Development of digital platform for Living Lab 2.0

Living Lab 2.0 will be a first-of-a-kind, agile and scalable real-world test environment for businesses innovating in the home energy market by upgrading existing homes from across the UK to become digitally connected smart-homes.

This national asset will provide innovators with a safe, affordable, shared space to the trial and demonstration energy products, services and business models with real consumers to de-risk and scale innovations for market. While also providing insights and evidence to help transform market arrangements, policies and regulations – as we move towards a Net Zero carbon future.

A critical part of the Living Lab 2.0 infrastructure is the development of a cloud-based Digital Integration Platform that acts as the intermediary – to intake, manage and analyse huge amounts of data – between the innovations being tested and the wide range of mainstream smart home devices and energy appliances within Living Lab homes.

Based on SysMech’s Zen product, the Digital Integration Platform will be open and technology-agnostic, providing true interoperability and scalability to enable a range of innovative new products, services and business models to be trialled in hundreds and eventually thousands of UK homes.

Living Lab 2.0 will significantly improve and expand on the Catapult’s existing Living Lab of 100 connected homes, where businesses can rapidly design and market-test heating products and services.

Initially it will focus on low carbon heating and transport innovations and the integration of smart controls, electric vehicles and distributed energy technologies. New integrations will be added in response to evolving policy and market needs.

Dr Andrew Barton, Energy Systems Catapult Systems Development Manager, said: “SysMech are helping us develop a Digital Integration Platform that enables UK businesses trial their products and services will real consumers, generating the high-value, high-volume data needed to validate and improve innovations and business models.

“We chose SysMech because they were a UK SME (small or medium-sized enterprise) with experience developing systems that can handle huge amounts of data while ensuing performance, health and utilisation.

“The Digital Integration Platform will act like the operating system, allowing innovators to plug in their own software or utilise a Catapult option that will be interoperable – physically, digitally, and commercially – with the smart control systems and IoT devices being used by households.

“The overall goal of Living Lab 2.0 is to help UK companies to test products, services and business models that deliver low carbon innovation for a wide range of consumer homes and lifestyles, and provide insight to develop market arrangements, policies and regulations for Net Zero carbon future.”

Selected via a competitive tender process, SysMech have formed a joint team with the Catapult that will work very closely throughout the project, which is being delivered using an Agile Scrum approach.

Rob Green, SysMech joint founder and CEO, said: “We are really delighted to be selected by the Energy Systems Catapult as their Delivery Partner for the design and implementation of the Digital Integration Platform that will be at the heart of the next generation Living Lab.

“This is a great opportunity for us and our entire team are very excited to be involved in such an innovative project and helping the Catapult to transition the UK’s energy systems towards a Net Zero carbon future.”