16 January 2018
A futuristic system of transport, Hyperloop is the brainchild of billionaire inventor Elon Musk, with the potential to send pods in a near-vacuum tube at peak speeds of more than 700 miles per hour, connecting cities in a fraction of current times. Hyperloop One, building on Musk’s vision, put out the call to find the best projects for this technology.
Against the biggest players in the industry world-wide, Toczycka’s team of ten students from HYPED, a University of Edinburgh student society, took home the honours in the competition. Yet, she had never heard of Hyperloop prior to 2016, when she was drawn to the competition as a means to test what she was learning in her Business Management degree. On reflection, Toczycka says that she was well-equipped to rise to the challenge, with resources available within the Business School, “If you are proactive in making the most of them”.
HYPED was one of only three groups from the UK to take part, alongside teams from global engineering firm AECOM, and Ryder Architecture and Arup. For their submission, the group developed a route connecting Edinburgh to London, via Manchester and Birmingham, in 45 minutes. The compelling business proposal was one of ten winning routes shortlisted from an initial pool of more than 2,600 applicants, with Toczycka’s team being the youngest, and only student team, to take home the honours.
Being a student team served them well. With members from Engineering, Informatics, Physics, Mathematics, Law and Business, HYPED had a really expanded knowledge base, to which Carolina added to, “My Business Management degree gave me the strategic and business analytics tools that helped with problem solving and asking the right questions. Using my business and business communication skills gave us a good start when it came to engaging with stakeholders”.
Today, Toczycka is taking the HYPED experience further. It’s the focus of her PhD as well as her ongoing role as Head of Commercial for HYPED. Carolina wants to build research and raise awareness of the project, and encourage youth to take on STEM subjects, via an outreach programme.
In the young entrepreneur’s eyes, transport in the UK is ripe for innovation. “Because of the complexity of multi-million projects and institutional barriers to change, the construction industry has lagged behind most sectors in the economy with respect to innovation and digitisation.” Her research on data-driven decision-making looks to solve challenges faced in supply chain procurement. Those challenges could ultimately hinder the implementation of Hyperloop technology. Interest continues to build in the work Toczycka and her peers are doing; two HYPED engineers completed a summer internship at the Business School, modelling passenger demand for the winning Edinburgh-London route and studying the airport connectivity that Hyperloop could enable.
With HYPED and support from construction partner Costain, Toczycka continues to advocate innovation to stakeholders in the industry and professional bodies, including the Institution of Civil Engineers. As support for collaboration across disciplines continues to grow, Edinburgh could become, in her eyes, “The hub for innovation in the UK.”
Carolina Toczycka is a PhD student at University of Edinburgh Business School