R&D for Intelligent Transportation and Logistics Systems
The future intelligent transportation and logistics systems (ITLS) are predicted to address societal demands for traffic management and control, logistics network optimization, and operation. Moreover, the continuous automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices driven by the fourth industrial revolution results in significant changes not only to production centers but also in all steps of the supply chain. Recent advances in intelligent transportation can be seen in cloud-enabled smart cities where it is coupled with Internet of Things to support the vision of smart city adoption as well as to create an advanced platform for innovative and novel applications.
Other advances are in in-vehicle applications such as autonomous driving, vehicle-to-vehicle, and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. There also have been studies conducted on blockchain-based intelligent transportation.
Brought by the recent pandemic, there have also been researches done to improve the technologies used in the area of emergency logistics system, which includes Emergency Logistics Procurement, Emergency Logistics Warehousing, Emergency Logistics and Transportation, Emergency Logistics and Distribution, and Emergency Supplies Distribution Link. Hence, there is an increased need to introduce cutting-edge technology and maximise the use of advanced information technology to develop more efficient port logistics information network, logistics
If your company is undertaking intelligent transportation and logistics-related projects that involve innovation, you may be able to receive as much as 43.5% refundable tax offset depending on your aggregated turnover. However, it is important to keep in mind that eligibility to R&D tax incentives is based on the activities of a project instead of the project itself as a whole. If a project is innovative and/or novel but the activities involve to realise it is not, then R&D tax incentive cannot be claimed.
Below are some examples of valid project activities:
1. Developing novel optimization model for logistics systems
2. New methods to embed technologies into intelligent transportation and logistics systems
3. Creating a new theoretical framework for intelligent transportation
However, activities conducted primarily to improve internal business processes or administration are excluded from being valid activities even if they are innovative or novel and are conducted for the purpose of generating new knowledge. It is to be expected that a company made an effort to conduct research or consult an expert in the field before claiming that a project activity is an R&D activity. In many cases, a technical uncertainty that a project activity aims to shed light on can be resolved by applying expertise. Moreover, it is extremely important that companies keep a close record of all experiments or tasks conducted for each activity; otherwise, it would be difficult to prove their eligibility.
We at Innercode can help you assess whether your intelligent transportation and logistics systems project activities fall as R&D activities. By having the right advice and insights straightaway, you can be sure of maximising your R&D tax claim. We have years of experience delivering R&D Tax incentives to many software and tech companies – some of them specialise in ITLS. Through our streamlined process of analyzing claims, we are confident that we can help you determine your eligible projects and activities in just a few hours of your time.
