Leeds tech firm receives funding to upgrade sustainability measures in UK factories

A Yorkshire technology firm has announced that it has been awarded funding to help develop a new sustainability sensor.

FactorAI, based in Leeds, has received the funding from the InnovateUK SBRI Sustainable Innovation Fund.

The funding will be used to support the development of the company’s AI enabled real time Internet of Things (IoT) sensor, which the firm says aims to make the formulated products industry more sustainable.

FactorAI embeds its AI enabled IoT sensors in factories that manufacture formulated products - such as shampoos, toothpastes and cosmetics - which provides manufacturers with the data they need to reduce waste.

Dr Jujar Singh Panesar, co-founder of FactorAI, commented: “Most of these products are manufactured in batches in industrial mixers; the ingredients are pumped or poured into the mixer; and they are mixed and combined to form the finished product.

“In this project we develop a solution to retrofit an innovative sensor inside industrial mixers, thereby digitizing them.

“The sensor outputs real time quality data during the manufacture of formulated products and uses artificial intelligence to increase the sustainability of the industry enabling reduced manufacturing times, identifying problematic ingredients and helping the industry to attain higher levels of compliance, traceability and sustainability.”

Factor AI is also part of the NatWest Accelerator programme in Leeds.

Dr Andrea De Santis, also co-founder, said: “On the NatWest Accelerator, we have benefited from a fantastic start-up ecosystem which is directly correlated to our success on the InnovateUK SBRI Project.

“We are collaborating with Just Lovett Design, a fellow NatWest Accelerator business, which is suppling FactorAI with precision laser manufactured parts for our test rig that forms a part of our proof-of-concept study on the InnovateUK SBRI Sustainable Innovation project.

“Being part of the NatWest Accelerator, and working with multinational formulated products companies and Just Lovett Design is a key driver in the growth of FactorAI.”

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