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HARTPURY TO DEVELOP DIGITAL INNOVATION FARM

Hartpury University and Hartpury College are creating a Digital Innovation Farm in response to a rise in demand for ways to adopt new digital technology in farming.

The development will include the National Centre for Agricultural Data Management and Interpretation, which Hartpury hopes will play a key role in developing agricultural data and security.

This 10-year vision is already underway at Hartpury’s 360-hectare campus near Gloucester, with the first phase including the construction of a £2 million Agri-Tech Centre, aimed at enhancing innovation in the farming industry.

Opening this autumn, the Agri-Tech Centre will provide farmers, students and organisations with access to the latest commercial technology.

Using Hartpury’s on-site commercial working farm and purpose-built facilities, the farming sector will be able to work on the design and develop of new products and systems.

Russell Marchant, Vice-Chancellor and CEO of Hartpury University and Principal of Hartpury College, said: “Our aim is that, by 2030, the Digital Innovation Farm will have expanded to attract leading agri-tech companies, contributing to increased productivity in Gloucestershire and the UK.”

Bright spark inventor saves time for electricians

Cirencester designer Nigel Chute has sparked the interest of electricians with his latest product, BoxMate.

BoxMate solves a problem familiar to electrical installers, especially contractors working on new-build housing projects.

At “first fix”, the electrician secures metal back boxes to interior walls and pulls cables into position, making the boxes ready to be fitted with cover plates for light switches or socket outlets.

When the electricians return, they often find wet plaster in the back box which has dried into a solid mass and have to waste time chiselling it out.

Birmingham-based electricians and

Tech company wins award from global provider

Tewkesbury-based survey software specialist, SmartSurvey, has been named a rising star in the Online Survey Software category of the Summer 2019 Customer Success Report, published by Featured Customers, a global customer reference platform for B2B business software and services.

inventors David Bryant and Paul Chapman approached Nigel with a concept for a temporary cover plate to keep plaster out of back boxes.

Nigel collaborated with Doncasterbased innovations company Cattano on the project to develop a product that would tolerate variations in box size and stay securely in place.

Nigel’s ingenious design features crushable tabs to accommodate size variations.

The product also shields cables from damage during plastering.

It is now being sold online by Cattano and rolled out nationally.

SmartSurvey launched in 2010 and has experienced 40 per cent yearon-year growth. It now works with some of the world’s leading brands across multiple sectors. The survey software specialist has also become a supplier to a number of major regional organisations including Gloucestershire County Council, Stroud District Council, NHS Gloucestershire and the University of Gloucestershire.

SmartSurvey’s CEO, Mo Naser, said: “We are really delighted with this achievement. It’s also fantastic as a locally developed business to witness our emergence as a significant player in the global online survey software market. And given today’s heightened customer concerns around data protection and security due to Brexit uncertainties, our ability to provide clients with a completely UK-based offering, hosted on UK-based servers, puts us at a distinct advantage.”

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