Workshop 7 Report: Innovative finance for innovative public transport

Workshop 7 discussed the existence of and opportunities for innovative finance to fund innovative public transport in developed and developing economies across the globe. Innovation was seen in the use of existing mechanisms as well as in the use of new approaches to financing both the capital and operational aspects of projects. The ‘when and how’ of innovative finance and funding highlighted the need to be sensitive to the context, the nature of the actors involved, the beneficiaries and importantly, the allocation of risk between the various parties. Case studies of different experiences emphasised the critical elements of risk and scale in determining the appropriate financing mechanism and the importance of taking the institutional framework and cultural aspects into account when trying to transfer experience across borders. Policy and research recommendations centre on risk and its allocation between parties for a successful outcome, defining and implementing supportive governance regimes and building an evidence base to reduce the risk management aspects of financing innovative projects.