Sector spotlight: Tech

SECTOR SPOTLIGHT: Tech

Fact…

• Bristol is the 6th largest tech cluster in the country.
• ‘Silicon Gorge’ is the name given to the cluster of high-tech and research companies in the triangle of Bristol, Swindon and Gloucestershire and is the 5th largest cluster in Europe.
• Bristol’s high-tech sector has seen a 212% growth in productivity since 1998

• Future Ambitions

Speakers and steering committee members outside BBSP – Left to right – Adam Ward, Steve Egan, Bonnie Dean, Prof Iain Gray, Jon Ashcroft, Alison Starr (Photo by JonCraig.co.uk)

Bristol and Bath Science Park at Emersons Green has unveiled plans for expansion, which include a national centre for emerging technologies, a global automotive research facility, an extension of the National Composites Centre and bespoke business plots.

Since it opened in 2011, the park has attracted more than 40 tenants and created 350 jobs. That National Composites Centre is one of the site’s success stories. In the four years since it launched as part of the government’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult initiative, it has become internationally renowned for innovation in composites and their application in aerospace, automotives and heavy infrastructure.

It is hoped that the expansion will support the local economy and help capitalise on high-growth new industries.

“The Science Park has made a fantastic contribution to the local economy in the last four years. [It] is where the West of England is already establishing a leadership position, from robotics to quantum computing technologies,” says Professor Iain Gray, chairman of the Science Park’s newly created Steering Committee. “These fast-emerging industries will be key to job creation and inward investment in the Emersons Green Enterprise Area and the wider area, building on the West of England’s reputation as a major centre for science, technology and engineering.”

•  Wings of Change

Concorde may no longer be in the skies, but Airbus in Filton remains at the sharp end of aeronautical designs. You may have noticed ‘Sharklets’ on the wing tips of planes flying in and out of Bristol. Developed here, these 2.4m tall wingtip devices improve aerodynamics that allow planes either an extra 100 nautical miles range or increased payload capability of up to 450kg. “Made from lightweight composites, these wingtip devices offer up to four percent overall fuel burn savings,” says spokeswoman Vicky Runcie, so much so that they are appearing on more and more new aircraft and being retrofitted to existing flying machines.

It’s one of many R&D projects pursued by airbus. Sustainable eco fuels and the world’s first electric planes are among the others. The E-Fan is almost silent in flight and produces nearly zero CO2 emissions. Plans are in place to produce the 2.0, powered by batteries alone with a flight time of up to five hours, by 2017.

“We are leading the way in environmental performance,” says Mark Stewart, Airbus General Manager. “As an industry we have reduced CO2 emissions by more than 70 percent in the last 50 years.”

• Comment: Paul O’Collins

Paul O’Collins, Head of Innovation at Business West asks: Technologists or Entrepreneurs?

“The South West is fortunate to have some major global technology companies but the focus from international support agencies such as ourselves must be on stimulating growth, innovation and internationalisation in the SME community.

Helping SMEs access funding to support their R&D, exploit and commercialise their ideas and get them better embedded in major supply and value chains are the key challenges that we as support agencies face.  In order to succeed, innovative technology companies need to clearly understand what is necessary to achieve their goals, and  in particular recognise their entrepreneurial strengths and weaknesses.

Helping technology innovators better develop their entrepreneurial and commercial skills is vital to success. No matter how good the technology is, it will not sell or exploit itself.  To this end Innovate UK and The Enterprise Europe Network have developed an entrepreneurial skills training programme for technology innovators specifically designed to help them better understand the mechanics of entrepreneurship and hone their value proposition.

We don’t intend to turn technologists into entrepreneurs but we do want to make sure that their ideas are given every chance to succeed.  After all, innovation can only really happen with the commercial exploitation of technology.”

• Cycle Safety

City cycling has hit the headlines for safety concerns, especially in the capital, as vehicles and bikes vie for shared road space. Fusion Processing, working out of the Engine Shed in Temple Meads, is aiming to resolve one of the biggest cycling safety concerns with the CycleEye, a custom camera that is placed on the side of cars, vans and buses to alert the driver of cyclists on the inside. Intelligent data analysis from raw radar and camera data can distinguish cyclists from other street clutter such as railings, bollards and bins, ensuring that drivers only get necessary alerts.

Five cameras are currently being trialled on buses in Bristol and two on buses in London, as well as a series on haulage fleets, trucks and vans.

Jim Hutchinson, founder of the company, says: “There are many causes of collisions between bicycles and large vehicles, but a common factor in many collisions is that the driver is unaware of the presence of the cyclist. We’ve had a lot of interest from hauliers, refuse management companies, local authorities and we’re in talks with manufacturers to offer the technology from new.

We hope that widespread use of CycleEye will greatly reduce the numbers of collisions, saving lives and reducing the number of injuries sustained by cyclists. The improved safety will lead to more people feeling confident enough to cycle in the city.”

• Mother of invention

Cubik Innovation is an electronic product design consultancy based at the Bristol and Bath Science Park. The team at Cubik work primarily with entrepreneurs and inventors alongside larger corporations and MOD primed suppliers, refining and streamlining design ideals and creating manufacturing processes for both commercial products and industrial systems. It’s one example of the niche tech companies flourishing in the city.  

The company was formed in 2012, by managing director Paul Mullen. With Cubik he aimed to service the wealth of inventive and innovative companies in the South West region, facilitating the entire product development lifecycle from one base, regardless of scale.

Earlier in the year Cubik worked with the National Composites centre to manufacture and design high quality composite products. Cubik were commissioned to build a colossus composite moulding system, comprising of 8 boards and 384 solenoids. At the other end of the spectrum, it has produced a small electronic device that can be attached to pipes underneath sinks in hospitals to protect against Legionnaires’ disease.

• Smart, healthy homes

Smart homes are just a heartbeat away. A team at University of Bristol is working to put the new technology to good use through SPHERE, a £15 million research scheme funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Council that will use sensors and raw data to build a picture of how we live in our homes. Using existing sensor technology, researchers are collecting environmental data – humidity, temperature, power use, luminosity, and more – along with raw information from wearable devices. Plans are in place to recruit 100 homes to participate in a year’s trial from January 2017.

If it all sounds a bit Big Brother, the predicted applications are largely medical. With the looming problem of an ageing population and rising incidences and associated costs of obesity, depression, stroke, falls, vascular and musculoskeletal disease, the project is asking whether technology could hold the answer to some of these problems. Building a picture of when and how much people are eating could help tackle obesity. Detecting periods of depression or anxiety could allow for computer-based, therapeutic interventions. Predicting falls and strokes allows help to be summoned quickly. Monitoring the movement of people with conditions such as Parkinson’s could help to fine tune prescriptions.

“This is all about self-care,” say Patricia Holley, Project Manager. “There’s a projected shortage of carers for the elderly and chronically ill. In future, this technology will allow patients will look after themselves with the appropriate support of health professionals and social care workers.”

• Virtual Reality

Bristol is emerging as a centre of virtual reality (VR), the next wave in digital technology. As a key digital and gaming hub with corresponding talent and infrastructure, the step into VR is short. Mounting local appetite for these technologies was evidenced last year when a niche VR conference in Bristol pitched at 50 delegates saw 300 people register – making it the UK’s largest.

Internationally, expectations for the field are rising as large tech companies invest in VR hardware and specialist teams, with industry analysts predicting that it will disrupt the mobile market to hit a combined value of $150 billion by 2020. That Facebook has recently acquired leading VR headset company, Oculus, indicates the anticipated growth opportunity.

Ben Trewhella, founder of the conference and head of Opposable VR, a new company developing virtual reality-specific platforms and software, says Bristol has the ideal business environment to push the VR agenda. “Bristol is very well-placed. We have a legacy of experience: experiential games makers, film makers and engineers. Few places have the same perfect mix of industries.

“Those who have tried one of the new VR headsets will tell you that it seems magical, something they’ve imagined would one day happen but not in their lifetime.  The new experiences possible with VR are fast gaining attention as a transformative tool for marketing brands, for creating new entertainment experiences and for visualising business products and services.”

• Hands Free

Driverless cars are to enter the test phase next year thanks to a government-funded consortium in Aztec West. Self-driving cars could improve road safety, reduce congestion and limit emissions. Engineering company Atkins is leading the project’s research and development, including public attitudes and how such a vehicle could respond to real-life road situations.

Carolyn Mitchell, project manager says: “Using safe on-road trials of cars and electric passenger pods, alongside an accurate virtual simulations, Venturer will go gain an in-depth understanding of pulic attitudes and reactions to inform public policy and signpost the way towards a safe and managed transition to driverless cars.”

“The Venturer project will explore world class capabilities in robotics, wireless technology and behavioural analysis over the course of the next three years,” adds project lead Dr John McCarthy. “This will help to create a competitive advantage for Bristol and South Gloucestershire by advancing the region’s ability to support leading edge R&D and innovation.”

• Home-grown talent

Mike Bartley from West of England Local Enterprise Partnership

“Bristol is a very strong high-tech sector, from manufacture to application, and is very strong as a start-up region,” says Mike Bartley High Tech Sector Group Chair of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership, who claims our universities are key to success. “Bristol and UWE generate high calibre graduates and is a ‘sticky city’. People stay: they don’t want to leave.”

That contributes to the rich backdrop supporting a flourishing tech industry. “The universities have a decent record of nurturing and training talent for this sector and indeed have a good record at producing tech start ups – XMOS being one of the higher profile examples,” agrees Nick Simmons of Technology Venture Partners. “It also benefits from highly active and superbly managed community networks such as TechSpark and Silicon South West.”

Despite a rich engineering history spanning back to Brunel, the city had not previously been recognised as a strong tech centre, but it is now. “We had two issues before,” Mike continues; “profile and lack of capital. That’s changed. Chinese investors have invested in Bristol as a silicon research centre and large companies are choosing to base their data centres here.”

He says the co-location of a booming creative sector is a further strength, identifying “a strong correlation between the creative and tech sectors”. The clustering of symbiotic industries creates talent, innovation and employment opportunities. “Companies are arriving all the time,” Mike concludes; “We’re attracting world-class talent.”

• Inward Investment

The local tech sector is attracting millions of pounds of inwards investment, with SETsquared reporting £33m in 2014. “Although the figures relate only to SETsquared members this is the pre-eminent tech business accelerator in Bristol – ranked as the second best university incubator in the world – and so does function as a very good proxy for the general ‘financing’ health of Bristol’s tech company community,” says Nick Simmonds, partner at Technology Venture Partners LLP which helps to fund new projects. “This is good news and these figures have been improving since the onset of the financial crisis back in 2008/2009.”

A recent McKinsey & Company report recognised Bristol and Bath as a nationally important ‘cluster’ with key strengths in hi-tech, ICT and aerospace that were labelled ‘fast-growth’ and ‘globally significant’, attracting further investment.

“Bristol is a good place for tech companies to start up and locate to because the infrastructure required to support new tech companies is developing all the time,” says Nick; “it’s now recognised as some of the best both nationally and internally. The funding you may require is also increasingly available and barring any further global shocks/setbacks I can only see this situation improving further still.”