University of Edinburgh reveals AI startups in latest accelerator cohort

The University of Edinburgh has revealed the startups that have made the latest cohort for its artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator from the UK and internationally.

The accelerator will take place at the Bayes Centre, Edinburgh Innovations and virtually. It is being supported by design consultancy NileHQ, Huawei UK and The University of Edinburgh’s Edinburgh Earth Initiative.

Qualifying startups had to demonstrate a use case for AI in areas such as health and wellbeing, social care and environmental stewardship.

Founder John Brodie of data analytics consultancy Aquila Insight joins the AI accelerator this year as Entrepreneur in Residence.

“My two passions over the last 20 years have been driving actionable data science projects and enabling early-stage businesses to scale. This role allows me to combine both of these and I am very much looking forward to helping these companies develop their potential” said Brodie.

Here are the 12 startups that made the cut for the University of Edinburgh’s AI Accelerator, run by its Innovation Hub for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.

Beringar

Founded: 2016

Headquarters: Glasgow, Scotland

Using current and previous data of a building gathered through sensors, Beringar is aiming to reduce energy and service costs.

Danu Robotics

Founded: 2020

Headquarters: East Lothian, Scotland

Danu is creating a robotic waste sorting product that can automate waste management and remove contaminants, processes that are currently conducted manually by people.

Easy Rice

Founded: 2019

Headquarters: Bangkok, Thailand

The company has developed AI software that can be used in food product safety testing, which aims to save cost and time. Its AI can also be used to reveal food nutrient patterns.

Etiq AI

Founded: 2019

Headquarters: London, England

Those working in data science can use Etiq AI’s platform to validate machine learning (a subset of AI) algorithms and find problems with applications.

Inicio AI

Founded: 2020

Headquarters: Leicester, England

The East Midlands company’s conversational AI chatbot can help users understand and complete an income and expenditure form.

Medkal Health

Founded: 2018

Headquarters: Stirling, Scotland

Healthcare providers can use Medkal’s remote patient monitoring platform to help healthcare professionals validate patient data.

Microplate Dx

Founded: 2021

Headquarters: Glasgow, Scotland

Spun out of the University of Strathclyde, Microplate’s diagnostic test helps clinicians to make faster decisions about which antibiotic to give a patient. Its AI can help detect emerging resistance threats, according to Microplate.

MindTrace

Founded: 2020

Headquarters: Pennsylvania, US

The US-based company’s AI software combines different sources of information to aid clinicians in treating brain lesions.

NeuralSpace

Founded: 2019

Headquarters: London, England

NeuralSpace’s natural language processing (a subset of AI) allows users to develop their own speech or text models.

REOptimize

Founded: 2017

Headquarters: Edinburgh, Scotland

Through REOptimize’s AI wind turbine software, operators can improve their operations by using the firm’s optimised control settings and according to the company can improve revenue by £10,000 per annum per wind turbine.

Smplicare

Founded: 2021

Headquarters: Edinburgh, Scotland

Smplicare’s AI app makes suggestions based on data from health devices and questionnaires with the goal of helping people live longer.

Vahanomy

Founded: 2019

Headquarters: Edinburgh, Scotland

One of Vahanomy’s products is a location tool that aims to speed up the optimising and selection of EV charging sites.