Thirty new collaborations with external organisations have been secured by nine companies in the West Midlands as a direct result of the DIATOMIC UK Accelerator, new impact figures show.
Analysis by Connected Places Catapult reveals that year one of the accelerator, which focussed on challenges set with Birmingham City Council’s housing and waste management team, led to £368,000 in trial funding being secured by SMEs, and boosted research and development investment among participants by £266,000.
In addition, six new full-time jobs have been created by companies in the cohort as a direct result of participating in the accelerator; with £71,000 of private funding and £47,000 of public funding secured. Six out of the nine companies reported the programme improved their understanding of local authorities, how to engage with them, and procurement processes.
One company to have benefitted from the programme is software specialist NolijWork, which has produced a service diagnostic tool to analyse social housing performance, and identify areas for improvement. It has trialled its system for Birmingham City Council to analyse maintenance activities on 60,000 social houses, and has entered discussions with potential clients in Scotland and along the south coast of England.
A second company taking part in the accelerator was Osmium, which developed a remote energy monitoring and control system for buildings managed by Birmingham City Council. The initial aim was to evaluate the cost effectiveness of energy retrofits. But while participating in the programme the company began to track humidity levels within specific properties to identify the risk of mould. It also used energy consumption data to identify residents who may be struggling to afford to keep the heating on.