30.09.14
Digital Catapult Centre set for launch in November
An innovation and collaboration centre to rapidly advance the UK’s best digital ideas relating to data and the economy is set to open in November.
Located at Kings Cross in London, the Digital Catapult Centre will provide entrepreneurs, SMEs, researchers and corporate organisations with a space to meet and collaborate on development projects.
Part of the Connected Digital Economy Catapult and funded by Innovate UK, the centre will concentrate on four major data challenges: trust and personal data; the internet of things (IoT); building diverse datasets; and reducing licensing friction.
Featuring state-of-the-art collaboration systems, innovation labs and development spaces, the centre will also run a programme of events and workshops, and intensive two-week sessions that bring together experts to help small and large businesses develop products or services.
The centre will also house a secondment programme for PhDs and a student fellowship programme organised in collaboration with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (ESPRC).
Once the first Catapult centre is up and running, the Connected Digital Economy Catapult hopes to open regional centres across the UK.
Neil Crockett, CEO at the Connected Digital Economy Catapult, said: “When trying to address major challenges, for example the Internet of Things in healthcare, businesses reach a point where they need help to cross some ‘chasms’ on the way to bringing their products or services to market.
“It’s at this point the Digital Catapult Centre will play a part. The UK is full of Universities and Clusters where people think of great ideas and are given support. We want to complement that. We’ll bring people together in collaborative development projects to unlock four challenges in the data value chain in order to accelerate digital innovators to market.”
Connected Digital Economy Catapult, alongside Future Cities Catapult, recently launched an open data initiative with Bristol City Council. The project is designed to encourage citizens to build services using local data.
The city plans to release 100 civic datasets in the hopes this will support developers who wish to use the data to create new products and services to improve the city. The results of the open data initiative could result in apps to make it easier to get around the city and information on how to reduce waste, save energy and improve air quality.
Tell us what you think – have your say below or email [email protected]