A university research team approached Accelerate Associates to conduct comprehensive market research for an innovative journey planning tool designed to support travellers with physical and non-physical disabilities. The research team had developed a proof of concept with input from potential end users but required strategic market insight to guide their commercialisation strategy.
The client needed to understand whether their solution could succeed in a crowded marketplace dominated by global platforms, and how best to position their accessibility focused approach within the UK transport ecosystem.
Our approach
We designed a multi layered research programme combining stakeholder depth interviews with secondary market analysis. The research encompassed market sizing, competitor assessment and user needs validation.
Engaging a diverse stakeholder community
The main focus of our approach were depth interviews with senior decision makers and influencers across the UK transport sector. This required careful stakeholder mapping to ensure we captured perspectives from organisations that shape policy, commission services, deliver transport operations and represent user communities.
Our interview participants spanned:
- National policy and innovation bodies
- Combined and regional transport authorities
- Local authority transport teams
- Major transport operators
- Sector organisations and advocacy groups
- Technology and consultancy specialists.
This deliberately broad stakeholder mix enabled us to understand the market from multiple angles: policy priorities, operational constraints, technological feasibility, user advocacy perspectives and commercial realities.
What we discovered
The research revealed both opportunities and challenges within the marketplace. Stakeholders provided valuable insights into data quality requirements, safety considerations and user needs across different disability groups.
The outcome
We delivered a comprehensive market assessment report including:
- Market size analysis (UK and global disability populations, journey planning sector value)
- Detailed competitor landscape mapping
- User needs synthesis based on stakeholder insights
- SWOT analysis
- Pricing structure recommendations
- Strategic recommendations for commercialisation.
Why this mattered
This project illustrates the importance of rigorous market validation before committing resources to commercialisation. By engaging systematically with the full spectrum of stakeholders, we were able to test assumptions, uncover hidden barriers and identify viable pathways that might otherwise have been overlooked.
The breadth of perspectives we gathered proved essential. Policy makers highlighted regulatory considerations, operators explained procurement constraints, technology specialists identified data challenges and advocacy representatives ensured user needs remained central to the analysis.
For organisations developing innovative solutions in complex, regulated sectors, this kind of structured stakeholder engagement provides the evidence base needed to make sound strategic decisions.
Philippa Bevan has over 25 years commercial and public sector experience in marketing, market research and product management spanning the education, laboratory, medical device, technology transfer and packaging industries. Philippa has a BSc (Hons) in Microbiology and Virology and is member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and an Associate Member of the Market Research Society.
