Pavegen tiles have been installed at Heathrow Airport
Ultra-thin transparent solar panels and kinetic paving slabs that generate energy from people’s footsteps are to be piloted at Canary Wharf in London as a result of its ongoing “Cognicity Challenge”.
The technologies – from Polysolar and Pavegen – had been competing in the Canary Wharf Group’s 12-week accelerator programme, along with four other companies, in the “Sustainable Buildings” streams of the competition.
The Challenge aims to fast-track promising smart city technology businesses by providing a series of intensive workshops and expert mentoring sessions. At the end of the programme each entrant pitched a business plan to executives from Canary Wharf Group.
Polysolar, a transparent, thin-film solar photovoltaic glass panel which can be integrated into a building’s external structure, was chosen as the winner of the Sustainable Buidlings category and received a £50,000 prize and will now be piloted at Canary Wharf.
Pavegen, a kinetic pavement that harvests energy from footsteps to power lighting or to be stored in batteries, was highly commended in the competition and will also be given a trial at the Canary Wharf Group’s estate.
The tiles also have the ability to send wireless data using the energy from footsteps, which can be integrated with an app to track live pedestrian movements and show live footfall data.
"We want Canary Wharf to remain one of the most sustainable, convenient and technologically advanced ‘cityscapes’ in the world, and the Cognicity Challenge is helping us improve even further our unique approach to property development."
Sir George Iacobescu, Canary Wharf Group
Image: Polysolar panels used on the Future Business Centre, Cambridge
The tiles have already been installed in many locations worldwide, including Heathrow airport.
The winner of the “Integrated Transportation” stream of the competition, was also announced as Voyage Control, a company that aims to optimise the freight industry through advanced logistics management, tracking and data-gathering.
The system they have created matches customers with empty trucks to utilise spare capacity, reducing costs and emissions in the process.
Sir George Iacobescu, chairman and chief executive officer at Canary Wharf Group, said: “The Cognicity Challenge is helping to ensure we have access to some of the most important innovations in smart, sustainable cities.
“We want Canary Wharf to remain one of the most sustainable, convenient and technologically advanced ‘cityscapes’ in the world, and the Cognicity Challenge is helping us improve even further our unique approach to property development. With Cognicity we are very pleased to be playing a key role in moving smart cities from concept to reality,” he continued.
John Alker, director of policy and communications at the UK Green Building Council, commented: “It is wonderful to see an established company like Canary Wharf Group looking to young entrepreneurs for the next stage of development within their estate. As we move forward, issues of sustainability will become increasingly prominent and the technology sector will play an enhanced role in the design and construction of our buildings.”
A further 24 companies are currently competing in the second and third stages of the competition under the categories of Integrated Resource Management, Automated Building Management, Connected Home and Virtual Design & Construction.
The current crop involved in the incubator include 3D Repo, a company creating BID4Free, a cloud-based software that will allow specialist subcontractors to preview BIM models for free to design and price their bids, set to launch next year.
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