Digital Catapult launches the Future Networks Lab Accelerator to give vital boost to rapid-growth IoT businesses

Digital Catapult has launched the Future Networks Lab Accelerator, a new 12-week programme to support already established startups and scaleup companies to continue to fast-track their businesses using a range of future networks technologies including the internet of things (IoT).

Designed for entrepreneurial businesses innovating with advanced digital technologies, the inaugural Future Networks Lab Accelerator is the first dedicated programme from Digital Catapult focusing on the development of IoT. Participants are provided with a baseline of their product’s technical capabilities and design to improve understanding of how to boost performance, develop alternative approaches and increase speed to market.

The five companies will receive help to scale, and crucially to continue commercially developing products. Supported by Digital Catapult’s Future Networks Lab sponsors Siemens, IBM, Arrow and ServiceNow, the accelerator will also provide engineering support and bespoke advice, including benchmarking the cohort teams’ products and services by Digital Catapult’s expert team. This year’s cohort will also have access to a number of mentors with both technical and business expertise specifically centred around IoT devices.

Inaugural Future Networks Lab Accelerator participants include:

• Lightricity Ltd – creators of world-leading energy harvesting technology, including a photovoltaic energy harvester for indoor light environments.
• Inferrix – working with organisations in multiple industries to provide preventative maintenance and remote management with an open, all-inclusive pre-built IoT stack.
• Ovon Technology – a Manchester-based company developing IoT products with a particular focus on home automation and energy saving.
• CorrosionRADAR – providing predictive corrosion management for heavy industry including oil & gas, renewables and power.
• G-lok Systems – focusing on asset tracking and asset management in transportation.

Due to Covid-19, the Future Networks Lab Accelerator will be run almost entirely online, with the exception of the final showcase event later in 2020 where the cohort companies can engage with potential customers. Online sessions will focus on commercial support including marketing, sales, outsourcing and presentation expertise, along with workshops on topics related to the programme such as manufacturing products at scale.

Jeremy Silver, CEO, Digital Catapult said: “Widescale adoption of digital technology by consumers everywhere has been dramatically accelerated by the pandemic. This is having a knock-on effect on more advanced technologies too, driving greater interest in how to use them in industry and business. The Future Networks Lab Accelerator, launched today, is the first advanced tech accelerator programme to run fully remotely. It is also fully focussed on how to make use of the Internet of Things to enhance remote operation, remote instrument diagnosis, remote tracking of assets and addresses the continued need for innovative companies to access state of the art thinking and approaches to develop new products and services to provides new solutions for industry and business.”

Discover more about Digital Catapult’s Future Networks Lab, and read the latest IoT hardware from production to prototype report to get an insight into the opportunities for IoT innovation.