Few long shadows in the valley where the sun refuses to set (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Few long shadows in the valley where the sun refuses to set

10:14am Wednesday 11th February 2009 in

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The headline on the newspaper was emphatic: Britain was in the grip of the worst recession for 60 years.

John Eaglesham, the newly-appointed CEO of the Advanced Digital Institute, has global experience of hi-tech electrical engineering with Pace.

If Great Britain plc, and Bradford with it, was heading for night without end, he would know it. Is the Aire Valley, which ten years ago was known as Yorkshire’s Silicon Valley, becoming the valley of the shadow?

“Absolutely not. Pace is performing well and is still a strong company. So is Eco Star in Silsden. Filtronic is a significant success story as well,” he said.

Then, over the next hour or so, he outlined the new areas of tele-health and domestic energy conservation, which he said had potential global markets worth billions; and Yorkshire companies, including some in Bradford, are at the forefront of research and development.

The headline on the newspaper on the train was underlining the old truth that human beings have a tendency not to learn from the past but to repeat the same mistakes – only with greater expertise.

Listening to John Eaglesham, however, was a reminder that human beings are also infinitely resourceful.

“You might have someone with a heart condition. There will be a series of devices that people could wear or have implanted, that will talk to a device in a doctor’s surgery or consultant’s room in a hospital. If there is a deterioration in that person’s condition it could be detected very quickly without that person going to hospital.

“If an elderly patient living alone got out of bed at night, an alarm system could be activated if they did not get back into bed after a certain time.

“So technology can help with the early detection of health problems, allowing people to stay longer in their own homes. There is growing evidence that this technology will allow people to stay out of hospitals and care homes, and that this is going to be a key part of how health and social care is going to be delivered in future.

“It’s essential we do this because of demographics. We are going to have an ageing population, and we aren’t training enough doctors and nurses. There is a smarter way of looking after people with medical conditions. There is an imperative that social care organisations have to change in the developed world and everywhere.

“For all these reasons it makes it a great business to be in. ADI is leading a consortium developing communications between people at home and consultants in hospital. We are working with Airedale Hospital and Bradford technology companies Red Embedded, near Bradford University, and BTC in Shipley.

“The consortium is getting a substantial grant from the Government to develop this technology. It will allow people to have consultations via a two-way video link connected to their TV.

“In three to five years we are going to see a large amount of activity as this sector rolls out. For those companies in the region that seize the opportunity, the potential is huge. Yorkshire and Humberside has got one of the leading companies in the field, Tunstalls, near Wakefield, that manufactures hi-tech equipment.

“There is an imperative to change that is not being solely driven by consumer choice; it’s being driven by demographics and the need to address how we look after an ageing population.

“Business as usual won’t do it. For the NHS and social care providers to say, ‘Oh, we’ll address this in the next decade’, is not an option. Something is going to have to change if we are going to look after people in the way that we want and in the way that people expect.

“These changes are right at the top of the healthcare agenda. All national strategy people are focused on this and are looking at ways of developing tele-medicine. It’s not a panacea, but it holds the promise of starting to relieve the burden on service providers.”

Domestic energy conservation is another area rich with potential, driven by the urgent need to replace ageing power stations. Unless something drastic is done, and soon, the lights are going to go out within the next few years.

“Smart metering in the home can cut power consumption. We are interested in technologies that will detect if the national grid is overloaded and switch off things that do not have to be on all the time, like an immersion heater.

“This could make a significant difference to how many power stations are needed in the country. Again, this technology is aligned with public policy and the long-term strategy of the Government. Bradford companies are interested in this area.

“I can say unequivocally that the markets for energy management and tele-health are great growth markets that are going to be worth billions. The question we have to answer is: how well-positioned are we to take advantage of this, and are we doing all we can to help companies access these markets?”

Factfile

John Eaglesham was born in County Durham and raised in a village outside Carlisle. His father and mother, Eric and Nancy, both had senior jobs in education. He has an MSc in electronics systems design and a BSc in physics from two universities. He lives in Shipley.

He has a brother who is a technology executive in the United States while his sister, Jean, is political correspondent for The Financial Times.

He was appointed chief technology officer of ADI in April last year, and chief executive in January.

ADI was created with £2m of public money to provide research and development support for companies and to identify opportunities for new and existing businesses. It is involved with the Yorkshire Business Link Innovation Voucher scheme, which offers £3,000-worth of research and development training.

ADI, which employs ten people, is this month moving from its HQ in Cottingley Business Park to rented accommodation on the top floor of the former Filtronic building adjacent to Salts Mill.

Formerly, John Eaglesham was director of engineering at Pace Micro Technology in Saltaire, in charge of 450 engineers and managers in the UK, France, India and the US.