A disruptive tech company has become the latest to move into Plymouth’s £14.3million Oceansgate development – now part of the city’s freeport area.
JET Engineering System Solutions has opened its new office in Endeavour House in the marine enterprise zone, now included in Plymouth’s freeport/freezone.
It is being seen as a “milestone move” for JET, on its mission to deploy maritime 5G mesh connectivity along the UK’s south coast.
“We are delighted to be making Plymouth our next hub for developing the partnerships with other high-technology marine organisations where together we will accelerate the roll out of maritime 5G connectivity and the associated applications,” said James Thomas, chief executive at JET.
”The recent award of freeport status to Plymouth, and the highly exciting ambitions of the Oceans Future initiative further support our decision to invest here.
“There is no doubt that Plymouth is driving future national and international maritime technology outcomes in areas such as autonomy and smart ports when organisations like the Marine Business Technology Centre (MBTC) and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) provide such effective support to ambitious companies like us. We look forward to making a positive impact and bringing more jobs to the South West.”
This news comes in with conjunction with other recent announcements of support provided to JET by key stakeholders in Plymouth, including its collaboration with PML to drive development of marine connected technologies. The firm has also received business growth grants awarded by Plymouth City Council and the MBTC.
“It is a pleasure to welcome JET Engineering Systems Solutions to Oceansgate. Working in the hot-desking space in Endeavour House, we look forward to continuing to work with JET as part of our Ocean futures and Freeport initiatives,” said Richard May, head of Oceansgate and marine inward investment for Plymouth City Council.
Rob Watson, MBTC director, added: “We look forward to continuing to support JET Engineering with their innovation projects and to build on the great progress we have made together to date, including the proposed testing programme in Smart Sound Plymouth”.
Launched in 2020, Whitstable-headquartered JET Engineering System Solutions Ltd calls itself “an agile and disruptive force for innovative good”.
Stemming from an investigation of how the additional capability of 5G could improve a personal location safety device in the maritime environment, this concept has rapidly grown into development of a nodal and/or mesh communications network for the open-sea.
JET is deploying a range of its first UK 5G-enabled buoys as part of the Government-funded 5GRuralDorset initiative in 2021. The company’s founders said they are driven by a desire to improve environmental and safety impacts of commercial and leisure interactions with the sea, not least because they spend a lot of time either on or in it.
JET aims to transform innovative concepts into successfully deployable technology at low cost and in quick time. Integration of JET’s 5G maritime networks are being developed to support multiple maritime sectors including defence, autonomous vessels, green shipping, renewables, aquaculture, and meteorological monitoring.
