The RAPIDS service went live as planned in September and was extended for a further 3 months to complete on 28th February 2021. The extension was to allow the development of two important further features of the VDI service which emerged during the initial project implementation within the NHS during the period of June to November 2020. Firstly, to improve the user access control process, a further development is needed to provide a federated authentication service which links directly to the Trust's Active Directory. The impact of this development will be to improve the speed at which the RAPIDS service can be deployed across other NHS Trusts and to ensure that secure user authentication is maintained. The second development is to "containerise" elements of the service in order to make the deployment of applications used by the healthcare professionals simpler and more robust. This development will also reduce future implementation timescales and allow for more tailored desktops requiring less ongoing maintenance. A user will be able to create their own desktop quickly and securely rather than having to adopt a single "vanilla" configuration.

"AVERT uses **the power of Artificial Intelligence** (AI) to provide real-time information to mental health professionals that enables more focused and responsive care delivery -- making best use of limited resources. Using electronic records from both hospital and the community, AVERT h**ighlights those individuals with depression at greatest risk** of self harm/suicide for accelerated preventative intervention, while simultaneously indicating those well managed at home for whom a scheduled visit is unnecessary. . Importantly AVERT technology processes are advised by professionals and patients to ensure they are s**ensitive to human needs and are effective**. The technology permits continuous outcome monitoring ensuring ongoing improvement. The project team comprises some of the **leading academics** researching into how Artificial Intelligence can be used to improve the care of NHS patients. The **NHS is also a key partner** on the project and MerseyCare, who have been recognised as a Global Digital Exemplar, will provide the clinical input to ensure that the innovations can be effectively adopted and practically implemented within our healthcare system. The project is potentially ground-breaking in that it will use these AI techniques in real-time to continuously monitor and safeguard patients and, if successful, the AVERT technology could be used in a **wide range of chronic conditions** where the deterioration in the patients' condition occurs over time. The project is led by AIMES, an **award-winning healthcare technology business** spun-out from the University of Liverpool and with a national reputation for delivering digital services to the NHS securely and cost effectively. The project builds upon the work of the Connected Health Cities programme in which AIMES and the University of Liverpool are partners having demonstrated that ""**data-saves-lives**"". The project will be undertaken over an **18 month period** in which the various data sets and AI tools will be integrated and tested and the output will be an AVERT demonstrator illustrating the benefits to patients in taking a preventative approach to caring for patients with depression."

‘Collaborative and AdaPtive Integrated Transport Across Land and Sea’ (CAPITALS) is a 2 year project that brings together 15 organisations and stakeholders covering the land and sea logistics chain. The project will develop novel multi-modal transport solutions for seamless movement of freight and people across transport modes (sea, road and rail). The project specifically addresses congestion and delays around ports and their hinterlands resulting the growing numbers and sizes of vessels, lorries and rail wagons. As an island nation, with more than 95% of imports and exports going by sea, the UK economy is critically dependent on shipping and inland connections. Using pioneering techniques and advanced algorithms to exploit maritime, road, rail, local authority and other data, CAPITALS will develop user-centred applications and services to better synchronise shipping, vehicle and rail movements to achieve greater capacity and efficiency from existing infrastructure. CAPITALS solutions will initially be trialled in Liverpool and Humber to validate the benefits, and then define a roadmap for national and international scale-up.