Nokia works with Bristol on new secure quantum communications technology
Technology from research into quantum security at the University of Bristol has been patented as the basis of a new secure chip being developed with Nokia.
Jeremy O’Brien and colleagues have patented this technology with Nokia and the partners are thinking beyond the idea of secure communications with banks. “We have firm ambitions with Nokia. More and more private and personal information is going to be communicated on mobile devices,” said O’Brien. “You could imagine a scenario where the device asks you how secure you want a message or voice call to be before you start.” Using the technology could prevent eavesdropping on calls, for example.
More in this exclusive article by Sian Harris
Making Sense of Sensors
Wednesday 30 November
09:30 – 16:00
UWE, Exhibition and Conference Centre, Bristol
iNets South West are actively seeking to provide financial support and free business services to new projects relating to sensors and their innovative use in both existing and new application areas. Bringing together companies, entrepreneurs and academics from the South West’s microelectronics sector, this event will seek to generate activities for the iNet to fund and assist. Five ‘Smart Building’ projects resulting from a similar iNet event currently stand to share in the region of £50,000 of support.
How the innovation lab works
At iNet Innovation Labs attendees are given an overview of current trends, commercial opportunities and funding sources before discussing how they might use their pooled knowledge, skills, technologies and ideas to exploit gaps in the market.
Any resulting eligible project proposals will be invited to apply for financial support and free business services:
Fri 23 Dec– proposal submission deadline
Mon 9 Jan– proposals reviewed / results announced
Confirmed key speakers…
Dr. Steve Nicklin
Senior Fellow at Dstl
Dr Giles Sanders
The Technology Partnership plc
Dr. James Richard Fishwick
Bio-Optical Oceanographer Western English Channel Observatory
Confirmed company case studies…
Plessey Semiconductors: EPIC sensor
Alpha-Active: EEG Products
Atlas Genetics
Agenda
09:30 Coffee and registration
10:00 Welcome and introduction, Rick Chapman, iNets SW
10:15 Dr Steve Nicklin, Senior Fellow, Dstl
10:40 Dr Giles Sanders, The Technology Partnership plc
11:05 Coffee & Networking
11:35 Dr James Richard Fishwick, Bio-Optical Oceanographer Western English Channel Observatory
12:00 Workshop 1: Brainstorming
13:00 Lunch and networking
14:00 Company Case Study: Plessey Semiconductors Ltd
14:10 Company Case Study: Alpha Active
14:20 Company Case Study: Atlas Genetics
14:30 Workshop 2: Project Ideas
15:45 Closing summary and next steps
16:00 Networking and close
Related articles
- EPIC BioSensor Senses Disturbances in the (Electromotive) Force (medgadget.com)
- South West Trains installs second hi-tech train listening device (rail.co)
- New Biosensor Chip Picks Up Heart Signals Remotely (spectrum.ieee.org)
- EPIC sensor claimed to simplify ECGs (gizmag.com)
Vince Cable opens £25m Bristol National Composites Centre
Business Secretary Vince Cable has officially opened the £25m National Composites Centre site in Bristol to speed up innovative new products going from the laboratory to the shop-floor.
The Centre is a new 8500m2 state-of-the-art building offering laboratory space for SMEs to develop new products on the same site as the Bristol and Bath Science Park. It is also one of seven research and technology facilities which form the £140m High Value Manufacturing technology and innovation centre.
The Bristol city-region is already at the forefront of composites development, both as an international research hub and as a world-leading manufacturing base. The National Composites Centre will capitalise and build on this. “Here in the UK we are very good at invention, but we need to do more to innovate and turn our ideas into products and jobs,” said Cable. “I don’t want the UK to miss out on any opportunities to create economic growth through manufacturing. This centre will work with our world class universities and international businesses based in the South West and across the UK, to develop and commercialise new technologies. Its work will strengthen our manufacturing sector, exploiting the next generation of advanced composites materials and helping maintain our global lead in this technology area.”
Cable also visited EADS and Airbus at Filton, who have received conditional offers of funding from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund. This £1.4 billion fund is supporting projects that will create jobs in areas dependent on the public sector. “The South West is becoming a real hub for composites and aerospace manufacturing, and is exactly the sort of place where targeted Government support through schemes like the Regional Growth fund, can have a real benefit,” he said. “By helping companies large and small unlock their potential for growth, we can make sure that we rebalance the economy and emerge with a stronger and more diverse industrial base.”
EADS plan to use the Government support to fund the development and industrialisation of additive layer manufacturing which uses laser or plasma energy beams applied to powdered material to build a 3D product up in layers. Airbus have received conditional approval for their bid to support the expansion of aircraft wing design, manufacture, assembly and equipping capabilities. Their application supports a wider investment by Airbus in the project.
Core activities at the National Composites Centre (NCC) include:
- Providing manufacturing facilities at an industrial scale and rapid manufacturing processes capable of building prototypes to validate design concepts.
- Being the hub of the UK’s effort to develop and implement rapid composites manufacturing technologies and systems. It will also co-ordinate the regional network of composites centres.
- Providing direction and focus for fundamental research and collaborative links with UK universities.
- Helping to develop and co-ordinate training to support the skills base necessary for applying advanced and specialist composites technologies. A skills Academy is being established at the NCC.
Related articles
- Airbus to recruit 200 engineers (bbc.co.uk)
- Bristol site at the heart of new advanced manufacturing centre (swinnovation.co.uk)
- AgustaWestland Launches new R&D Programme Supported By £10m TSB Grants (swinnovation.co.uk)
German DJ equipment maker uses Bristol chip
Native Instruments Use XMOS Silicon in New Products
The flexibility of the XMOS chip and software allows engineers to bring a range of equipment with new features to market much quicker than competitive solutions at the same time as adopting emerging standards. Native Instruments has integrated a single XMOS chip with software based on the XMOS USB Audio 2.0 reference design into a variety of new products. The ability to re-use major parts of the software allowed their engineers to focus on the differentiating features and reduce the time taken to bring the products to market.
Native Instruments has a mission to develop innovative, fully integrated solutions for all professions, styles and genres. It started providing real-time sound synthesis on standard computers in 1996, and today offers a range of products for musicians, producers and DJs. The company currently employs around 270 people in its two offices in Berlin and Los Angeles.
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- GEAR ~ iMASCHINE by NATIVE INSTRUMENTS (undergroundhousetv.com)
- Producer Makes Insane Real-Time Beats With New iMaschine App [Video] (gizmodo.com)
- Native Instruments debuts Traktor Kontrol S2 DJ system (electronista.com)
- Native Instruments Maschine Mikro just wants to make the world dance, forget about the price tag (engadget.com)
- Native Instruments unveils new Guitar Rig, Kontakt, Komplete suites (gizmag.com)
Bristol site at the heart of new advanced manufacturing centre
The National Composite Centre in Bristol is a key part of a new Technology and Innovation Centre in high value manufacturing (HVM) that was launched today.
The Technology Strategy Board will invest £140 million over the next six years to stimulate manufacturing in the UK, reduce the risk of innovation for new and established UK manufacturing businesses and attract international business to the UK. The new centre in high value manufacturing will be the first of at least six Technology and Innovation Centres to be established by April 2013.
The HVM Centre brings together seven institutions of excellence to better support UK manufacturing:
· Advanced Forming Research Centre (University of Strathclyde)
· Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (University of Sheffield)
· Centre for Process Innovation (Wilton & Sedgefield)
· Manufacturing Technology Centre (Coventry)
· National Composites Centre (University of Bristol)
· Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (University of Manchester and Sheffield)
· Warwick Manufacturing Group (University of Warwick)
By incorporating the seven institutions, the HVM Technology and Innovation Centre will support a number of different industries including pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, food & beverages, healthcare, aerospace, automotive, energy, chemicals and electronics.
The HVM Technology and Innovation Centre will commercialise business-led research and innovation that will help UK manufacturing businesses become more competitive on a world stage. As well as receiving funding from the Technology Strategy Board, direct contracts with UK business will form a third of the overall funding for the centre. The Centre will also be well positioned to secure funding from competitive Research and Development (R&D) grants, including EU funding.
“High value manufacturing is a priority for the Technology Strategy Board. The future of manufacturing in the UK needs to be high value, delivering strong financial performance, strategic importance, and positive social impact,” said Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board. “The UK has some of the best manufacturing businesses in the world, the industry accounts for 12 per cent of GDP, around half of exports and in 2010 employed 2.5 million people in the UK. The new centre will help UK businesses stay at the leading edge of manufacturing technology and create and protect jobs long into the future.”
“This is a fantastic opportunity for UK businesses in manufacturing. The new HVM Technology and Innovation Centre will become the go-to place for innovation in the UK manufacturing,” said Peter Chivers, Chief Executive of the National Composites Centre. “Using the facilities and expertise from the seven institutions, the new centre will provide a compelling advantage for UK manufacturing. We have already received strong interest from UK businesses to use the service and will be working collaboratively with UK manufacturing businesses from today.”
Cabinet Office Approves Bristol’s Open Source Plans
Bristol City Council has been given the green light to push ahead with its open source strategy following a meeting with CESG, the cyber security arm of the UK intelligence services.
The move is a key step in stimulating innovation in software for government systems.
via Cabinet Office Approves Bristol’s Open Source Plans | eWEEK Europe UK.
Related articles
- Cabinet Office shuns open-source in IT-tracking deal (go.theregister.com)
- UK cyber security plan delayed till October (go.theregister.com)
Bristol hosts Energy-Aware Computing workshop
Alternative Models for Energy-Aware COmputation
Wednesday, 19th October 2011, 9:00 – 17:00, Cabot Room, The Hawthorns, 14-16 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UQ
Researchers and engineers with interests in energy-aware computing are coming together in Bristol next week to identify the challenges that can be developed into collaborative research projects in computing systems that are aware of the energy they consume.
The special focus of this workshop is on Alternative Models for Energy-Aware COmputation with one session focused solely on Learning from Biology. “We strive to go significantly beyond the state of the art,” say the organisers.
Agenda (all times approximate)
9:30 Welcome and Introduction – Kerstin Eder and David May, University of Bristol
9:45 “Prising the secrets of energy efficiency out of brains” – Simon Laughlin, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK
~10:45 Discussion followed by a short Coffee Break
11:15 Intellectual Challenges Update and Discussion: What next?
~12:30 Lunch including Networking and Intellectual Challenges Discussion
13:30 “Energy-Modulated Computing” – Alex Yakovlev, Newcastle University, UK
~14:30 Discussion followed by a short Coffee Break
15:00 Brainstorming Session
~16:00 Discussion and Conclusion
16:30 Wine Reception and Networking
17:00 END
Related articles
- IBM partnership with Bristol University aims for a smarter planet (swinnovation.co.uk)
- Smart City funding boost for Bristol (swinnovation.co.uk)
Shutl high speed delivery launches in Bristol
Shutl, the internet start-up that can deliver goods in under an hour, is launching its service in Bristol today.
The multi award winning service allows shoppers to receive online purchases from high street retailers in as little as 90 minutes or to choose a one-hour delivery window, same day or any day. This is made possible because Shutl fulfils web orders from local stores rather than a centralised warehouse. Shutl can deliver 24 hours a day, seven days a week from £4.95, although retailers will often offer the service for free in order to drive conversion.
Having launched the service in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester in August, and within London last year, Shutl now operates across a total of 10 UK cities adding Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff and Liverpool alongside Bristol.
“This next phase of Shutl’s roll-out will enable us to serve around 40% of the UK’s online shoppers,” said Tom Allason, founder and CEO of Shutl. “We are on track to providing high-street retailers with a game-changing delivery proposition in time for Christmas, a key weapon in the battle for market share with Amazon and the other pure-play e-tailers.”
Initially the service will be offered to the new geographies through leading fashion brands Karen Millen, Oasis, Coast and Warehouse. Other major high street names are expected to follow suit shortly.
The company recently won the BT Retail Week Technology Award for “Supply Chain Excellence” and has been shortlisted as a finalist in the upcoming Retail Systems Awards in the “Internet Technology of the Year” and “Supply Chain Innovation” categories. Earlier in the year Shutl was awarded a Media Guardian Innovation Award for “Technology Breakthrough Business” and the Econsultancy Innovation Award for E-commerce.
Related articles
- Supply Chain Innovators: shutl (supplychainventures.typepad.com)
- Shutl, the super-fast delivery service, expands across the UK (thenextweb.com)
- UK online shoppers spend 5 days a year waiting for home deliveries (thenextweb.com)
IBM partnership with Bristol University aims for a smarter planet
The University of Bristol is to work with IBM on joint research and technology projects in intelligent infrastructure and cloud computing
“Students and staff at the University will work more closely with IBM teams to develop the skills and technology needed for an ever-changing world,” said IBM Executive Partner and Bristol Partnership Executive Jon Bentley “The work that will be carried out by the teams will look at how new intelligent infrastructure can help the world function more efficiently and help create a smarter planet.”
The aim of the relationship is to stimulate growth and drive innovation, whilst expanding the scope of resources and experiences offered to students. Smarter infrastructure is vital in all manner of things, including cars, appliances, roadways, power grids, clothes and even natural systems such as agriculture and waterways.
The announcement builds on the success of Bristol University graduates recruited by IBM and the collaboration with IBM to establish the University’s £7million BlueCrystal supercomputer facility, which is one of the fastest and largest computers of its kind in the UK.
Cloud Computing is another research priority. This is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility.
The partnership will also see joint research and technology projects, the combining of efforts to access funding, recruitment activities, staff secondment and possible mentoring opportunities.
Professor Eric Thomas, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol, said: “Jointly we will look at accessing research funding, recruitment activities, staff secondment and possible mentoring opportunities. I look forward to building on our existing links and our shared goal of delivering a truly phenomenal student experience.”
Related articles
- Bristol hosts technology ‘mission’ from London (swinnovation.co.uk)
- Bristol NHS and University researchers win £11m in record funding (swinnovation.co.uk)
- Bristol researchers simplify move to quantum computer (swinnovation.co.uk)
- Office Designs A Smarter Planet For IBM [Pics] (psfk.com)
- IBM’s Start-Up Strategy Beginning To Pay Off (blogs.wsj.com)
- IBM Enters the Cloud (nyconvergence.com)
- IBM Develops First Chip that Mimics the Human Brain (nyconvergence.com)
- IBM Now No. 2 in World Tech Value (businessweek.com)
Green energy high fliers compete for awards
Companies, community groups and charities are among those shortlisted for the South West Green Energy Awards, judged by a panel of leading industry experts and awarded on 9th November.
Green energy high fliers compete for awards | This is Cornwall.
Brunel Gorilla tops the popularity stakes
The Brunel Gorilla on Clifton Suspension Bridge
The popularity of a gorilla dressed as Isambard Kingdom Brunel demonstrates the interest in innovation and engineering in the SouthWest.
All through the summer, sculptures of gorillas have been placed around Bristol and London to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the science and research at Bristol Zoo Gardens. All 60 were sold off in an auction last week, with the Brunel gorilla – called Gorisambard – raising the most money at £23,000. Overall the auction raised £427,300 for gorilla conservation work and the Redland-based Wallace and Gromit Grand Appeal.
Related articles
- Bristol’s Wow gorillas, going going gone (bristolculture.wordpress.com)
- Brunel archive reveals hidden treasures in show-and-tell at Bristol docks (guardian.co.uk)
SW companies drive wireless payment revolution
SouthWest companies are at the forefront of driving a new phase of contactless payment systems for transport.
Hoeft & Wessel and CreditCall revolutionise e-Ticketing in public transport
IT specialist Hoeft & Wessel in Swindon is to provide its new Almex e-Ticketing system across the UK for easy contactless payment by credit card without prior registration. The system uses the new generation of NFC (near field communication) chips, some of which are designed by the Cirencester division of chip giant Broadcom, while teh core software comes from a Bristol firm.
“This super-fast ticketing system will practically revolutionise the public transport system,” said Thomas Wolf, member of the Board of Management of the Hoeft & Wessel. “All passengers will soon need is a credit card with NFC functionality to be able to board the means of transport of their choice immediately. What this means in practice is boarding, holding the card in front of the reading device and starting the journey. After holding the card in front of a reader at the end of the journey the best fares will be calculated and charged. ”
With the new NFC ticketing system it was possible to minimise the transaction time required for identification of the credit card or the e-Ticket, which now amounts to less than 500 milliseconds.
The first practical test is now on the cards: Hoeft & Wessel will be equipping FirstGroup, the largest private bus operator in the United Kingdom, with 4,000 systems. They will be integrated into the corporate IT system, and a further 1,500 are at the planning stage. “Now that we have reached a leading position in the bus market, we plan to intensify our efforts in the field of stationary ticketing terminals. In the process, in future we will also be targeting the railway market in the United Kingdom,” says Peter Aylward, General Manager of Almex UK in Swindon.
The software technology to make this happen was developed in Bristol by Creditcall. Its Contactless Kernel enables acceptance of Visa payWave and MasterCard PayPass cards in retail and unattended environments.
“CreditCall is a globally acknowledged industry expert with an exceptional track record in the payment sector. Their Contactless Kernel has enabled us to quickly and economically integrate contactless payment functionality across our offering, ” said Peter Aylward, General Manager of Almex UK, part of Hoeft & Wessel.
“We are delighted that Hoeft & Wessel as a well-known provider of proven ticketing systems across Europe have opted for our contactless kernel,” said CreditCall’s CTO Jeremy Gumbley. “With Contactless.LIB, Hoeft & Wessel is able to make contactless payment available more widely, contributing significantly to the contactless payment revolution happening right now.”
Background
In the past, contactless credit cards provided for payment of a service at a predefined price. In contrast, as passengers’ boarding and exiting statistics are recorded, this means that the total fare is only determined when changing trains or buses or at the end of the journey. Moreover, passengers used to be required to register with the transport authorities and buy a special identification medium to be able to use these processes. The innovation developed by Hoeft & Wessel on the basis of credit card systems now ensures that all passengers need to use the check-in/check-out system is their credit cards.
Passengers also benefit from the new ticketing system when paying for tickets and finding the correct fares: it automatically selects the suitable ticket and the best fare. The background system enables individual transactions to be consolidated across a period of time capable of being selected by the operator; only once this has been done is the transaction submitted to the payment service provider. This helps to save transaction fees. If a best-price strategy is applied, in return the passenger can be billed with the most favourable ticket for his usage behaviour, for instance in the form of a day ticket rather than several single tickets.
Related articles
- Survey shows 1 in 2 prefer contactless payments to cash in the UK (thenextweb.com)
- Hoeft & Wessel bringing NFC-based e-Ticketing to public transport (kobn.wordpress.com)
- Hoeft & Wessel and Summit Form Strategic Alliance (prweb.com)
- Leading Mobile Device Makers Pledge Support For Carrier-Led NFC Venture Isis (techcrunch.com)
- Five million contactless credit cards now issued in UK by Barclays and Barclaycard (moneyexpert.com)
- Mobile payment security apps coming to NFC-ready smartphones (infoworld.com)
- Google Wallet could be the future, but the present is very limited (news.consumerreports.org)
- ISIS mobile payment JV lines up handset backers (news.cnet.com)
Bristol Council’s Open Source Push Hits Security Block
Bristol Council is pushing to be the first in the UK to move to ‘open source’ computer software that does not come from big companies such as Microsoft, but has hit a significant block. The problem is that only three software systems are approved by the Government, none of them open source and all from big companies.
Open source software such as OpenOffice.org is available for free or minimal cost and is developed by a wide range of people all feeding developments and improvements back into the code. The argument is that it stimulates innovation and allows new players with great ideas to emerge.
As a result of a letter from the Council, the Cabinet Office’s Senior Advisor on Innovation and Transformation through ICT, Liam Maxwell, has apparently “responded positively to this approach” and a senior Cabinet Office Team will visit Bristol shortly. It is thought they will discuss what actions the government can take to help Bristol City Council resolve this issue.
via Bristol Council’s Open Source Push Hits Security Buffers | eWEEK Europe UK.
Related articles
- UK.gov code defines open standards (go.theregister.com)
- Cabinet Office shuns open-source in IT-tracking deal (go.theregister.com)
Battle of the knowledge superpowers
Knowledge is power – economic power – and there’s a scramble for that power taking place around the globe, says a feature on the BBC website
Not to invest in high tech and innovation would now be “unthinkable”, says Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, the European Commissioner responsible for research, innovation and science, who is trying to spur the European Union to keep pace in turning ideas into industries. She has announced £6bn funding to kick-start projects next year – with the aim of supporting 16,000 universities, research teams and businesses. A million new research jobs will be needed to match global rivals in areas such as health, energy and the digital economy, all areas that are strong for the South West
BBC News – Battle of the knowledge superpowers.
Bristol & Bath Science Park opens
Science Minister David Willetts with glass sculpture of virus 'Smallpox' at the opening of the Science Park
The long awaited £300m Bristol & Bath Science Park has opened with the first companies moving in.
Formumetrics – a scientific consultancy that helps formulate new and improved products – BPE Solicitors, YFM Equity Partners and Science City Bristol are the first to move into the new offices. “The Science Park will be a great place to work and do business,” said Dr Keith Bean, managing director at Formumetrics. “On the first morning we bumped into another tenant over coffee that happens to work with the same client base as us and as a result we have already found ways to work together in the future. We know our business will thrive here.
Apitope, a company which focuses on the discovery and development of treatments for autoimmune and allergic diseases, including multiple sclerosis and Graves’ disease, will be moving into the Innovation Centre in October.
Partner companies to the new National Composites Centre are also beginning to come on site and this will expand the scientific and business community.
A significant number of the 250 companies in YFM’s portfolio are from the science and technology sector, many of whom are based in the South West. They include DNA diagnostics company Atlas Genetics, which raised £16.5m earlier this summer, and Gnodal, which has developed high performance computer network equipment.
The Forum in the Science Park
BPE Solicitors is a rapidly expanding law firm with offices in Cheltenham and London. It has a national reputation for corporate finance, technology funding, intellectual property and commercial property work. It has a dedicated science and technology arm and acts for all the UK’s major influencing and grant awarding bodies in the science and technology sector. It will give fortnightly ‘vitamin briefings’ – bite-sized briefings on a changing area of law – in the Park’s social space, the Forum.
The Science Park is one of three buildings to open at the Park this month. The other two are The Forum and the Expansion Space. The Forum will act as the social and collaborative hub of the park, providing a space for businesses to meet and share ideas. The 11,000 sq ft building will be open to the wider community and will feature a high quality café and networking space. The Expansion Space will provide another 25,000 sq ft of space for developing businesses. It is ideal for companies that need flexible terms as well as the support of a lively business community.
These buildings are the focal point of the Bristol & Bath Science Park and represent the first phase of development at the 59-acre Park that aims to create 6,000 high tech jobs. The site was opened by the Minister of State for Universities and Science, David Willetts.
First commercial hydrogen filling station opens in Swindon
The UK’s first commercial filling station has opened in Swindon at the Honda factory. This is the first in a series of stations for the ‘Hydrogen Highway’. More details and the milestones for the project (which was announced in July and operational last month) are at Forward Swindon.
Built and operated by industrial gases company BOC, a member of The Linde Group, the venture is the result of a partnership between Honda, BOC and economic development company Forward Swindon.
The new station is open to anyone developing or using hydrogen-powered vehicles. It can fill vehicles at both 350 bar and 700 bar, the two standard filling pressures adopted by the world’s major vehicle manufacturers.
While all the major vehicle manufacturers are developing hydrogen-powered models, there are few refuelling facilities available to users. Consumers will not purchase hydrogen vehicles without being confident that there will be a refuelling network; yet the big fuel companies will not invest in new facilities while there are no hydrogen cars are on the road
The Swindon station aims to break this impasse by providing a glimpse of the future, while creating a strategic link half way along the M4 between London and Swansea. As a fully operational, commercial-scale station using tested technology, it is a solution that can be replicated across the country and so create the essential network necessary for the widespread uptake of hydrogen-powered transport.
Among the many innovations of the new station is that it can fill vehicles ‘back-to-back’ from a bank of hydrogen cylinders. This means that vehicles can be filled one after another without having to wait for more hydrogen to be generated.
Another feature is the design: it looks just like a conventional filling station and the time to fill a vehicle is comparable with conventional fuels. The Honda FCX Clarity for example takes less than five minutes. For the consumer, then, the experience should be very similar to refuelling at a normal petrol station.
Also present at the unveiling are a range of different types of vehicles, from passenger cars and light commercial vehicles to an ambulance, a taxi and a London bus – all fuelled by hydrogen. Hydrogen is finding applications across the entire automotive sector.
Speaking at the opening of the facility, Richard Kemp-Harper, Lead Technologist for Transport and Energy at the Technology Strategy Board, said: “The change from conventional transport systems to sustainable, low carbon alternatives is one that can only be made through businesses and government working in partnership to develop innovative solutions. This new refuelling station gives a real glimpse of the role hydrogen can play in practice. It is a great example of the kind of collaboration and innovation we need.”
Mike Huggon, Managing Director of BOC in the UK and Ireland, said: “This is the first commercial-scale, open-access station in the UK. It demonstrates that we can build the infrastructure needed to establish a hydrogen-powered transport system. But even with private and public support – as we have here in Swindon – we need Government commitment to make this work across the country as a whole. We can provide the tools but the Government has to create the policy framework in which we can build the low carbon infrastructure of tomorrow.”
Ian Piper, Chief Executive of economic development company Forward Swindon, said: “I’m proud that we have been involved in such an exciting public-private partnership. Forward Swindon was the initiator of this project and brought together the funding: it’s a great example of how innovative projects can come to life in the UK, even in a recession. Swindon’s strategic location makes it the natural home for new transport technologies, and I’m confident this facility will encourage a growing interest and take up.”
Thomas Brachmann, Head of Electrical Powertrain R&D at Honda, commented: “Hydrogen fuel cell technology is the ultimate transport solution; meeting environmental demands but also delivering the range and performance that customers expect. The cooperation on this project between vehicle manufacturers like Honda, infrastructure providers like BOC and the public sector can be a blueprint for future development.”
Related articles
- VIDEO: UK’s first public hydrogen pump (bbc.co.uk)
- BBC – UK’s first hydrogen filling station to open in Swindon (southmarston.org.uk)
- Germany Plans Hydrogen Future (blogs.wsj.com)
- Hydrogen Powered Cars (athingforcars.com)
- The Hydrogen Superhighway (distgen.co.uk)
Bristol council leader urges government to back green bank bid
Bristol leader Barbara Janke has called on the government to back the city’s bid to host a planned £3bn Green Investment Bank.
During the meeting, Janke also made the case for more government funding for superfast broadband infrastructure in Bristol. She also stressed the importance of innovation to the city. “Bristol is a fantastic place to start creative and advanced tech companies – not least because were already at the heart of these industries in the UK,” she said.”I’ve heard a lot of talk about London growing its creative and technology business base with a brand new silicon roundabout. But it must be remembered that we’re already part of the largest silicon design cluster anywhere in Europe, second only to silicon valley in California in terms of turnover.”
via Insider News South West – Janke urges government to back green bank bid.
Bath named as the ‘University of the Year’ by The Sunday Times
Bath named as the ‘University of the Year’ by The Sunday Times.
Covers the research, teaching, employability and student experience
Snell launches new flexible broadcast router
Vega is a flexible 96 port fibre and coax router
One of the world’s leading broadcast equipment makers, Snell, has launched an innovative new routing platform for broadcsters.
The company, based in Berkshire and Havant, has developed a system that allows users to configure any signal port independently for fibre or coax (copper) connectivity. Vega’s unique design also enables any port to be configured as either an input or output, providing the industry’s most flexible asymmetric routing solution within a space-saving 96-port router.
“Video routing switches are used in virtually all broadcast media installations, and very few of these installations require exactly the same number of router inputs and outputs,” said Kim Francis, product manager at Snell. “Traditionally, broadcast and media companies have obtained the additional inputs or outputs they require by purchasing a larger router. This model is wasteful in terms of unused ports, added cost, and the greater amount of space required. Vega eliminates this waste by allowing users to configure any unused inputs as additional outputs, or vice versa, as the application demands, and its plug-in fiber modules keep the cost and complexity of fiber routing to a minimum. Quite simply, Vega changes the rules of the game.”
Vega has 96 signal ports on its rear panel. The fully asymmetric I/O port designation of the platform enables the user to configure the router with just one input and 95 outputs, 95 inputs and one output, or any combination in between. The use of small fiber plug-in modules and/or miniature coaxial connector types also means that this innovative design yields 50 percent more signal ports than a conventional router of the same rack height.
Each pair of ports consists of a receptacle cage that accepts a very small plug-in module supporting either fiber (LC-type small form-factor pluggable, or SFP) or copper coaxial (HD BNC and/or DIN 1.0/2.3) connectivity. Because Vega’s ports can be configured simply and quickly, broadcasters and media companies can choose the appropriate connection medium on the fly. Convenient support for fibre connectivity without the need for external converters makes it easy and affordable to maintain high data rates over long-distance links. A bidirectional, 12-port, coax-only rear module type is also available, offering users an entry-level solution when fibre connections are not yet required.
Driving your SW Business Forward Through Growth, Innovation and Internationalisation
Businesses in the South West of England are being offered a half day seminar delivered by Business West to showcase the support available to help businesses grow. The seminar will also include an introduction to two further workshops that Business West will be holding shortly.
If you are planning on growing your business over the next 12 months, this event is for you. The event will enable you to:
- Gain insight to overseas growth markets from UK Trade & Investment
- Learn how to access over 14,000 business opportunities for FREE via Enterprise Europe Network’s Partnership Tool
- Discover how you can grow your business through the Coaching for Growth programme brought to you by Solutions for Business
- Hear about ‘Innovative Marketing Strategies’, a new workshop that will help increase profit and turnover for companies with a limited budget
- Hear about Business Finance Options, another exciting new workshop being run by Business West
To register for one of these events, please click the relevant link below
Tuesday 20th September 2011 – The Bristol Golf Club, Bristol – CLICK HERE
Thursday 22nd September 2011 – Royal Bath Hotel, Bournemouth, Dorset – CLICK HERE
Tuesday 4th October 2011 – Exeter Golf & Country Club, Exeter, Devon – CLICK HERE
Thursday 6th October 2011 – Brook Madison Hotel, Swindon. Wiltshire – CLICK HERE
Sponsors
Sponsorship opportunities here
