Thu, 13 May, 2021
Congratulations to TWI Innovation Network (TWIIN) Gold Subscriber company and Technology Acceleration Programmes (TAPs) Member YongaTek, who recently won public funding for the SmartDose project alongside consortium partner Brunel Innovation Centre (BIC – a partnership between TWI and Brunel University London). Established in 2014, YongaTek has a strong research and development (R&D) base, and provides integrated circuit (IC) and FPGA design and verification services, computer vision, and video and image processing solutions to industry.
The SmartDose team, coordinated by Victoria Adesanya, Senior Innovation Project Leader at TWI, secured €956,598 of funding in the European Union’s EUREKA Healthy Ageing competition. The project will develop an integrated solution that allows doctors to prescribe custom medication for patients, pharmacies to then manufacture the medication, and patients to conveniently collect and finally take their medication using a smart pill dispenser device. SmartDose will use a 3D pharmaceutical printer to print the custom medication, with the doctor specifying the shapes, colours, sizes and doses based on the individual patient’s needs.
TWIIN TAPs Member Teknopar also partnered with BIC to develop a collaborative project proposal, and this saw them successfully achieve funding through the EUREKA Smart Manufacturing programme. Teknopar was founded in 1996 and provides customers with a wide range of services and end-to-end solutions related to the integrated application of mechanics, hydraulics, automation, electric-electronics and information technologies.
The resultant WeldVue project commenced in early 2021 and aims to reduce defects, flaws and waste within the automotive sector, targeting artificial intelligence (AI) assisted welding and quality control, to enable more efficient production and smarter decision making. The WeldVue proposal was coordinated by Luke Turner, Innovation Project Leader at TWI.
Oxsight is another SME company that is successfully collaborating with TWIIN, in particular, they are currently working with Dr Xiaoqing (Sally) Shi, Senior Innovation Project Leader at TWI on an Innovate UK public funding programme application. The project has as its ambition: to develop the world's most advanced intelligent smart-glasses, integrated with AI and advanced neural net learning, to enhance the residual vison of people living with sight loss.
If you are interested in joining TWI Innovation Network and would like to participate in relevant programmes and activities which can accelerate your company’s innovation and new product / system development, please email to info@twi-innovation-network.com and we will be in touch.
Richard Khosla-Stevens, Chief Operating Officer, Oxsight said “I found the discussions we had with Sally were extremely useful, as Sally was able to recognise gaps specific to the innovation project we are developing, provided us with a direction and added great value. Sally has excellent communication skills, as always, and we are interested to explore further opportunities and collaborate beyond the current scope.”