When a technology company in Luxembourg wanted to test their new boat safety product, they decided that the maritime culture of Jersey and the island’s commitment to technology and innovation made LargoWind and Jersey the perfect pairing. Mathilde Argaug, CEO of LargoWind, shares her experience.
We created a brand-new measurement tool to alert boat owners in real time about whether their anchor is dragging. Connected Rope proactively raises the alarm and communicates through smart phones via a specially-designed app.
The theory looked good to us, but we needed a controlled environment and a range of conditions in which to test it. The maritime heritage of Jersey was ideal, with 1,000 secure berths across three marinas, moorings in open bays and harbours. Coupled with the island’s huge tidal range, all this meant that the island could put our product through its paces, backed up and supported by a technology-focused testbed team.
The Digital Jersey team offered access to their Hub as a welcoming environment in which to hold meetings with key partners whom they’d previously worked to introduce me to before I arrived on site. My meetings were scheduled for me, all the administrative pain points were removed, so my focus remained on my key objective of proving the Connected Rope concept in a range of circumstances.
To be able to conduct these tests in a location where the technology and infrastructure is so well-developed, including world-leading fibre connectivity, meant data gathering and analysis happened with ease.
The word I keep thinking about when talking about Digital Jersey and the Sandbox Jersey testbed proposition is ‘easy’. They just make it easy by removing obstacles, by making introductions, and by leaving me free to focus on the things that really matter as I go through the testing process for my product. Digital Jersey make it easy, and that’s what we all want.
Tony Moretta, CEO of Digital Jersey, said: “You’ll be hard-pressed to find a testbed that combines our world-leading infrastructure with such specific marine environment conditions, which of course made Jersey ideal for LargoWind to test their newest innovation. It’s also a reminder that we are not bound by the geography of our coastline – the shores and waters beyond are all part of our proposition.”