Over the next 12 months the 7 start-ups will receive a range of resources, including access to experienced software developers, geospatial expertise from Ordnance Survey, property expertise from HM Land Registry and mentorship on business proposals and investor relationships. They will also receive up to £20,000 in funding.

PropTech track

DronePrep uses location data to open up new low-level airspace access possibilities by connecting drone pilots to landowners to share and agree flight information.

Winston is the digital concierge supporting the home of the future.

Property-Markets is the people’s property investment market place.

RenKap is an online marketplace working to alleviate the housing crisis by scaling the delivery of affordable homes.

GeoTech track

Digital-Field provides digital solutions for better land management to improve soil health and food production and reduce environmental impacts.

The Future Fox creates software for communities to transform their neighbourhood and for planners to create better places, faster, with artificial intelligence.

Watchkeeper International uses the latest geospatial technology, IoT (internet of things) systems and secure cloud services to provide clients with real-time monitoring and alerts for security incidents, natural disasters and supply chain disruptions.

Over the past 12 months PropTech company Hipla has been a member of Geovation’s Accelerator Programme. The company has been receiving assistance to develop a Home Buyer Passport, which aims to improve transparency in the homebuying process. This launches soon.

Hipla co-founder Adam Phillips said:

Receiving the backing, guidance and help from HM Land Registry, Geovation and Ordnance Survey has helped our early stage start-up gain a much steadier footing than it otherwise would have done. Their help with early stage funding, office space, data and market insights has been invaluable. Their support has meant we are now in a much better position to deliver on our objectives of improving the homebuying process.

Pae Natwilai, founder of drone software company Trik, was accepted onto the programme last year. Her company automatically turns drone photo feeds into interactive 3D models for the structural inspections of buildings.

She said:

Through Geovation we have grown our team significantly and managed to secure pre-seed investment from two amazing investors, Alex Chesterman, the founder of Zoopla, and Simon Franks, founder of Lovefilm. Next for us is scaling up the system and marketing it globally. We are currently finalising a deal with a couple of large engineering enterprises both in the UK and internationally.

The Geovation Accelerator Programme is delivered and funded jointly by Ordnance Survey and HM Land Registry. It has been designed to provide start-ups with specialist help in the aim of helping unlock the hidden value in the nation’s data.

Alex Wrottesley, Head of Geovation, said:

We offer a founder-friendly environment, great mentors, high-quality workshop content and, almost uniquely, a dedicated software development team in house, who work hand in hand with our companies to build and release their first products. This is something very few accelerators can offer, and it means the businesses joining us can move faster and further than they otherwise would have been able to. We’re very much future focused and are looking forward to meeting and working with the next group of programme members and being a part of their story and them ours. We can’t wait to begin working with them.

For further information, examples of businesses, interviews and images contact Keegan Wilson on 02380 055332 or email keegan.wilson@os.uk.

Background

About Geovation

Geovation is an Ordnance Survey initiative dedicated to supporting open innovation and collaboration using location and property data. Location is at the heart of many of the most successful digital products and services. Land and property is the foundation of our national economy. The Geovation Accelerator Programme is delivered and funded jointly by Ordnance Survey and HM Land Registry.

About HM Land Registry

HM Land Registry is a government department created in 1862. It operates as an executive agency and a trading fund and its running costs are covered by the fees paid by the users of its services. Its ambition is to become the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data.

HM Land Registry safeguards land and property ownership worth in excess of £4 trillion, including around £1 trillion of mortgages. The Land Register contains more than 25 million titles, which show evidence of ownership, for some 86% of the land mass in England and Wales.

For further information about HM Land Registry visit www.gov.uk/land-registry. Follow us on Twitter, our blog, LinkedIn and Facebook.

About Ordnance Survey

Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, and a world-leading geospatial data and technology organisation. As a reliable partner to government, business and citizens across Britain and the world, OS helps its customers in virtually all sectors improve quality of life. OS expertise and data supports efficient public services and infrastructure, new technologies in transport and communications, national security and emergency services and exploring the great outdoors.

Life sciences is one of the defining industries of the UK, with over 5,000 companies and 250,000 employees, and a turnover of £70.3 billion. It is also a sector that fosters growth, with more than 95% of life sciences businesses being micro, small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

However, a 2016 Accelerated Access Review revealed that life sciences SMEs often face obstacles in presenting real-world evidence – within an NHS setting – to support their efforts to get their innovations commissioned within the NHS to help patients.

Up to £1.5 million is available in a competition through Innovate UK and the Office for Life Sciences to support evaluating cutting-edge devices, diagnostics and digital technologies in a real-world clinical setting.

Performance and effectiveness

The competition will support SMEs to develop an evidence base for how their products and services perform in NHS settings. SMEs can choose between 1 of 2 options for projects:

• support collecting clinical performance and cost effectiveness. Total project costs can be up to £250,000
• support to develop detailed and feasible plans for the collection of data, with total eligible project costs up to £50,000

Projects must:

• have a product that aligns with at least one NHS priority healthcare area, as detailed in the NHS Long Term Plan
• have a product currently available for the NHS to purchase but has been marketed in the UK for less than 5 years

In the competition priority will be given to projects related to:

• ageing well
• cancer
• digital transformation
• learning disabilities and autism
• mental health
• personalised care
• prevention

Competition information

• the competition will open on 22 April 2019, and close at midday on 3 July 2019
• to lead the project, you must be a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise based in the UK
• up to £250,000 including VAT is available
• projects must start by 12 December 2019, and be completed by the end of December 2020

The UK houses some of the world’s most prolific aerospace companies, including Boeing, Rolls-Royce and Airbus, and employs over 360,000 people. But maintaining the UK aerospace industry’s global authority requires exploring emerging opportunities and markets.

To this end, organisations are invited to express an interest in a £150 million annual competition with their innovative ideas for aerospace design and manufacture.

The investment is part of the £3.9 billion UK Aerospace Research and Technology (UKART) programme, a partnership between government and industry that aims to maintain the UK’s world-leading position in civil aerospace. The best projects will then be invited to apply for grant funding.

Eyes on the sky

Priority areas within the UK Aerospace Technology Strategy include whole aircraft design and integration, aerostructures, advanced systems and propulsion technologies. This competition provides funding for industrial research or capital investment projects.

Priority areas include:

• bolstering UK whole-aircraft design and system integration
• future-proofing advanced systems technologies in the UK – specifically, smart, connected and more electric aircrafts
• securing the UK’s world-leading position in large, complex aviation structures, particularly wings
• developing more efficient propulsion technologies, including large turbofans

Competition information

• the competition will open on 3 May 2019, and the deadline for expressions of interest is at midday on 22 May 2019
• UK-based business, research and technology groups and academic organisations can be the project lead, depending on the project type
• businesses can attract a maximum of 50% grant funding. Within that, individual businesses can attract up to 70% depending on funding requests from other partners
• organisations must sign up to the ATI framework agreement
• an online briefing event will be held on 10 May 2019 where organisations can find out more about the competition and applying

School’s out for Easter, and there is no better time to enjoy the beauty of the River Thames than over the holidays, when you can have fun, get close to nature and spend time with friends.

As the navigation authority for the non-tidal stretch of the river – from Cricklade in Wiltshire, to Shepperton in south-west London – the Environment Agency is asking parents and guardians to warn children and young people about the dangers of playing by its locks, weirs, bridges, and anywhere else in and around the Thames. Guidance available online has lots of good advice, but the overall message is clear: vigilance can save lives, and water-related accidents can be avoided by knowing how to stay safe.

Top tips for river safety:

1. don’t jump or dive in as the depth may vary and there can be unseen hazards
2. don’t go in near weirs, locks, pipes and sluices. These and some other water features are often linked with strong currents
3. inland waters can be very cold no matter how warm the weather. Those going into cold water can get cramp and experience breathing difficulties very quickly
4. keep a look out for boat traffic. Boaters especially on larger boats can find it very hard to spot and therefore avoid swimmers. Wear a bright swim cap and keep tucked into the river banks

Most importantly, parents and guardians can help keep children in their care safe by:

• teaching them to swim
• warning them not to go into water alone, or unsupervised
• ensuring they know where the children are and what they are doing
• supervising them closely when near any open water

Drowning can occur very quickly even in shallow water and the key to keeping safe is to take all necessary precautions to avoid getting into difficulty in the first place.

Experience shows it is often young people who get into trouble whilst swimming in open water, which contains hazards, particularly in and around structures such as locks, weirs and bridges. Unexpectedly cold waters or strong currents can also catch bathers off-guard.

Youngsters are often seen jumping off the many bridges along the Thames. While this may seem like great fun, there are hidden dangers in the water that can cause tragic consequences.

Russell Robson, waterways operations manager for the Environment Agency in the Thames Valley and south-west London, said:

Easter is always a busy time on our rivers, especially if the weather is good! We expect the River Thames to be a focal point for a lot of people’s leisure time, whether out in a boat, taking a dip, or just hanging out by the riverside. But we urge parents and guardians to supervise younger children closely in and around water. Teenagers and young adults should be warned of the dangers and to remember some basic safety points when out having fun.

We’d really like people to read and act upon our online water safety advice; it’s so important. There is more advice available online too, produced by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, the Canal and River Trust and others.

One of the main risks is cold-water shock, which can have a dramatic effect on your body, such as causing you to breathe in water, make your muscles weaken, and can even cause your heart to go into abnormal rhythms, ultimately resulting in death. You also have no idea what’s beneath the surface of the water: there could be unseen currents and reeds, which could pull you under.

In an ideal world, no-one would get on or in the river alone, so there would be someone around to help if they did get into any difficulties. Anyone out in any kind of boat should wear a lifejacket, just in case.

As for swimming in the Thames, we’d really rather people didn’t do it unless it’s part of an organised and supervised event. Swimming should be confined to swimming pools and lidos.

3 Regiment Army Air Corps is deploying to the Baltics for three months, with Apache attack helicopters of 663 Squadron taking off from their base at Wattisham Flying Station in Suffolk today.

The Apaches will be working in tandem with the Army’s Wildcat battlefield reconnaissance helicopters to provide valuable training opportunities to NATO allies on Estonia’s annual Exercise Spring Storm and to the UK-led battlegroup deployed on NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence (eFP).

Before the Apaches departed from Wattisham, the Defence Secretary spoke with the soldiers who fly and maintain the aircraft to understand more about its capabilities and their mission.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

The first deployment of Apache helicopters to Estonia underlines our position at the forefront of NATO. This is a world class machine operated by world class Army aviators and this deployment demonstrates our unwavering commitment to NATO’s collective defence.

The helicopter deployment will boost the UK’s presence in the Baltics – known as Operation CABRIT – to around 1,000 personnel, making the UK the largest contributor to eFP. The Wildcat’s surveillance ability combined with the Apache’s sensors and weaponry will be a step change in troops’ capabilities to detect, track and engage targets during the exercises they participate in.

Major Dave Lambert, Officer Commanding 663 Sqn, said:

The deployment to Estonia is a fantastic opportunity for the Squadron to challenge itself. It will test how we deploy and operate overseas, develop our operational partnership with the Wildcat and our ability to work alongside our NATO allies. Everyone in the Squadron – from ground crew to pilots – has worked hard to prepare for Estonia, and we’re looking forward to establishing ourselves in theatre and contributing to NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence.