Inductosense, a spinout from Bristol University developing wireless sensors to detect cracks and defects in structures, has won £489,000 ($749,810) in grant funding from government agency Innovate UK.
The company previously received an unspecified sum under £50,000 when it joined SetSquared, the incubator of Bristol and four other universities, last October under the organisations iCure programme, run in conjunction with Innovate UK and the Higher Education Funding Council for England to help spinouts cross the valley of death.
Inductosense will use the cash to further develop its wireless ultrasonic sensors. The technology can be deployed in a variety of situations to identify structural cracks and weaknesses, such as at nuclear power stations to continually check for defects while removing the need for downtime due to inspection.
Chenghaun Zhong, chief technology officer at Inductosense, said: “iCure helped us to understand the market need for our technology and to identify the immediate and easier to access opportunities which subsequently fed into our business plan and during the programme we talked to over 100 companies. We also received invaluable training and support and we wouldn’t have got to where we are without it.”
