Head of Data Science at Stowmarket-based Orbital Innovations, Sathish Sankarpandi, scooped the coveted ‘KTP Associate of the Year’ award at The University of Essex’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Winter Celebration. The event celebrates successful partnerships with business, and honours those who are pushing boundaries and innovating to break into new markets.
Sathish was named as Best KTP Associate for his incredible impact on his company through his KTP journey at Orbital Innovations in Suffolk. He has been involved in developing patent-pending, world-leading technology to provide medically approved health advice to the increasing numbers of users who seek medical information online. He has also been instrumental in securing funding for a spin-off company. At the end of the project, Sathish was retained and appointed as Orbital’s Head of Data Science.
KTPs are part of Innovate UK’s leading flagship programme designed to help businesses to innovate by connecting them to the UK’s wealth of academic resources. They develop a partnership between the business seeking expertise, a university and a high performing graduate – known as the Associate – who base themselves full-time at the company. A project can last between 12 and 36 months and is part-funded by a grant from Innovate UK.
Sathish Sankarpandi comments, ‘To enter a business, put my expertise and skills straight into practice and be instrumental in developing a new, disruptive technology was a hugely exciting opportunity for me. I am proud that I was able to bring something new to Orbital Innovations and was thrilled to be offered a permanent position at the end of the project.’
Peter Brady, CEO of Orbital Innovations, adds, ‘Our KTP with the University of Essex has impacted our business enormously. Over the last five years, we have been looking to develop a brand new, innovative system for providing healthcare information using deep learning and artificial intelligence. Sathish has entered our business and delivered just that to an extremely high level. The partnership has been critical to developing that technology – and of course, the commercial opportunities that come with it.’
University of Essex Head of Business Engagement, Robert Walker says, ‘We are transforming more and more businesses by connecting them to the incredible Academics at the University of Essex plus bringing in fresh, talented researchers who are being embedded in companies to deliver innovation and impact. Every day we see how our projects transform the latest world-leading research and are applying and embedding it into new products and services. We are helping UK companies gain competitive advantage and develop new USPs across areas such as artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality and advanced communications.’
