Keolis rewards innovation at its 3rd Innovation Awards edition

What are the Keolis Innovation Awards?

Every year, innovations are developed within each of the networks and business lines. Whether disruptive or incremental, all of them lend concrete solutions to the operational challenges facing public transport every day. For this reason, the aim of the Keolis Innovation Awards is to highlight and promote all of these local initiatives. It also helps to accelerate the scale up of innovations with a strong potential to be replicated across our networks.

Once again this year, our networks rallied together for this third edition, with 137 innovations.

Focus on the selection process with the Jury members

For this new edition of the Innovation Awards, 137 innovation projects were submitted by all of the Group’s subsidiaries and business lines. The submissions were carefully examined by a multidisciplinary jury composed of individuals from the Group and its subsidiaries.

Diversity was the watchword of this year’s innovations, which included technological innovations, low tech, processes and new management approaches. For each of the four categories, the jury members  evaluated projects based on three criteria: the value delivered by the project, the differentiating character, the potential to be replicated.

12 finalists were selected and invited to pitch their innovation at the awards ceremony on September 18, 2025.

Discover the 2025 Winners

After a first edition in 2021 and a second in 2023 marked by 115 projects, the 2025 edition has reached a historic milestone: with 137 entries submitted by our subsidiaries worldwide, we have set a new participation record. This momentum reflects how deeply innovation is embedded in our corporate culture and driven by each and every one of us.

The 2025 Keolis Innovation Awards highlight global trends that are shaping the future of transport. Projects from Australia, Belgium, China, France, India, Qatar, Senegal, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States showcase a remarkable diversity of approaches and innovations.

Artificial intelligence plays a central role, with applications ranging from customer relations to equipment and infrastructure monitoring. The energy transition and the reduction of environmental impact are also emerging as priorities, alongside health and safety, strengthened by solutions that combine cutting-edge technologies with more frugal approaches.

Finally, the diversity of projects reflects a balance between low-tech, digital, and technological innovations, highlighting the richness and dynamism of the solutions offered.

Award for People & Safety Security Category: Kustomize
Keolis Dijon Mobilités has deployed Kustomize, a digital solution revolutionizing driver scheduling by harmonizing personal life and professional obligations. Through an intuitive app, drivers can express their work preferences, and an algorithm adjusts schedules according to legal constraints. This innovation has improved the balance between individual well-being and collective performance, while reducing absenteeism and enhancing driver engagement.

Award for Partners PTAs and Economic Performance Category: Battery Electric Multiple Units
Keolis Commuter Services, in partnership with the MBTA, launched an ambitious project to electrify the Fairmount line using battery-powered trains. Utilizing an innovative financing system based on equipment leasing, this project aims to reduce the carbon footprint while increasing rail service frequency. The initiative has already reduced emissions for local residents and improved service quality, establishing a model for energy transition in rail.

Award for Planet and Operational Excellence Category: SPLIT
Keolis Tours introduced SPLIT, an app designed to effectively manage disrupted situations and better assist passengers. With precise visualization of agent locations and an intuitive interface for controllers, SPLIT allows rapid mobilization of resources during incidents. This innovation has strengthened team responsiveness, benefiting customer relations.

Award for Passengers Category: Phil
Phil, launched by the North-West Regional Directorate for Keolis Normandie Seine, is a WhatsApp bot transforming access to On Demand Transport. With an interface accessible at any time, Phil combines predefined logic and generative AI to offer personalized responses integrated into existing tools. This approach simplifies user experience, reduces abandonment during sign-up, and ensures effective digital assistance for new users.

Special Public Award: Cooling Vest
The North-East Regional Directorate, along with Keolis Côte d’Opale, introduced a cooling vest to improve working conditions for drivers exposed to high temperatures. This vest uses an evaporation system to provide a lasting cooling sensation. It ensures better thermal comfort and significantly reduces team fatigue, offering a concrete solution to the effects of climate change.

Key takeaways from the 2023 Innovation Awards

For the second edition of the 2023 Keolis Innovation Awards, 114 innovation projects were submitted. Originating from 13 countries where the Group operates, these innovations serve the Group’s strong commitments:
- Improving the customer experience,

- Keeping both passengers and employees safe,

- Optimizing the performance of our networks,

- Monitoring environmental and operational excellence.

The five winners of the 2023 edition

In addition to the category awards, a Special Audience award selected by Group employees was given out during the pitch ceremony on October 10, 2023. Participation was very high with more than 1,100 votes cast from all our regions.

Discover the 2023 winners:

Special Audience Award: The Smart Station in Dubai

The Smart Station concept was developed by Keolis in Dubai with its PTA RTA to test and showcase innovations in passenger services, operations, maintenance and sustainability. It provides a collaborative environment for industry experts, startups and universities to create new solutions. Fifteen pilot projects are currently being tested and evaluated with more to come.

Award in the Passenger category: Augmented Guidance in Nancy

In 2023 in Nancy, as part of the project to replace the main tramway line with a trolleybus line, Keolis rolled out a solution with its PTA the Métropole du Grand Nancy to guide passengers from closed stops to transfer stops. By simply scanning a QR code with their smartphone, passengers can receive augmented reality images to guide them from stop to stop, offering greater assistance and reliability than conventional displays.

Award in the People & Safety-Security category: The S-1 Gard system in Sweden

In Sweden, Keolis has rolled out a system of barriers installed on the front of buses and in front of their rear wheels. This device, invented by the startup S-1 Gard, reduces the risk of serious accident in the event of a collision.

Award in the PTAs & Economic Performance category: The Patterns CO2 solution by Hove

Patterns CO2 is a solution that uses GPS data to track all journeys made in a given area, identify the modes of transport used and continuously map the evolution of CO2 emissions from mobility. Notably rolled out in the cities of Nancy and Rennes, the solution is an invaluable tool for decision-making and assessing the effectiveness of policies deployed by transit authorities, for example pedestrianization, bicycle lanes and dedicated lanes. In particular, it makes it possible to track the evolution of carbon emissions from mobility.

Award in the Planet & Operational Excellence category: The Filgreen serious game in Tours

Filgreen is a serious game designed to engage Keolis Tours employees in reducing their carbon footprint. Using data, artificial intelligence and gamification, drivers and managers can take part in a unique experience based on collective goals and individual challenges. Filgreen is a tool for involving and rewarding drivers and their managers – success is what counts.

Watch highlights from the 2023 Innovation Awards ceremony in video

Relive the 2021 edition

Take a look back at selected initiatives rolled out in 2021 on our networks, presented during the first edition of the Innovation Awards.

Discover a selection from the 135 projects submitted in 2021 in the article ‘Innovation in action: discover 27 initiatives across our networks!’

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