EkkoSense is the latest business in Nottingham’s thriving clean tech sector to benefit from the Nottingham Technology Grant Fund (N’Tech). The N’Tech grant of £64,000 will assist EkkoSense to help even more businesses across the UK to save energy and reduce carbon emissions.
EkkoSense, based at The University of Nottingham Innovation Park, has designed innovative remote sensing and cloud based software analytics for blue chip customers in the renewables, power and telecoms sectors. Their software helps operators monitor and identify excessive energy use. The N’Tech grant awarded to EkkoSense comes at a time when Nottingham City Council and The Nottingham Growth Plan have targeted clean tech as one area for growth.
Nottingham’s clean tech sector is thriving and the Clean Tech Centre is the city’s first incubator business dedicated to supporting clean technology firms. It aims to echo the success of the city’s BioCity operation – which was launched 10 years ago and is now one of the largest early stage incubators of its kind in Europe. N’Tech has made 17 grant offers to businesses in the clean tech sector totalling £1.6 million since April 2013.
EkkoSense was founded almost 12 months ago by Dr. Stu Redshaw, Chief Technical Officer, and Dean Boyle, Chief Executive Officer, both experienced individuals with a track record of working in energy and technology businesses. Dr Kevin Parslow has also recently joined the team as Chairman and renewables sector expert. In total, EkkoSense now has a team of 10, including two PhD academics on secondment from the University of Nottingham. As part of the N’Tech grant process EkkoSense is committed to employing seven more people over the next 18 months.
Dean Boyle, CEO at EkkoSense said “We are extremely excited to be part of Nottingham’s clean tech sector, the support available from the City Council and the Universities is a huge help. In addition, the growing number of data analytics businesses in Nottingham makes this a perfect location for us to be based.”
N’Tech grants are geared towards the growing life science, digital content and clean technology sectors; the N’Tech fund is run by Nottingham City Council. The programme is focussed on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within the greater Nottingham area.
N’Tech is a core element of the Nottingham Growth Plan delivered through its “Growing Nottingham” campaign a blueprint for the city’s future business growth and one of the most ambitious strategies of the UK’s Core Cities. Measures introduced as part of the plan have played a key role in encouraging new business formation through various finance and support packages.
N’Tech grants are funded solely through the Government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF). Nottingham City Council secured RGF from the Government for grants to help fast track development of businesses based in the city. The funding can provide grants of £20,000 to £1million per successful company to support growth and expansion.
The N’Tech fund has so far had 49 successful applications across the digital content, life sciences and clean technology sectors and awarded grants to the value £5.9 million with 970 jobs created and safeguarded. N’Tech closes to applications on 30 September 2014.
Councillor Nick McDonald, Portfolio Holder for Jobs and Growth at the City Council, said: “Clean Tech is a key part of Nottingham’s plan for growth, and is a sector that is growing quickly both in Nottingham and across the UK. We have a lot of expertise in the city and we are proud of our status as one of the greenest cities in the UK. However, we need to kick on from here and that means supporting new businesses, and helping our successful clean tech businesses expand. We are, therefore, very pleased to support EkkoSense in growing its team and expanding its operations. This will be an important company for Nottingham in the future.”
Dan King, Head of Knowledge Transfer at The University of Nottingham added: “I’m delighted to see EkkoSense benefitting from N’Tech funding and working closely with the University to grow their business. Creating the conditions in Nottingham for technology-led companies like EkkoSense to start-up, grow and thrive, is hugely important for the City’s growth and future economic performance.”
