Skyrad submitted their ground-breaking idea after RBS called on innovators and small businesses (SMEs) to come forward with new eco-ideas for the bank’s 2,500 buildings around the UK.
Skyrad is one of the first companies to make it onto the shortlist.
The RBS Innovation Gateway, which is led by Marcela Navarro, Head of Customer Innovation at RBS, has three aims; to help RBS save more energy, water and waste, to nurture new, brilliant innovations and to help local inventors take their ideas to market.
“We’re really excited to have been shortlisted by RBS” said founder Sam Bailey, “this vindicates our work and gives us an opportunity to raise awareness and roll out our solar heating system on a national scale”
Skyrad, which is based in South West London, was established in 2010 by Sam Bailey, an inventor and entrepreneur who has worked extensively in the field of control engineering.
The Skyrad solar heating system was invented by Sam Bailey, who realized that adaptable insulation, coupled with solar heat, could keep buildings warm in winter, but stop them overheating in summer. Heating buildings is the single largest use of energy across the RBS estate, with cooling not far behind, so a development like the Skyrad system could revolutionise energy saving at RBS.
Skyrad was one of over 140 companies from across the UK who submitted an idea to the RBS Innovation Gateway when the bank launched the project in March this year.
Their idea went before an independent panel of experts put together by RBS, including academics from Cambridge University and business leaders from major companies such as Carillion, who assessed each idea and decided which ones had made it onto the shortlist.
If successful, the next step for market ready ideas will be a trial on the RBS estate, including buildings and branches. All successful concepts will receive a grant to develop their ideas further.
For Skyrad, the ability to test their solar heating system on different types of building will be invaluable; it will simultaneously allow a greater knowledge of the system’s performance across a wider range of building types, and also to raise awareness of the system by deploying it on a national scale.
The shortlisted companies like Skyrad will now receive a huge range of support from RBS including:
• Testing and rolling out their idea on up to 2,500 RBS properties
• £3,000 grant for winning concepts and paper-based ideas
• Expertise to help accelerate their innovation to market
• Practical support and insights from the RBS Innovation Panel
• Access to the RBS Property Team and online events
• Connecting and collaborating with other leading innovators.
The RBS Innovation Gateway is a live project, so innovators in Wimbledon who missed the first round can apply now to enter round two.
For journalists, to find out more about the RBS Innovation Gateway story so far, visit the Innovation Gateway Vimeo channel. Here you will find a range of video content which can be used for background information and quotes. The channel features video interviews with Marcela Navarro, Head of Customer Innovation at RBS, who is leading the RBS Innovation Gateway project. You can also see the Innovation Gateway in action through a series of workshops and events in London, Bristol and Cambridge
For more details go to https://www.innovationgateway.rbs.com
