A digital design for life
Nov 3 2009 by Karen McLauchlan, Evening Gazette
Experts at DLab - the Centre for Design in the Digital Economy at the university - are working with South Tyneside vehicle tracking firm FleetM8 to create virtual loading bays which allow commercial vehicles to deliver goods using a system similar to the way air traffic controllers manage flights in and out of airports. The GPS tracking technology will help large transport firms pre-book loading bays for their drivers and track a vehicle’s location, speed, fuel efficiency and driver behaviour.
Now FleetM8 is in talks with Transport for London, City of Westminster Council, the Freight Operators Recognition Scheme (FORS) and Freight Transport Association (FTA) to commercialise the concept to reduce traffic chaos in the capital.
DLab’s Dan Riley says: “If a traffic warden tries to ticket a vehicle, the driver won’t receive a fine if it can be proved he booked the bay.”
DLab is also developing a new 3D virtual world for design firms. The new virtual Northern Design Centre (NDC) district will support 76 companies and has been tipped to create 100 jobs.
Backed by £515,000 from the European Union’s ERDF Competitiveness Programme and £565,000 from Teesside University, NDC will provide virtual incubation space, operational services, facilities and business accommodation for live online occupancy by regional enterprises. It will also use ground-breaking digital technology to remove many of the physical, service, logistics, cost or communication limits that can be barriers to growth in the real world.
Governments across Europe have recognised the importance of design innovation by pumping more money into research and development. And Teesside has been put firmly on the policy radar.
Sedgefield’s North East Technology Park (NETPark) received a £10m windfall to build three facilities designed to attract the best science and technology players to the region.
Meanwhile £20m has been chanelled into the Printable Electronics Technology Centre (PETEC) - also at Sedgefield - to explore the potential of new electronic products from ‘bendable’ sheet lighting to wafer-thin portable TV screens.
Andrew Dean says innovations such as these will reap a healthy return on investment if policymakers continue to fund them.
“The Government must improve its efforts to back science - and not just university spin-outs. It’s important to realise that innovation can occur anywhere.”
Local development chiefs will be hoping the next big thing is being cooked up right now here on Teesside.
