Software development company SysMech has been chosen to help deliver a cloud-based Digital Integration Platform for the Energy Systems Catapult.
The platform will form part of the Catapult’s Living Lab 2.0, a “first-of-a-kind, agile and scalable” real-world test environment for businesses innovating in the home energy market by upgrading existing homes from across the UK to become digitally connected smart homes.
It is set to provide innovators with a safe, affordable, shared space to trial and demonstrate energy products, services and business models with real consumers, as well as providing insights and evidence to help transform market arrangements, policies and regulations.
The initial focus will be on transport and low carbon heating innovations, and the integration of smart controls, electric vehicles and distributed energy technologies. New integrations will be added in response to evolving policy and market needs.
The platform is to act as an intermediary between the innovators and the mainstream smart home devices and energy appliances within the Living Lab homes, intaking, managing and analyzing huge amounts of data, the Catapult said.
It is to be open and technology-agnostic, and based on SysMech’s Zen product, an end-to-end operational intelligence solution for the telecommunications industry.
SysMech specialises in large scale big data solutions for telecommunications operators, high volume internet of things (IoT) applications, government and large enterprise infrastructure monitoring projects.
It was selected after a competitive tender process and has formed a joint team with the Catapult.
Dr Andrew Barton, systems development manager at the Energy Systems Catapult, said SysMech were chosen because they were a SME with experience in developing systems that could handle “huge amounts of data while ensuring performance, health and utilisation”.
The Catapult currently has an existing Living Lab of 100 connected homes, where businesses can design and market-test heating products and services. Living Lab 2.0 is to “significantly improve and expand” upon that.
Rob Green, joint founder and CEO of SysMech, said: “This is a great opportunity for us and our entire team are very excited to be involved in such an innovative project and helping the Catapult to transition the UK’s energy systems towards a net zero carbon future.”
In a recent report, the Energy Systems Catapult concluded that net zero by 2050 will require “unprecedented innovation” across the economy.
It also selected six companies last month for its Innovator Support Platform, designed to speed up the process of either getting the company’s products to market or scaling up through tailored business and technical support.
