Newable recently hosted an exclusive first look at the innovators who have successfully secured investment funding to advance the development of their ideas through the Open London Project.

Open London brings together London residents, large organisations, and innovative London Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) to solve socio-economic, health and environmental challenges and increase living standards in London.

The event was hosted by LSBU at its Croydon Campus. Neil Pearce, Head of Knowledge Exchange and Innovation at LSBU, opened the event, stating, “There are so many great ideas and great opportunities to be had in South London and this is an example. There needs to be more celebrations for all that great work done through knowledge exchange teams across universities and the communities that work with them. These programmes are an investment for the future, and in this case, the future of South London.”

Monica Montero, Head of Programmes at Newable, introduced the Open London Project to stakeholders, saying, “Through this programme, we have brought together London innovators with London stakeholders to better understand the current challenges that Londoners are suffering today. Today those innovators will pitch their ideas to you in the hope of sparking some interest to work together to take their ideas to the next level and to a greater audience”.

Here’s an overview of the first cohort of innovative companies successfully emerging from the Open London project:

Two Generations CIC

Two Generations is a national home-share scheme that looks to foster friendship between generations. Older people seeking companionship are matched with friendly younger home-sharers who provide 15 hours a month of household support including gardening, laundry and help with IT.

Keys Community Ltd

A new way of managing housing. Keys makes it easy to manage all your building services and amenities in one place, with convenient subscription options for residents and an on-demand marketplace for local businesses.

Isometric Outcomes

Isometric Outcomes is a start-up social enterprise specialising in engineering product design. Its mission is to create and develop outstanding products that will benefit consumers with their simplicity and problem-solving abilities. It aims to use science and technology to facilitate daily tasks and improve the quality of life globally.

Factored

Factored empowers landlords to access capital from their future rental income, allowing them to effectively meet the needs of their tenants, significantly enhance tenant living standards and drastically reduce carbon emissions from their rental properties.

Travel Hands

Travel Hands is a service designed to ease the outdoor commute of VIPs (Visually Impaired People) by pairing them with sighted and verified volunteers to walk together to similar destinations, ensuring a safe, convenient, and inexpensive travel experience.

Sensor IT

Sensor IT is a London-based research and development company devoted to the advancement of highly portable, sensor-based solutions. The company pays special attention to safety, security, health, and transport-related applications.

Over the next year, the programme will support up to 90 London SMEs or social enterprises to scale their innovations to address issues and challenges across six thematic areas: Transport, Environment, Health/Wellbeing, Social Care, Housing and Energy.

Gerard Pambu, Founder of KEYS said “I think start-ups from different areas would struggle if it wasn’t for programmes like this. It’s a great opportunity to be introduced to challenge holders and meet with other start-ups that are more or less at the same rate of growth as us”.

Ben Schuldenfrei and David Rabee, Co-founders of Factored said “Being a part of these kinds of organisations, especially when you’re a start-up, and you need to add that extra credibility, you know, you can add it into emails and client calls and people just trust you a lot more”.

The event offered South London stakeholders from across local government, education, research, health, and business the chance to hear proposals from innovative entrepreneurs and some may have found their latest investment.

Paul Kirkbright, Head of Knowledge Exchange & Partnerships, BIG South London said “We’re thrilled to be supporting this project and the innovative ideas coming out of it will change the way people live in London. We hope to continue to facilitate some entrepreneur and investor pairings to help overcome the challenges identified around South London.”

Applications for the second cohort are now open.

By joining the Open London project, you will have the opportunity to:

• Access a free, intensive Accelerator Programme specifically designed to help you develop your innovative solution to solve pressing challenges affecting your fellow Londoners and generate revenue.
• Receive ongoing bespoke 1-2-1 support from our experienced Open Innovation Advisers.
• Pitch to a panel for the possibility of receiving a small grant towards the development and commercialisation of your innovative product or service and, potentially, engage with London-based private and public sector organisations focusing on addressing the challenge your solution can help solve (known as Challenge Holders).

 

Apply here