even means learning from smaller cities. Having a dialogue, sharing some of our problem statements, and transferring knowledge are essential.”

Of course, collaboration is easier said than done. Having a plan – and a process – to enable multiparty collaboration is necessary. Shah has this advice for transit agencies and other organizations looking to innovate internally or through collaboration: “Have a clear vision and understand what you are trying to achieve, especially if you’re collaborating with other cities or other market innovators.” Other suggestions for a successful collaboration? “Create a space for innovation internally,” said Shah. “Ensure you have project management, both for the partnership and the project, at the beginning to build your network and present clear challenges.”

Shah serves on City Tech’s Advanced Mobility Advisory Committee, a group of mobility, government, and technology experts that provide feedback, insight, and guidance on City Tech’s Advanced Mobility Initiative. The committee reviews current progress and sets the course for solution development and other efforts at six-month intervals.

“Lots of groups across the UK, Europe, and the world are focusing on collaborative innovation and mobility. Speaking with City Tech, it’s clear that there are similarities between the Advanced Mobility Initiative and what we’re trying to do in London,” said Shah. “We’re exploring how can we share London’s best practices and apply them to U.S. cities and find opportunities to collaborate across the pond. We want to collaborate with the best innovators, solve problems, and apply those solutions to economies of scale. We’re here to get the outcomes right, together.

Rikesh leads Transport for London’s market innovation activity to create new value for London by working with start-ups, corporates, academia, accelerators and venture capitalists. He was responsible for creating TfL’s first Innovation Hub. The Hub sets out the organisation’s key problem statements, bringing in the best innovators from across the world, piloting and scaling innovative solutions with the potential to commercialise, as well as establishing the right culture in the company focusing on agility and design thinking to work with market innovators who either have a new mobility product or an innovative idea to help solve an existing city challenges through new technologies.

Rikesh was previously responsible for TfL’s world leading open data programme which has 17,000 registered users, 700 apps powered by TfL data used by 42% of Londoners which an independent review stated that it’s worth to London is £130m per annum.

Rikesh also sits on the Smart London Board to deliver the Mayor of London’s vision to make London the smartest city in the world, as well as on the Advisory Boards for Doteveryone focusing on Tech for Good and City Tech Collaborative in Chicago.

Further reading:
‘How transit agencies are taking innovation from here to there,’ a conversation between Transport for London’s Rikesh Shah and Chicago Transit Authority’s Molly Poppe.

About the Author: Laura Vecchetti is the Communications and Grants Associate at City Tech Collaborative. As a member of the Partnerships and Communications Team, Laura works to connect City Tech with the community. Prior to joining the team, Laura was the Development and Communications Coordinator at Nexus-Onarga Family Healing, a national nonprofit providing specialized mental health services for children, youth, and families, where she helped secure funding for therapeutic programs. In all her roles, Laura enjoys elevating nonprofits’ missions through connection and storytelling.