THE Sussex Innovation Centre celebrated its 21st birthday with an open house party on Thursday evening.

The centre is based on the Falmer campus of the University of Sussex and was one of only a handful of university-affiliated innovation centres in the UK when it opened in 1996.

To celebrate its ‘coming of age’ the centre hosted an open house party, giving guests the opportunity to get hands-on with some of the most interesting ideas its community of start-ups, scale-ups and academics had to offer.

The guest list was made up of investors, business leaders, and dignitaries from local government and academia, as well as members of the Sussex Innovation network from Croydon where the organisation opened its first sister site in 2015.

Guests for the evening could step in to the different offices, where Sussex Innovation members presented fun, interactive displays of products, technologies, games and platforms.

What is the Sussex Innovation Centre?

The centre was established to encourage more diversity in the local economy and to help retain more of the skilled graduates emerging from Brighton’s two universities which both invested in the project.

Funding from the city and county councils and several private partners – most notably Seeboard (now EDF Energy) – raised an initial £2.2 million to get it off the ground.

It quickly became the go-to place for entrepreneurs and growing companies in the region. In 2008, Sussex Innovation became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Sussex and subsequently has taken a more active role in helping to bring academic research into the commercial realm.

Mike Herd – who has been the executive director for the past 20 years – described its role as “creating a supportive environment and a community that helps people gain the confidence to grow a business” as he addressed tenants, staff and guests at the end of the night.

He said: “I was reflecting on whether I’m prouder of the really big things that have happened over the years – the trade sales, investments, product launches, deals and funding – or all the thousands of little things, where we’ve been able to make a difference.

“In the end, it’s those thousands of little things our team do every day that have made the centre the big thing that we celebrate this evening.”

A visit from the vice-chancellor

Vice-chancellor of the university, Prof Adam Tickell began the evening by visiting the academic commercialisation exhibit in the centre’s boardroom, where several products of Sussex research were on display.

After learning about an innovative electric potential sensor developed in partnership with microchip manufacturer Plessey, he got to trial two applications of the technology – a car seat designed to stop drivers falling asleep at the wheel, and in neighbouring start-up Emteq’s office, a pair of glasses capable of reading the wearer’s facial expression and replicating it in a virtual environment.

The vice-chancellor was particularly impressed after visiting the offices of internet of things agency HARE, founded by Sussex alumnus Chris O’Hare.

Chris won the university’s annual StartUp Sussex competition, which is delivered by the centre’s team, in 2015.

In the two years since, he has built a thriving start-up turning over more than £500,000 per year.

Prof Tickell commended the centre on its track record of helping alumni to build sustainable businesses, with more than a third of companies across its 21 years founded by former Sussex students and staff.

Welcome to Croydon

Several of Sussex Innovation’s members from the UK’s fastest growing tech cluster made the trip down to ‘the mothership’ (as it is affectionately nicknamed) to showcase their ideas.

The mayor of Croydon, Toni Letts, was among the guests from Croydon council who met with entrepreneurs and discussed plans to support a business community spanning the Coast to Capital LEP region.

Crystalusion demonstrated how their ‘liquid glass’ nanotech is protecting mobile devices across the world from scratches, water and grease, while INTCAS had an opportunity to present their international student platform to university delegates.

Many guests left the room wearing a great conversation starter – a ThriveMap badge announcing their preferred workplace culture.

Other exhibitors included eCommerce voucher experts Uniqodo, all-in-one car parking app Hozah, image curation platform Zegami and virtual environment agency Heads Above the Cloud

Since opening its hub in East Croydon two years ago, Sussex Innovation has worked with more than 100 new businesses in the borough.

For some of the organisation’s newest members, the evening was an opportunity to network with their counterparts on the south coast, learn more about the centre’s history, and its plans to replicate a successful business incubation model back in the capital.

Highlights of the party

The centre’s corridors heaved with visitors trying to cram in as many of the 40 exhibiting companies as possible, guided by members of the Catalyst team of graduate interns in “ask me a question” t-shirts.

Guests who took a test with the ‘subconscious barman’ in Mindlab International’s room could answer once and for all whether they preferred a rum and coke or a vodka tonic.

Meanwhile, adaptive music software company Filmstro demonstrated how to manipulate a film’s soundtrack in real-time.

In the boardroom, several displays celebrated the ground-breaking University of Sussex research currently being supported at the centre.

MetaSonics, a spinout collaboration between academics from Sussex and Bristol, demonstrated a way of shaping sound “in the same way a lens shapes light”.

They showcased applications for the technology ranging from speakers that can only be heard from a specific location, to ‘haptics’ creating the sensation of a physical object in the air.

On a neighbouring table, neuroscientist Dr Sarah Garfinkel from the Brighton and Sussex Medical School tested people’s awareness of their own heart rate – a skill shown to be linked with better intuitive decision making, and a key part of the new HeartRater app.

A string quartet in the lobby played in time to the Syncphonia synchronised score-reading app developed at the School of Media, Film and Music, with passers-by joining in to offer percussion.

Other attractions ranged from mobile sports games and health food cookery classes, to building a mobile app in 30 minutes.

Guests left with smiles on their faces after an evening that celebrated all the fun and excitement of innovation in action.