The University of Bath works across many networks to support business and accelerate SME growth. There are a number of ways that small businesses can collaborate with the University of Bath, and the West of England Sustainable Technologies Scale-Up Programme (WoESTSP) is a platform designed to help establish those relationships.

Funded through the European Regional Development Fund and partnered with the Centre for Sustainable & Circular Technologies at the University of Bath and SETsquared, the programme provides tailored business support to SMEs who are located in Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

Dr Laurent Perge, Innovation Advisor on WoESTSP provides opportunities for organisations who are developing new low carbon technologies to work with the University of Bath. Laurent engages with organisations from the region who could collaborate and work with expert academics on research projects.

Bristol-based air quality monitoring company, Atmo Technology have just signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Bath to partner on a new research project with the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering.

Atmo Technology was co-founded by University of Bath mechanical engineering alumni, Guy Barkley who was heavily involved in Student Enterprise activities whilst studying, with several innovative business ideas! Using air quality and site activity data, Atmo helps protect employees from harmful airborne substances at work which are responsible for 13,000 deaths every year. As well as understand root causes, helping industry take action.

Atmo has a 3 pillar approach to its business - Save Lives - Reduce Emissions - Maximise Efficiency, with an overall aim to be part of data driven health and safety of the future.

Atmo’s core expertise is delivering data driven insights in outdoor environments and has worked with many large corporate companies to help them understand the fundamental relationship between air quality on site and staff exposure to pollutants.

This new research project will explore solutions for indoor air-quality testing, an area that Atmo are keen to explore. Funding from an EPSRC grant will mean that Atmo can provide their hardware and an IoT data scientist manager to work with Dr Richard Ball from the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the University of Bath.

Talking about the research project, Dr Richard Ball said, “Thermally efficient, air tight, buildings are often susceptible to the build-up of indoor pollutants leading to poor air quality and a reduction in wellbeing of the occupants. Work in Bath is addressing this issue through a number of strategies, and new technologies to remediate harmful indoor chemicals is a promising solution. We are looking forward to working with Atmo in this exciting area.”

Pedro Nunes from Atmo, went onto say, “We see this as a great opportunity - as part of Atmo’s growth plans we had already been looking at exploring testing solutions for indoor spaces so to be able to work with the University of Bath on this project is really exciting. Being able to measure indoor air quality will make a real difference to the safety of employees and this would drive us forward with our overall business aim - we are looking forward to monitoring and benchmarking the outcome of this project.”

Dr Laurent Perge who was responsible for the collaboration, said, “My role on the WoESTSP is to match-make academics with organisations who are innovating in low carbon and/or sustainable products for potential research project opportunities. Atmo are already established in testing and improving air quality so were the perfect organisation to assist Dr Richard Ball and his research team on this project. Due to the IP rights, I am unable to explain too much detail, but it is hopeful that through knowledge exchange and exploring IoT based systems we will be able to measure the effectiveness and evaluate the outcomes which will enable the development of this innovative product.”

Visit the website for further information about Atmo Technology https://www.atmotech.co.uk/

For more information and to register online for the fully funded support through the West of England Sustainable Technologies Scale-Up Programme, visit the website, here.

Atmo recently engaged with the University of Bath and SETsquared Bath through the IKEEP programme. IKEEP is a fully-funded programme that matches a team of skilled students with organisations to tackle a project over a four week remote placement. Three intrapreneurial students worked with Atmo throughout November to develop Atmo’s HR and hiring policies during this rapid growth phase.

If you have a challenging yet exciting project you think our students can tackle, please send us a proposal selecting your closest university or the university you already have a relationship with. The next placement cohorts are scheduled to run in Feb/March and June/July 2022 and will run for 4 weeks, part time and remotely.

University of Bath to collaborate with Bristol-based air quality monitoring company