CATCH project NANA joined entrepreneurs and startups in revealing new
solutions which will re-energise Sheffield and help its residents live
independently at an event on Thursday 29th September.
The ’Demo Day’, which which took place at Sheffield Hallam
University, showcased innovative ideas that have been developed in the city
over the past year as part of the Sheffield Smart Lab programme.
The Sheffield Smart Lab initiative, a partnership between
Sheffield City Council, Amey and the Ferrovial Services Centre of Excellence
for Cities, invited entrepreneurs and startup businesses to submit ideas that
would help to address the two different challenges.
Over 50 ideas were received from entrepreneurs and startup
businesses around the world, which were narrowed down to just nine winning
solutions. NANA, a system that monitors
the nutritional intake and cognitive function of older adults, was one of the
nine winning solutions.
The winning entrepreneurs and startups were awarded with
an incubation and acceleration programme, sponsored by the University of
Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University, and the opportunity to develop their
solutions in the city.
They presented their developed solutions at the Demo Day
event, showing how their solutions can benefit Sheffield’s residents and visitors.
Simon Butler, Centre Manager for CATCH, who, alongside PhD
student Jake Andrews, presented NANA at the event said “it is a fantastic
endorsement of the potential of NANA that it was selected as one of the nine
winners of the Sheffield Smart Lab. Winning this competition has allowed us to
start working on a trial of the system in Sheffield City Council and Sheffield
Teaching Hospitals Trust services that offer short term care and rehabilitation
to older people who have experienced a period of ill health or have been in
hospital.”
Cllr Leigh Bramall, deputy leader and cabinet member for
business for Sheffield City Council, said: “As a council, it is important to us
that we drive innovation in Sheffield. There’s an energy and appetite for it in
the city and we recognise that in order to do this we need to partner with
startups and innovators.
“That’s what Sheffield Smart Lab is all about and by
supporting entrepreneurs and helping them to build on their ideas and making
them a reality; we have benefited both them and the city.
“The challenges that the solutions solve are hugely
important to Sheffield and this has given us a great opportunity to offer a
better quality of life for the people of Sheffield and attract visitors to the
city centre.“
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