Sandboxes
We help industry leaders test, refine and validate new technologies before full real-world deployment
Our sandboxes provide the structure, expertise, and collaboration needed to turn emerging innovations into proven, scalable solutions.
What is a Sandbox?
An innovation sandbox is a controlled environment where technology developers, buyers, and regulators collaborate to test, validate, and refine emerging solutions. It bridges the gap between theory and real-world application, allowing stakeholders to explore new technologies with intent and without the risks of full-scale deployment.
Beyond Testing: Refining and Validating Solutions
More than just a testbed, a sandbox challenges assumptions about how a technology can be used, what value it delivers, and the steps needed for adoption. Participants enter with hypotheses and work together to refine, validate, or pivot their approach based on real-world feedback.
Who is it for?
A sandbox is for organisations facing complex adoption challenges that require collaboration between multiple stakeholders. This includes government departments, regulators, and businesses that have clear objectives but need guidance on how to effectively apply technology to achieve their goals.
When to use a Sandbox?
Unlike traditional pilots, a sandbox operates between live and non-live environments, providing a safe space to test both technology and ideas. It allows organisations to experiment under conditions that closely resemble the real world while minimising operational risks.
Addressing Adoption Challenges
A sandbox is most valuable in scenarios where collaboration and testing different ideas are essential—whether between companies and regulators or between tech providers and industry leaders. It is particularly useful when broader questions need answering—such as why a technology isn’t being adopted, what barriers exist, and how to overcome them. Instead of rushing into deployment, the focus is on refining solutions, ensuring readiness, and determining the best path forward.
What are the Benefits?
- Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration – Brings together technology vendors, developers, and problem owners to co-create solutions beyond traditional sales models.
- Inclusive Stakeholder Engagement – Involves wider stakeholders, including regulators, ensuring solutions align with industry needs and compliance.
- Accelerated Problem-Solving – Identifies hidden challenges, tests new commercial models, and speeds up technology adoption.
- Actionable & Impactful Outcomes – Generates insights that lead to real-world implementation and measurable results.
Success Stories
Exploring Regulatory Barriers to AI, IoT, and Robotics in Heavy Industries
Improving safety and risk management: Safetytech Accelerator and Discovering Safety, a groundbreaking project delivered by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), worked with partners in industry and technology to explore opportunities to improve safety and risk management through innovation and regulation.
Leveraging Regulatory Data for Digital Compliance Solutions
Safetytech Accelerator and Discovering Safety (a programme of work led by Great Britain’s Health and Safety Executive, HSE) have launched a new industry leading Sandbox. Bringing industry, tech innovators and regulators together to explore how access to digital and machine-readable regulations can lead to accelerating compliance, improving efficiency and productivity, and reduce regulatory burdens on industry, whilst supporting innovators to bring emerging digital products to market.
Overcoming Barriers to Entry for Low-Carbon Road Materials
Safetytech Accelerator is working with Amey, Colas, Transport for West Midlands, and North Lanarkshire Council to launch this new Sandbox. Utilising on our expertise in creating and running Sandboxes, this initiative will bring together material innovators, councils, regulators, and industry leaders to identify and overcome barriers to the adoption of low-carbon materials. By working together, we aim to accelerate the uptake of sustainable solutions that can revolutionise the way roads are built and maintained in the UK.