University of Essex spin-out company UltraSoC Technologies has won funding under the Energy Efficient Computing competition, receiving £150,000 from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) for a new project.

The collaborative project between UltraSoC and the University of Cambridge, called spEEDO (Energy Efficiency through Debug suppOrt), will conduct research to identify the potential of increasing energy efficiency in electronic systems. The project will use UltraSoC’s ground-breaking debug technology allowing detailed information about the behaviour and energy usage of these systems to be measured.

The competition, organised by TSB, encourages technologies which can reduce the mounting energy burden of computing and communications devices and systems.

Klaus McDonald-Maier, Chief Scientist of UltraSoC and Professor and Director of Research at the University of Essex, said: “We believe that the complimentary expertise of UltraSoC and the University of Cambridge will deliver significant advances in this important area of low power computing.”

The project will significantly improve current approaches that use imprecise techniques and have a limited ability to determine energy consumption.

UltraSoC, which is backed by investment company Octopus, is pioneering advanced debugging technology which is used by semi-conductor companies around the world for microchips with wide ranging applications from laptops, smart phones and data processing systems to cars.

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Notes to Editors

For more information please contact the University of Essex Communications Office on: 01206 872400, or e-mail: comms@essex.ac.uk.

About UltraSoC Technologies UltraSoC Technologies is a VC-backed independent provider of SoC infrastructure to enable rapid development of embedded systems based on advanced SoC devices headquartered in Cambridge. For more information visit : www.ultrasoc.com or contact Dr Karl Heeks on 01223 422133.

About Cambridge University’s Computer Laboratory The Computer Laboratory is the University of Cambridge’s Computer Science department. It is led by Professor Andy Hopper and consists of 38 academic staff, 25 support staff, 7 research fellows, 40 affiliated staff and 150 research students. The Laboratory undertakes research in a broad range of subjects within the disciplines of Computer Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics.
About TSB The role of the Technology Strategy Board is to stimulate technology-enabled innovation in the areas which offer the greatest scope for boosting UK growth and productivity. They promote, support and invest in technology research, development and commercialisation. For more information visit: www.innovateuk.org.

The Ventures Team at Octopus The Ventures Team at Octopus are straight talking human investors that back talented people rather than specific sectors. We focus on identifying fast growth businesses which can scale explosively to create, transform or dominate an industry. We can invest from £250,000 to £5 million and partner teams based in the UK. The work of our ventures team is supported by access to the Octopus Venture Partners, a network of approximately 100 outstanding business leaders, entrepreneurs and private investors providing an invaluable wealth of expertise and resource for our portfolio companies, as well as investing on a deal-by-deal basis alongside Octopus venture funds. This blend of knowledge and skill has allowed us to help many great companies across several sectors thrive in recent years, including: Calastone; LoveFiLM; Zoopla; Graze.com; SwiftKey; and, Secret Escapes.

About Octopus Investments Founded in 2000, Octopus is one of the UK’s fastest growing investment management companies. We currently manage £2.9 billion assets on behalf of 50,000 customers. We offer a straight-talking approach to investments, exceptional customer service and a range of products that do what they say they will. Working closely with over 3,000 financial advisers and wealth managers, often via strategic partnerships, we provide tax efficient investment solutions and discretionary fund management services to retail investors. Our core products include a range of venture capital trusts, enterprise investment schemes, inheritance tax services and a discretionary fund management solution. We focus on areas of the market that are inefficient and where we believe hard work pays off for our customers. Our four areas of investment expertise are: ventures; specialist finance; smaller companies; and multi manager. We have dominant or high-growth positions in all of these markets, and invest into some of the UK’s most dynamic smaller companies, providing a wide range of funding options for exceptional businesses. Over the last decade, Octopus has won a number of awards for its customer-driven product design and services. We’ve twice been voted one of the best 100 SMEs to work for, we’re one of only two investment firms to have ever been rated AAA for service by Citywire, and in November 2012 we were awarded the Financial Adviser 5 Star Award for quality service from investment product providers. For more information visit: www.octopusinvestments.com.