The UK’s Internet of Things (IoT) start-up industry received a major boost today following the news that £1m has been given to seven of the country’s leading start-ups in the area.
The investment comes from Tech City UK, which organised a competition to identify some of Britain’s leading IoT innovations in conjunction with Innovate UK and Cambridge Wireless, which was first announced by David Cameron at the CeBIT conference earlier this year.
“It is an exciting time to be a tech business in the UK. Our digital economy is already one of the strongest markets in the world, valued at more than £100 billion,” said digital economy minister Ed Vaizey.
“Investing in growth areas such as the Internet of Things is a key part of our long-term economic plan to back business, create jobs and secure a brighter future for Britain.”
The winning companies, all of which are based in either Cambridge or London, include Digital Shadows Limited, a project to identify and attempt to mitigate some of the IoT-related security risks facing businesses, cities and individuals, and Superflux Ltd / IoTA, a compact air quality monitoring and GPS tracking sensor that can be deployed in a number of ways e.g. attached to a child’s pushchair.
Other winners include Product Health Limited, ThinkInnovate Ltd, Arjun Technology Ventures Ltd, London Cambridge Cycle, and OpenTRV Limited, covering diverse areas including farming, cycling, and defence.
In addition to sharing the £1m fund, winners will also receive ongoing support and mentorship from leading brands such as John Lewis, EE and Unilever.
“Innovate UK has designed Launchpads to help businesses take advantage of being part of a developing cluster to realise their potential for growth,” said Matt Sansam, lead digital technologist for Innovate UK.
“We’re delighted to be supporting the London-Cambridge IoT cluster and the finalists and winners in this competition represent some excellently innovative ideas, right at the heart of the emerging IoT space.”
Analyst firm Gartner has said that it anticipates that the number of connected ‘things’ across the world to hit 25 billion by 2020. Overall, 4.9 billion connected things will be in use in 2015, up 30 percent from 2014, the firm said.
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