10080803KitDrop-AI: improving construction productivity by optimising equipment rental supply chain and logisticsClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKThe UK's construction industry represents 6% of GDP and 3.1m+ jobs (Chartered Institute of Building) yet is a laggard in innovation, with productivity 21% below the wider economy (BEIS). There are 300,000 construction companies in the UK and most prefer to hire equipment to better manage cash-flow and market cycles. The equipment supply-side is equally fragmented, with 6,000 suppliers, meaning multiple quotes must be obtained per order which is labour-intensive and slow. KitDrop-AI is a project that aims to improve construction sector productivity by optimising equipment rental supply chain and logistics through intelligent deployment of machine learning models. It will also help to remove carbon emissions by optimising construction delivery traffic, which currently accounts for 30% of urban goods transport (Guerlain-et-al) or 35MtCO2e (DfT). KitDrop-AI is a collaboration between UK construction rental marketplace startup, GetMyEquipment Ltd ("GME") and Cheshire-based data science and AI consultancy, Timelaps AI Ltd ("Timelaps").