A University of Bath spin-out firm aiming to revolutionise the way indoor air quality is monitored has teamed up the university’s academics on a ground-breaking research project.
Atmo Technology has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the university’s Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering to partner on the work. 
The firm, co-founded by former University of Bath mechanical engineering student Guy Barkley, uses air quality and site activity data to help protect employees from harmful airborne substances at work, which are responsible for an estimated 13,000 deaths every year.
Atmo, which is based in Bristol’s Future Leap greentech hub, will provide its hardware and an IoT data scientist manager to the research project to work with Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering’s Dr Richard Ball.
Dr Ball said: “Thermally efficient, airtight buildings are often susceptible to the build-up of indoor pollutants leading to poor air quality and a reduction in wellbeing of the occupants.
“Work in Bath is addressing this issue through a number of strategies and new technologies to remediate harmful indoor chemicals is a promising solution. We are looking forward to working with Atmo in this exciting area.”
Atmo chief financial officer Pedro Nunes added: “We see this as a great opportunity – as part of Atmo’s growth plans we had already been looking at exploring testing solutions for indoor spaces so to be able to work with the University of Bath on this project is really exciting.
“Being able to measure indoor air quality will make a real difference to the safety of employees and this would drive us forward with our overall business aim – we are looking forward to monitoring and benchmarking the outcome of this project.”
The collaboration has been established through the West of England Sustainable Technologies Scale-Up Programme, which provides tailored business support to companies to help them develop sustainable technology.
As well as online sustainability workouts which help founders develop their business models, the programme can also help companies identify the academic expertise they need to develop their technologies, products, and services.
The programme, which is funded by European Regional Development Fund, is a collaboration between the University of Bath, its Centre for Sustainable & Circular Technologies and SETsquared – the business incubator backed by the university.
