Further support for innovation in Cornwall as Acceleration Through Innovation gets extended to 2023

Acceleration Through Innovation (ATI), led by the University of Plymouth will continue to support business innovation in Cornwall until 2023 following the success of its first phase and the announcement of a three year project extension.

The project, which supports businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to take their ideas from concept to reality first launched in 2017 as a three year £3 million project part funded by the European Regional Development Fund. Its role was to drive a culture of innovation within businesses and to help those which were looking to adopt innovative processes in taking their new product or service to market.

Programme Manager for ATI Jo Hancock says the support offered to businesses is unique in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly due to the expertise of the advisors. “ATI works with world renowned innovation expertise accredited by the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (IKE) so our advisors are specifically trained to offer innovation advice and able to use the tools and frameworks from the IKE to accelerate the pace of innovation in small and medium sized businesses.

“In the first phase of the programme we have seen businesses really benefit from having access to this particular expertise which has enabled them to move much faster in getting their ideas from initial concept to market launch.”

Businesses can engage with ATI in a number of ways, ranging from advice from innovation specialists or industry experts, access to the University of Plymouth academic expertise and resources to workshops, grant funding and pop-up innovation centres.

One of the businesses to have worked with Acceleration Through Innovation is Ocean3D, a leading Virtual Realist (VR) specialist. Based in Penzance but with a national client base Ocean3D uses VR photography scanning to produce 3D imaging and then mark points of interest to curate an immersive tour for prospective visitors to explore online.

Founder Chris Wood says: “ATI has been a real enabler for us and a real catalyst to innovation in our business. They supported us with a small grant to help us access legal advice around copyright as well as in accessing new markets and healthcare market research. We’ve made a lot of connections through their excellent events, some of which have generated business for us and many which have led to further contacts and connections.”

The technology to create interactive 3D tours isn’t new, but Ocean3D have worked with many businesses and organisations to solve the issue of accessibility. The 3D tours allow people to familiarise themselves with new places, plan their visit and thereby minimise situations which can lead to stress and anxiety for some people.

Ros Osborne, non-executive director for Ocean3D has a national reputation in SEND and accessibility and realised that the technology could really work for those with mental health issues, disability or requiring extra support. The work led to a National Autistic Society ‘Autism Friendly’ award.

Ocean3D’s service had innumerable possible applications and the business had worked with hospitality, arts, leisure travel and tourism. Chris says: “One of the really valuable things that came from working with ATI was that they encouraged us to focus our business and make decisions around what our core strategies were.

“We’d been working with so many different businesses of all sizes, and following a strategic review we decided we wanted to focus on larger businesses which has led us to working with organisations such as the NHS locally and Devon and Cornwall police. We’re a small business ourselves so we still love working with other small businesses, but we made the decision for larger organisations to be our core focus.”

Ocean3D worked alongside ATI advisor Chris Hassell who supported them with advice along the way as well as signposting research opportunities, events and awards. “Ocean3D are in a great position because there are so many applications for their service and there’s still plenty of opportunity for growth in the sector.

“We were able to help Ocean3D innovate their offering and really focus on which markets to target with their service. It’s not always about inventing a new piece of technology, innovation is really much broader than that – it can be looking for opportunity in the changing world around us where you can refocus your effort, knowledge and skills.

“Ocean 3D is a great example of this; we were able to help them pivot their focus to larger organisations and were instrumental in them applying for and winning the national Future of Airports award in 2019 –  a great way for them to raise awareness of their business! The key has been looking at pain points for their prospective customers and then developing solutions to these rather than providing yet another technical solution.”

The first phase of Acceleration Through Innovation resulted in some impressive statistics: The programme provided intensive innovation support to 148 businesses, hosted 8 pop up innovation centres, delivered 58 events to 1277 guests, grant funded 48 projects to a total sum exceeding £1 million, supported businesses in delivering 62 new products to market and is forecast to create 60 new jobs.

“The results from our initial programme demonstrate how much of an impact ATI can make on businesses,” adds Jo

“Now we’ve got commitment to run for another three years we’re looking forward to working with even more businesses and helping them to deliver even more innovative products and services.”