Innovate 2017

'Innovate 2017' is the UK's most prominent event in innovation, showcasing a fantastic line-up of key industry figures who have a wealth of knowledge and experience in all things innovative. Over the two-day event, there were inspiring, thought-provoking discussions around subjects such as 'Automating the World', 'Future Technologies' and 'Tomorrow's Innovators: Inspiring the Next Generation'. The seminars were all engaging, but the thing that made 'Innovate 2017' really stand out was the number of inventors, entrepreneurs and investors who came to exhibit their game-changing innovations and the new technologies they've been working with.

I was lucky enough to be in attendance and met some extremely passionate people demonstrating innovations that have the potential to shape the future! Here are a couple of the standouts from the event:

OpenTRV

I spoke to Damon Hart-Davis, CEO of OpenTRV, whose focus is to bring simple, automatic heating controls to homes throughout the UK. Figures show that 60% of household energy use is attributed to heating, with the same percentage of people admitting that they often heat rooms that being aren't occupied. This is where OpenTRV come in – their AI/IOT Thermostatic Radio Valves help to save households money by reducing both of these figures! Watch this video to find out more:

More info:

• www.opentrv.org.uk
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/damonhd/

 
MoBike

One of the stalls that immediately stood out when walking through the crowds at Innovate 2017 was the MoBike stall, with their virtual reality bike simulation. I had a chat with Billy White, a former Creative Multimedia student representing MoBike, and it became clear that the simulation wasn't just a fun concept but had many real-life applications. The VR bike simulation can be used for safety and cycle training as well as confidence building for people not quite ready for biking on big city roads. There are a ton of gamification opportunities that can be added to make the experience even more entertaining, like racing the Tour de France with your friends! Here's a quick clip of Billy explaining more about the project (and me taking the bike for a test drive!).

More info:

• www.clicksandlinks.com/showcase/vr-bike-simulation

ERIC

The University of Strathclyde were at Innovate 2017 demonstrating a new robot they've developed called ERIC. ERIC stands for Engaging Robotic Interactive Cell and was designed to showcase the great work the university is undertaking in the fields of automation and robotics. The team at Strathclyde have partnered with Spirit AeroSystems, KUKA Robotics and the National Nuclear Laboratory among others, and they're engaging youth and businesses throughout the country by demonstrating ERIC's functions and capabilities at events like Innovate UK. I had a really interesting demo from one of the team members which you can see below!

More info:

• https://www.strath.ac.uk/engineering/electronicelectricalengineering/news

LiFi

Hamish Stewart works in the LiFi Research and Development Centre at the University of Edinburgh, and he explained and demonstrated the incredible advances they've made in LiFi technology. LiFi is a revolutionary, light-based communication technology which uses light to transfer data instead of radio waves. There are massive potential benefits to LiFi – it can function in environments where WiFi is not capable or supported like in hospitals and on aircrafts. Not to mention it transmits data 10,000 times greater than radio wave-based technologies! That means faster internet and more reliable internet connections. In this video, Hamish explains it in a bit more detail and shows us some examples of LiFi in action.

More info:

• http://www.lifi-centre.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamstew/

HypED

We caught up with Adam Anyszewski, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering student from the University of Edinburgh and Managing Director of the HypED team. The HypED team were finalists in Elon Musk's SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition II where they built a subscale prototype vehicle to show the plausibility of the Hyperloop concept as a new means of transport. RS were a (very proud!) sponsor of the HypED team so it was great to see them exhibiting at Innovate 2017! In this video, Adam tells us a bit more about the project, how HypED worked with RS and what's in store in the future for the team.

More info:

• https://hyp-ed.com/
• https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/user/HypED
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-anyszewski/

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