Spin-outs focus on energy & organs
17 Dec 08
Two new spin-out companies have formed based on Oxford research in two areas: monitoring energy use and keeping donor organs alive, Oxford University’s technology transfer company, Isis Innovation, has announced.
Intelligent Sustainable Energy (ISE) has received funding from Navetas Energy Management to develop a smart metering technology.
The smart meter will allow households to monitor which individual appliances are consuming electricity in real-time, delivering the data in whatever way individual consumers want: via PCs, mobiles, or, for the first time, itemised electricity bills.
The technology was developed by Dr Malcolm McCulloch and Jim Donaldson in Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science and is designed to identify both short and long-term energy savings, by providing information about specific appliances in a building.
Dr McCulloch said: ‘For instance, if the amount of electricity your washing machine uses increases considerably, this might indicate that it will be more cost-effective and carbon-efficient to replace it. If there’s a spike in the amount used by the fridge, maybe the door has been left open.’
A prototype ISE smart meter has been successfully tested at Oxford. The company plans to undertake further trials and refine the design. It anticipates that ISE intelligent smart meter technology will be on the market by 2010.
Tom Hockaday, Isis Innovation’s managing directorIsis is proud that OrganOx has successfully raised this funding, and congratulates the researchers, management team and investors on this milestone.
OrganOx Ltd is developing a device for sustaining organs outside the body using blood at normal body temperatures.
The device was invented by Professor Peter Friend, a leading transplant surgeon, and Dr Constantin Coussios, a biomedical engineer. In the first instance, it will be used to improve and prolong preservation and transportation of livers before transplantation.
The spin-out, from the University’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Nuffield Department of Surgery, has received funding in a round led by Oxford Technology Management Ltd and Technikos LLP with the participation of The Oxford University Challenge Seed Fund.
The OrganOx technology allows livers to be preserved for up to three days – more than three times longer than is possible by conventional cold storage – and the company expects that it will also allow livers currently deemed unsuitable for transplantation, to recover to an acceptable standard for transplant.
Tom Hockaday, Isis Innovation’s managing director said: ‘Isis is proud that OrganOx has successfully raised this funding, and congratulates the researchers, management team and investors on this milestone. The Oxford University Challenge Seed Fund continues to be instrumental in providing early funding for these promising technologies.’