Sensors play an important role in day-to-day life and their usage is set to increase as technology advances even further. Sensor City presents an exciting opportunity for both universities and SME businesses to work together and share knowledge in this cutting-edge sector.
Sensor City is a Liverpool city region based innovation centre and University Enterprise Zone funded through the European Regional Development Fund and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy with co-investment from Liverpool John Moores University and the University of Liverpool. It aims to foster the creation, development, production and promotion of cutting edge sensor technologies for use in a wide range of sectors and to become a global hub for sensor technologies.
From its purpose-built base in Liverpool, Sensor City offers existing companies and budding entrepreneurs the technical expertise, business support and international platform needed to collaborate, fund and promote sensor solutions to a global market. Positioned at the intersection of industry and academia, Sensor City facilitates connectivity and fosters progress, helping partners to capitalise on the growing sensor revolution and aiming to make Liverpool City Region a worldrecognised hub for sensor technologies.
The state of the art engineering workshops provide everything needed to support rapid prototyping of new developments. Entrepreneurs and companies can choose from a range of hot desk packages or dedicated office space and can access hands-on expert engineering technical support for new developments alongside business support, mentoring and networking opportunities, direct access to university talent including interested academics and student placements, pump-priming support, and help with accessing funds. All of this is delivered in a supportive environment that aims to de-risk the development process.
Since opening in June 2017, the centre has welcomed 11 new tenant companies and the intention is to welcome student entrepreneurs from both partner Universities to help build the community either through their own companies or support of the tenants. Tenants have been able to access support from engineers and academics via the ERDF-funded LCR 4.0 project, of which Sensor City is a partner. This has enabled early stage developments to be fast tracked through to prototyping.
Pulse Systems has become the latest addition to the Sensor City community. The innovative SME designs, builds and deploys complete building management solutions (BMS) and smart sensor devices to allow their customers make critical business decisions based upon real-time data, achieving substantial energy savings due to improved understanding and control of their building environment.
Kevin Davies, Managing Director of Pulse Systems said: “The move into Sensor City was a simple choice for us. The facility enables rapid prototyping capabilities, a vast support network of highly skilled engineering and business professionals and an ultra-modern, cool working environment. The branding and status of Sensor City enables us to stand out and with the level of support and engineering potential, it puts us into a strong position to grow and succeed with our vision.”
This article first appeared in the 2018 State of the Relationship report, commissioned by Research England and compiled and published by NCUB.
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