Tenants at Plymouth and Exeter Science Parks recognised in Tech South West Awards shortlist

Companies at Plymouth and Exeter Science Park have been shortlisted for the annual Tech South West Awards.

Nearly 200 entries were received for the prestigious event, which showcases the best innovation and talent across the region’s tech sector.

Plymouth Science Park tenant Pixalytics is shortlisted for the Clean Tech and Future Tech Awards. Pixalytics is an independent consultancy company specialising in Earth observation. They combine cutting edge scientific knowledge with satellite and airborne data to provide answers to questions about the planet’s resources and behaviour. They are being recognized for their development of a unique machine learning algorithm that can assess and identify specific materials in landscapes. In the last year, this has been used for identifying plastic in the coastal zone in Indonesia through a European Space Agency funded project, developing a service to identify waste plastic and tyres in urban areas in collaboration with a Singapore based company and a UK Space Agency funded project, monitoring the sustainability of sand mining in Kenya.

Ocean Ecology, which moved to Plymouth Science Park in May 2020, is shortlisted for the Marine Tech Award. The firm is recognised as one of the UK’s leading marine ecological consultancies. The company provides a range of marine survey, laboratory and advisory services for projects in both the coastal and offshore zones. This vital work feeds into environmental impact assessment, monitoring programmes, and applied research. The Plymouth-based business has been shortlisted for designing and developing a novel cloud-based marine ecological database, ABACUS. ABACUS has been used to process over 17,000 marine samples since its inception and is now available for use by other marine scientists.

Plymouth Science Park are champions for the Tech sector in the South West and support the work of the Tech South West programme. This year, the two regional science Park’s in Plymouth and Exeter have come together to co-sponsor the Future Tech Award. 

Ian McFadzen, CEO at Plymouth Science Park, said: “We are delighted to see two Plymouth Science Park tenants on the Tech South West shortlist. Pixalytics and Ocean Ecology are at the forefront of technology innovation and we’re pleased to see them recognised for their contribution to Clean and Marine Tech respectively.” 

Sally Basker, CEO of Exeter Science Park said: “The South West is home to a community of vibrant tech innovators, many of which are based at the region’s Science Parks, and will be showcased at the Tech South West Awards. We are proud to be sponsoring the Future Tech Award with our colleagues at Plymouth Science Park and to celebrate the achievements coming out of our thriving tech scene in the South West.”

Dr Samantha Lavender, Managing Director at Pixalytics and Plymouth Science Park tenant, who are shortlisted for the Clean Tech and Future Tech Awards said: “The last year has been challenging for everyone and like others we’ve had to adapt how we work. We’re delighted to be recognised for our work both in identifying waste and the sustainability of sand extraction by the Tech South West Awards. We’re looking forward to developing this work further in the coming years and making a difference to supporting, and protecting, the environment.”

Technical Director, Ross Griffin at Ocean Ecology who are shortlisted for the Marine Tech Award said: “We are thrilled to be recognised for work in developing ABACUS. We look forward to developing ABACUS further as well as expanding our Data Solutions team to meet the increasing volume of data collected during our marine survey and analytical laboratory activities.”

Exeter Science Park tenant, Spatial Quotient, which use real-time data to solve people-flow problems in hospitals and clinics are shortlisted for the Health Tech Award. 

Kathryn White, Chief Operating Officer at Spatial Quotient said: “We are delighted to be shortlisted for the Health Tech award alongside LatchAid and Bioinduction, who are both doing hugely exciting work. We're looking forward to getting together to celebrate the South West tech community at the awards ceremony in November."

Also based at Exeter Science Park is Intelligent AI, which are shortlisted for the Best Startup award. Intelligent AI are disrupting Insurance Risk Management with AI and Data Analytics solutions to predict and mitigate global risk.

CEO, Anthony Peake said: “Intelligent AI is proud to be based at Exeter Science Park and proud to be recognised in the shortlist for the Tech South West Awards for Best Startup. The past year in a global pandemic has been a real challenge for Innovation and starting a new company, but it is great to be recognised for our work with AI and Digital Twins for the global insurance sector.”

To find out more about the Tech South West Awards visit: https://www.techsouthwest.co.uk/awards/ 

To find out more about Plymouth Science Park visit: https://www.plymouthsciencepark.com/

To find out more about Exeter Science Park visit: 

https://www.exetersciencepark.co.uk/