The Connected Places Catapult (CPC) has announced the names of 11 companies that will work on the housing technology testbed projects in Sunderland and Northern Ireland.
It has revealed details of plans for the Homes for Healthy Ageing programme, which involves Sunderland City Council and a consortium of agencies in Northern Ireland running trials of digital solutions to support older people in their homes.
The areas are providing the first two of five testbeds under the programme, providing scope for SMEs to test solutions that could make a positive difference.
The Sunderland programme is focused on cold and damp homes, and will involve:
- Bay Consulting and Parity Projects, which will work together on predictive analytics to reduce risks in the homes;
- Urban Tide, which has developed an AI platform to provide data support efforts to build energy-efficiency;
- Solcom, the developer of a home monitoring system to track movement and identify changes in behaviours that the indicate increases in risk, and can inform users when they need to make their rooms warmer;
- Sora, which has an indoor air quality monitoring solution;
- and Switchee, which obtains real time data feeds from properties to inform users how to reduce emissions and manage energy costs.
The Northern Ireland project is focused on reducing loneliness and social isolation, and will be supported by:
- Ethel care, which supplies a digital platform to support remote care for vulnerable people;
- Kraydel, which has the Kraydel Connect TV based service for social connectivity and internet of things monitoring;
- Thriving AI, the provider of a digital application that draws on machine learning and artificial intelligence for the communication, co-ordination and monitoring of integrated care;
- Treasured Times, which provides a digital application to help elderly people stay in touch with their families;
- and Walk with Path, using wearables to provide feedback to reduce the risk of falls.
“A testbed is one of the most important tools we use to facilitate the scaled adoption of innovative new products and services,” CPC said.
“Through providing a low risk, real world environment where innovators can deploy solutions, capture feedback, and use this to improve them. A testbed can form the final step on an SME’s journey to launching a mature product or service.
“It can also serve as a valuable environment within which a product or service can be demonstrated to potential buyers or investors, giving them confidence in the performance of the solution, and ensuring that it is tailored to the needs of users.”
The partners will work together on the two projects over the next six months.
Image from iStock, wavebreakmedia
