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.
Researchers develop new microscope to understand bacterial infections
Scientists from the University of Bristol have worked with colleagues in the Department of Physics to develop a new approach for studying molecules within their natural environment, opening the door to understanding the complexity of how bacteria infect people.
The research, led by a team of biochemists, microbiologists and physicists and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), provides an unprecedented level of detail of the consequences of a bacterium approaching another cell, directly in situ. The team studied the common bacterium Moraxella catarrhalis, which causes middle ear infections in young children, and is a major cause of morbidity in those with heart disease. For many years, scientists approached this problem from the molecular medicine approach — through isolating and studying proteins from the Moraxella cell surface that initiate infection.
From these detailed studies the team have been able to develop an overview of one of the key proteins, called UspA1. Leo Brady, Professor of Biochemistry and Mumtaz Virji, Professor of Molecular Microbiology, who led the research, teamed up with Dr Massimo Antognozzi from the University’s School of Physics, whose group have been developing a novel form of atomic force microscope, termed the lateral molecular force microscope (LMFM).
Together, they have evolved the design of the LMFM microscope to optimise its ability to measure biological phenomena such as changes in UspA1 directly at the Moraxella cell surface. The LMFM differs from more conventional atomic force microscopes in tapping samples (in this case, individual cells) against an extremely fine lever, equivalent to the stylus of a record player, rather than moving the lever as is usually the case. Fabrication of extremely thin but stiff cantilevers together with exceptionally fine motor movements and a specialised visualisation system have all been combined in the device to tremendous effect. The sensitivity achieved has been further enhanced by its location within the extremely low vibration environment provided within the University’s Nanoscience and Quantum Information building. The result has been a machine that can measure exquisitely fine molecular changes and forces in individual molecules directly on a living cell surface.
In the Moraxella study, this development has enabled the research team to correlate intricate, atomic level detail of UspA1 obtained by X-ray crystallography of isolated fragments of the protein with delicate and previously unobservable physical changes of the bacterial cell as it binds to and infects its target human cells.
Professor Brady said: “The findings have triggered the development of a novel technology that promises to open up a new approach for studying molecular medicine. This breakthrough will undoubtedly prove equally useful for the study of many other biological processes directly within their cellular environment, something that has long been needed in molecular medicine.”
This combined study, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), has enabled the researchers to observe the very first responses as a bacterium binds to a human cell, opening the door to understanding the complexity of infection processes.
MAS sees nuclear fusion opportunities for SW companies
Nuclear fusion could provide exciting new business opportunities for engineering firms in the South West says the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS).
One such opportunity is ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), an ambitious global research project into nuclear fusion. ITER’s construction offers UK companies a number of business opportunities including civil, mechanical and electrical engineering, consultancy services and project management through to instrumentation, advanced materials and precision engineering.
ITER also offers some challenging engineering opportunities including development and manufacture of high heat flux components, high power electrical engineering, vacuum and pumping systems, remote handling, radio frequency wave heating systems, laser and optical diagnostics, computing and data acquisition.
MAS-SW is keen to actively promote opportunities in nuclear fusion to South West businesses. “Nuclear fusion could become a key sector for manufacturers in the South West. MAS-SW has the expertise to offer targeted strategic support to companies considering branching out into this arena, assisting in identifying opportunities,” said Paul Gilbert, Low Carbon and Innovation Specialist at MAS-SW.
“We have knowledge of the fusion process, enabling us to identify companies that perhaps weren’t aware they possess the skills and knowledge to tender. A wide range of items are required from the simple to the technical, it is not just high-tech manufacturers that will have the opportunity to become involved. Nuclear fusion could represent an essential new revenue stream to a number of South West firms.”
The Culham Centre for Fusion Energy will be managing the Fusion for Energy (F4E) database of companies who have expressed an interest in ITER opportunities.
Dan Mistry, Fusion and Industry Manager at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, said: “Currently there are over 200 UK companies on F4E’s database, but this is only a drop in the ocean compared to the tremendous expertise that exists within UK industry. Our message is for UK companies to look very seriously at these opportunities, they range from conventional to leading-edge engineering, and also include consultancy and project management.”
Fusion offers many benefits over nuclear fission generation but is still at a relatively early stage of development. It can be very high tech, with conditions in fusion reactors requiring temperatures of over 150 million degrees centigrade, but much of the technology is fairly conventional engineering. Large scale investment in fusion research programmes has resulted in many business opportunities for UK companies, particularly on the European JET machine and the UK’s own fusion device, MAST, which are both based at Culham.
Companies hoping to win business in this exciting and challenging market can find more details by contacting MAS-SW on info@swmas.co.uk or by calling 0845 608 3838 .
Related articles
- Fusion power: is it getting any closer? (guardian.co.uk)
- Toward Fusion Energy (bigthink.com)
Digital manufacturing lab opens in Bath – updated
Companies are being invited to test and try out ground-breaking 3D printing technology in the Bath Ventures Innovation Centre. Using ‘RepRap’ technology developed at the University of Bath, the new Digital Manufacturing Labprovides easy access to 3D printing and prototyping for new product ideas, all in an environment supported by experts.
“This technology has strong potential benefits for local businesses, allowing them to manufacture items in-house at low cost,” said Lab manager Pia Taubert. “Our new Digital Manufacturing Lab is located right in the centre of Bath, making it really easy for businesses from the region to pop in and try out the machine. Having RepRap here in Bath will allow very small companies access to very powerful technology. We hope that being able to use RepRap will increase awareness among local businesses of the potential of this type of machine.”
RepRap is short for replicating rapid-prototyper; it employs a technique called ‘additive fabrication’. The machine works a bit like a printer, but, rather than squirting ink onto paper, it puts down thin layers of molten plastic which solidify. These layers are built up to make useful 3D objects.
Dr Andrew Dent from the University of Bath’s RepRap Project team, said: “As most of the parts of RepRap are made from plastic, the machine is able to print copies of itself. Therefore it can be replicated for free and shared between companies. This makes using RepRap so much cheaper than traditional industrial 3D printing.”
RepRap was conceived by Dr Adrian Bowyer at the University of Bath in 2004. It is a low cost open source rapid prototyping system. A RepRap printer is also capable of manufacturing a vast range of 3D plastic objects from computer designs. To date there are over 6,000 RepRap machines in use world-wide by both individuals and companies.
Funded by the University’s KTA account the Lab will also showcase RepRap technology to increase awareness of its potential benefits for businesses. “RepRap is a different, revolutionary way of approaching invention. It could allow people to change the ergonomics of a design to their own specific needs,” said Sir James Dyson.
You can book a free of charge introductory briefing to the Digital Manufacturing Lab
Related articles
- 3D Printing – Sci-Fi Myth Or Reality? (makeuseof.com)
- Ultimaker: Theres a New 3D Printer in Town (mt-soft.com.ar)
- World’s First Printed 3D Plane Takes Off (blogs.wsj.com)
- RepRap vouyerism (hackaday.com)
- 3D Printers Are Taking Off But One in Every Home? Maybe in Another 10 Years (singularityhub.com)
- What is 3D printing? A beginner’s guide to the desktop factory (digitaltrends.com)
8 ways to get Britain going again includes Bristol example
Management Today cites Silicon Gorge in Bristol and chipmaker Icera (alongside Silicon Fen in Cambridge and Silicon Roundalout in East London) as a one of the eight ways to get Britian going again.
8 ways to get Britain going again
Mitie invests £14.6m in start-ups
Bristol-based outsourcing and energy company Mitie has spent £14.6m on five businesses that are part of its start-up ‘Mitie Model’ scheme.
via Insider News South West – Mitie invests £14.6m in start-ups.
Bath online business swoops on rival
Bath-based Attinger Jack Interactive (AJi), which owns voucher codes website Promocodes.co.uk, has bought Whopaysfullprice.com for an undisclosed sum.
via Insider News South West – Online business swoops for rival.
Ethical Power raises £2.4m
Cornish business Ethical Power has raised £2.4m to install and maintain solar PV panels through a new joint venture company. The business will install 50kw PV systems at sites throughout the South West after securing the money from Downing LLP.
via Insider News South West – Ethical Power raises £2.4m.
South West to get £55m to boost broadband
The South West is set to benefit from faster connection speeds after the region was allocated £55.2m to improve broadband. It comes after the government allocated £362m nationally to improve broadband connections.
South West M&A activity falls
The number of mergers and acquisitions in the South West during the half of 2011 has fallen by 37 per cent, compared with the same period in 2010.
Researchers showcased in leading European projects to drive more interest in technology
Future and Emerging Technologies House
Three SW research labs are part of a new website that brings together some of the most advanced information and communication technology (ICT) projects in Europe.
The Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme of the European Commission has launched FET-House to help young people to understand what their options are as regards the career in science and technology, and bring across some of the excitement of people who have a passion for science.
The projects include the Bristol Robotics Lab, the International Centre of Unconventional Computing at UWE and the Science and Engineering of Natural Systems Group and Nano Research Group at the University of Southampton.
The website showcases topics such as zero-power computation and communication, robotics, quantum technology, understanding the brain, or data privacy. The themes will be linked to demos, videos and write-ups of a selection of related projects, as well as to people working in the field who are able to excite others about their work.
Related articles
- SETsquared showcases cutting-edge SW technologies (swinnovation.co.uk)
- Smart City funding boost for Bristol (swinnovation.co.uk)
- £16million injection into SW creative industries (swinnovation.co.uk)
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