A high-tech incubation success story from the University of Nottingham Jubilee Campus Ingenuity Building
Growth
Knitting in Nottingham
A high-tech incubation success story from the University of Nottingham Jubilee Campus Ingenuity Building
Simon McMaster Founding Scientist , Footfalls & Heartbeats Limited
Simon has many years ’ experience in researching smart textile structures and the nanoscale interactions that govern the movement of these micromechanical structures
Footfalls & Heartbeats is a high-tech startup founded in New Zealand by Simon McMaster . When looking to incubate his knittable fibre optics technology , Simon selected Nottingham , the home of knitting and the University of Nottingham ( UoN ) Ingenuity Building [ see p12-13 ].
The University is an investor and equity holder in the company , holding joint IP , and UoN staff and academics are set to join the Board .
THE BIG IDEA Simon had his big idea 14 years ago , while working in the UK . He met Steve Morgan at a meeting at the UoN and started to talk about combining intelligent textiles and fibre optics . The idea then sat at the back of his head as he flew back and forth between New Zealand and the UK .
He first registered the company in New Zealand , but decided to move it to Nottingham last year . Based on the Jubilee Campus , the company benefits from its close proximity to the UoN research group on the main campus which is only a mile or so away . Simon was also attracted by the big , bright space of the brand new Ingenuity Building :
" We landed a couple of development agreements with big international companies , so are starting to hire people and I wanted to give them proper offices and build a company culture . We were in discussions with UoN for about a year and I just thought it was a perfect space . It
© Sean _ Malyon was easy to get to and a very simple process to get up and running ," Simon explained . “ The commercialisation team has been excellent in assisting Footfalls to follow our dream .”
A KIWI IN THE UK According to Simon , New Zealand ’ s smaller population makes it easier to get hold of the person you wish to speak to . However , the commercial opportunities , central location , and access to world-class research and expertise in the UK are massively beneficial . As a Kiwi in the UK , Simon still applies a direct approach and , while it may take 13 calls to find the right person to speak to , he will just get straight to the point .
" All of our current commercial opportunities are in Europe . From the UK , I can get on a plane and be where I want to be in an hour and a half ," said Simon . " I grew up in a very egalitarian society , everybody is treated the same way . That ' s why Kiwis get to talk to people , nobody knows how to treat us so we just bring it up , ' Hi this is me , this is what I would like to do , how would you like to help us out ?' It ' s amazing how far you get ."
76 | UKSPA breakthrough | SPRING 2017