Sunderland City Council and BAI Communications have awarded funds and support to nine start-ups for six-week projects under their internet of things (IoT) and 5G accelerator programme.
The initiative, which also involve tech sector support organisation Sunderland Software City, is part of the council’s wider smart city programme.
Each of the companies will receive up to £10,000 along with workshops, mentoring sessions, pitch development and training, and networking opportunities. This will all culminate in a showcase event for their products.
Featuring on the programme is healthtech company Floki Health, harvesting location data from medical devices, and smart buildings specialist Krellian, which is aiming to make the built environment smarter, safer and more sustainable.
Also joining the cohort are: Awaretag, which specialises in providing smart tech for healthy homes; cyber solutions provider Cystel; healthcare tech company Digimonk; industrial IoT firm Manulytica; intelligent and sustainable heritage management start-up Roxid; smart city transportation management firm Simplifai; tech-forward start-up in the Web3 space, Trigan; and real time data facilitator Urban Data Collective.
Need to invest
Naomi Hutchinson, chief innovation officer at Sunderland City Council, said: “To successfully deliver our ambitious smart city plan, we must invest in next generation digital infrastructure and services to help improve the lives of our residents.
“Partnering with BAI and facilitating a world class, 5G testbed for start-ups to experiment with their innovations is a prime example of Sunderland’s commitment to being a forward thinking city.”
The council said there were more than 50 applications for places on the programme.
