IoTUK identifies four new UK partners, Cambridge Wireless included

UK-based Internet of Things promotion scheme IoTUK has announced the four winning partners selected for its Boost initiative to get the public sector using the technology.

The programme has nominated schemes proposed by vendors based in Scotland, Yorkshire, Cambridge and the North East of England. Twenty companies competed for adoption by IoTUK. Each potential Boost partner was asked to prove their interaction with large companies or local authorities. After demonstrating their merits in a two-day workshop and innovation contest, the four winners will now benefit from business, technical and mentoring support from the IoTUK team.

One winner, Scottish based CENSIS, impressed judges with its innovations centre for sensor and imaging systems. Yorkshire based DataCity won the right to join the programme with its work for Leeds in Partnership with ODI Leeds and DigicatYorks. In the North East of England Sunderland Software City was recognised for its support in nurturing aspiring and established software businesses in the region.

The fourth winner, Cambridge Wireless (CW), is a pioneer of using the IoT to help the disenfranchised. In its early day it proposed using unlicensed ‘white space’ spectrum for networking in rural areas and the IoT. Now CW will work alongside SETsquared Partnership to coordinate its IoT activity, with a brief to research and develop systems that promote assisted living, through in Bristol and Guilford.

The IoTUK programme is supported by Digital Catapult, a UK government funded body that aims to support and advance what it judges are the UK’s best digital ideas.

“The companies chosen to be our Boost partners mirror our passion and interest for IoT as a transforming approach to business and society. CW’s submission particularly stood out for its experience in connecting the community,” said Maurizio Pilu, Executive Director for Collaborative R&D, Digital Catapult.

“We want to demonstrate how IoT product design for assisted living might transform the UK’s health economy,” said CW CEO Robert Driver, “empowering citizens and improving their independence will ultimately save money.”

CW’s activity within the IoTUK Boost Programme is supported by ARM plc, Mediatek Labs, Arkessa, Iotic Labs, The Technology Partnership, Breed Reply, Watershed, 5G Innovation Centre and The Alloy.

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