Thursday, 08 Jul 2010
“Thanks to the contribution of matched funding from The UKTI Globalisation Project, we were able to exhibit at the Association of Science and Technology Centers show in Fort Worth in the United States October 2009. This has resulted in an amazing stream of new business opportunities for us.”
Will Jackson, Director of Engineered Arts
Robo Thespian as Hamlet
To be or not to be!
Established in 2004 by Will Jackson, Engineered Arts Limited specialises in the design and build of bespoke, interactive mixed media exhibits for science centres and visitor attractions High profile clients include Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, The Eden Project, The Science Museum London, British Telecom and the Glasgow Science Centre.
Over the past two years Engineered Arts has concentrated their resources to focus on RoboThespian™, a humanoid, theatrical robot. The life-sized RoboThespian is controlled by a touch screen interface and interacts with visitors in a novel and entertaining way. multi-lingual and versatile it wows audiences with amusing impressions and performances, which include ‘Singing in the Rain’.
RoboThespian™ can be found around the world, locations include the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh USA, Parque de las Ciencias in Spain, Jeddah Science Oasis, Saudi Arabia, BT's FutureWorld @ Goonhilly, and Continium Discovery Centre in the Netherlands, and in 2010 four RoboThespians will be installed in the brand new Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw, Poland.
Will Jackson, the Director of Engineered Arts, says” The RoboThespian has immense export potential as the product can be used to add value to any science or technology centre, visitor attraction or museum. This is a sector that is growing worldwide and so our market is expanding.” Each RoboThespian has programmed with bespoke content in the languages of their new home.
Will continues: “Overseas trade shows are a vital element of our marketing strategy. These are crucial opportunities for us to meet buyers overseas. Thanks to the contribution of matched funding from The UKTI Globalisation Project, we were able to exhibit at the Association of Science and Technology Centers show in Fort Worth in the United States October 2009. This has resulted in an amazing stream of new business opportunities for us.
“For example, we were commissioned to supply a German RoboThespian to the phæno Science Centre in Wolfsburg in Germany, which has just been installed prior to their fifth birthday celebrations. We have just finalised a contract with a science centre in Israel and are in advanced discussions with a science centre in Edmonton, Canada. Next week we are being visited by a team from Macau who are interested in buying a Chinese and Portuguese speaking RoboThespian for World Expo 2010 Shanghai China, which will be visited by 70 million people.”
“So from that one trade show, we have generated a really significant stream of new business. The financial support from UKTI has helped us enormously. As a small business, we have to watch our expenditure and so a grant of this kind can make all the difference to whether or not we decide to attend a particular trade show.”
“We are thrilled that we will be receiving £3000 of financial support from UKTI to part-fund our trip to the annual Ecsite (European Network of Science Centres and Museums) Expo in Dortmund in June 2010. Again, we have high expectations that this will result in some important new sales leads for us, as this Expo is attended by decision makers from the science centres and public museums.”
In addition to matched funding towards the costs of attending trade fairs, Engineered Arts has taken advantage of the range of other support and advice available from the UKTI Globalisation Project as well as other European funded projects under the Objective One and Convergence programmes.
Will continues: “Our workforce currently includes 3 software engineers, a mechanical engineer, and an electronics engineer as well as their creative staff. By expanding into a global market we are able to create quality jobs for highly skilled individuals in one of the poorest areas in Europe. In 2007, the company took part in the Unlocking Cornish Potential scheme and employed a graduate mechanical engineer (who has since gone on to establish his own company in Cornwall).”
Will says: “UKTI has been a great help to us, since we initially received a Passport to Excellence grant in 2006, enabling us to research and plan entry into export markets in Europe and beyond, by demonstrating our product, developing contacts with possible clients and identifying suitable venues for our interactive exhibits. We now export to such a wide range of counties across the world that we have to stay on top of many different processes in relation to shipping, duties and so on. Our advisor from UKTI has been invaluable in helping us with the information we need.”
“Recently, we exported to Jeddah and this was particularly complex as we needed to comply with various religious regulations. This was all completely new to us but UKTI were fantastic in explaining what was required and helping make the whole process much more straightforward for us than it would otherwise have been.”
“The UKTI Globalisation Project is helping us to reach out to new markets worldwide and exploit the full potential of our innovative product.”
Contacts
If you are based in the South West region and are interested in developing your business overseas please contact:
UKTI South West International trade Team
Tel: +(0)845 60 60 969
Email: enquiries@uktisouthwest.org
For more information about the UKTI Globalisation Project in Cornwall contact:
Lenna Bithell
Tel: 0845 6023657 (ext 8205)