Business
Portfolio news - Fieldwork SIF grant
Portfolio news - Fieldwork SIF grant.
About this update from Frontier Ip Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n \n \n RNS Number : 3425F\n Frontier IP Group plc\n 16 November 2020\n \n \n \n \n Reach \n \n \n AIM: FIPP\n \n \n 16 November 2020\n \n \n \n \n \n Frontier IP Group Plc\n \n \n (\"Frontier IP\" or the \"Group\")\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Portfolio news - Innovate UK backs Fieldwork Robotics with Sustainable Innovation Fund grant to support work through pandemic\n \n \n \n \n \n Frontier IP, a specialist in commercialising intellectual property, today announces that Innovate UK, the UK's innovation agency, has awarded portfolio company Fieldwork Robotics (\"Fieldwork\" or the \"Company\") a £145,000 grant from the Sustainable Innovation Fund.\n \n \n \n \n \n The grant, which has been supplemented by a further £30,000 from Fieldwork, will support the Company to accelerate the development of its current robot, helping to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company. Frontier IP holds a 26.7 per cent equity stake in the Company. \n \n \n \n \n \n Fieldwork will use the funding to create a digital simulator of its robotics technology. Among other advantages, the simulator will allow engineers to work remotely during lockdowns and optimise internal processes to reduce prototyping costs. An alpha prototype for manufacturability of its raspberry-harvesting robot is expected for trials in spring next year. \n \n \n \n \n \n The move marks a deepening in Fieldwork's relationship with industry partner Bosch, which will be supporting the Company on the simulator development. \n \n \n \n \n \n The Sustainable Innovation Fund grant follows the award of an £84,000 Innovate UK continuity grant to support work through COVID-19 in September 2020. Fieldwork's costs, including those for raw materials, have risen during the pandemic.\n \n \n \n \n \n In addition, Fieldwork announced it had won a £547,250 Innovate UK Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund grant in April 2019 to accelerate development of its technology, part of a £671,484 project, whose other partners included the University of Plymouth and the National Physical Laboratory.\n \n \n \n \n \n The Company has made strong progress during 2020: \n \n \n \n \n \n · \n October: completed a third set of field trials of the raspberry harvesting robot with a leading soft fruit grower\n...