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Catalyst 2017 Profile: AMODISC
December 21, 2017Blog -
Catalyst 2017 Profile: Filament
December 19, 2017Blog -
Catalyst 2017 Profile: Soton Audio Labs
December 19, 2017Blog -
Start-up to stardom: How do you create a winning brand strategy?
December 1, 2017Blog -
Catalyst 2017 Profile: Care Quest
November 27, 2017Blog -
Utonomy attracts major investment
September 7, 2017News -
Less than one week until applications for Southampton’s Catalyst business incubation programme close!
August 16, 2017Blog -
Tidal Harness Complete Proof-of-Concept Project in Southampton Waters
August 3, 2017News -
What Makes a Million Dollar Idea?
August 2, 2017Blog -
Dynamon Joins Logistics Industry Leaders in Government Backed Research
June 26, 2017News -
First Start-Up Announced For Catalyst 6
June 2, 2017Blog -
Ruby Is Jewel In Catalyst Crown
June 1, 2017Blog -
Southampton – your new starter home?
May 15, 2017Blog -
Wessex Social Ventures: Bringing it all together
April 26, 2017Blog -
Dynamon awarded Innovate UK funding in partnership with Totalsim and the industry
April 25, 2017News -
Wessex Social Ventures: ‘Training small, community based social franchises is unique’
April 25, 2017Blog -
The CEO’s blog: Catalyst – a platform for innovation, incubation and acceleration
April 25, 2017Blog -
Technology specialists clinch funding
April 24, 2017News -
The Catalyst Challenge returns
April 4, 2017News -
Barter for Things to help lead the way with new Internet-of-Things network
March 27, 2017News -
Applications now open for Catalyst 2017
March 27, 2017News -
20 students, five teams, two business models
March 17, 2017Blog -
EY Tuesday: What’s the right path to accelerate your growth journey?
March 15, 2017News -
Catalyst Challenge
March 13, 2017 -
Building business savvy into firms’ foundations
March 8, 2017Blog -
Utonomy secures £1m investment
February 20, 2017News -
University Science Park CEO to launch 2017 Test Valley Business Awards
February 13, 2017News -
Funding for xim – Catalyst graduate and child asthma innovators
January 26, 2017News -
Catalyst Challenge
January 23, 2017News -
Interview with SAL Scientific Founding Director and Catalyst Graduate, Alasdair Robertson
January 18, 2017Blog -
Catalyst stars showcased
January 18, 2017News -
‘Appy New Year from Made and Worn
January 17, 2017Blog -
The breakthrough technologies of 2016
January 17, 2017Blog -
Plan, plan – then plan some more
December 14, 2016Blog -
Globally and locally, innovation is the focus
November 22, 2016Blog -
HiveWire completes MedTech line-up for Catalyst
November 9, 2016Blog -
Catalyst gets crafty
October 19, 2016Blog -
Fifth Catalyst tenant revealed
October 11, 2016Blog -
Introducing the fourth Catalyst Centre tenant
October 5, 2016Blog -
The Catalyst Centre showcases technology from tenants past and present
September 27, 2016News -
Lack of direction, not a lack of time, is the problem
September 14, 2016Blog -
The third Catalyst Centre tenant revealed
September 1, 2016Blog -
The first and second Catalyst Centre tenants are unveiled
August 22, 2016Blog -
Nucleus Expo Hampshire announces speaker programme
August 15, 2016News -
Ten top-tips for tech startup success
August 8, 2016Blog -
Pitch Perfect
August 3, 2016Blog -
It’s Not What You Know
July 25, 2016Blog -
Don’t Sleep on it! Turn Your Dreams Into a Reality
July 18, 2016Blog -
Has the glass ceiling finally been shattered?
July 13, 2016Blog -
Do You Have the X Factor… or the Fear Factor?
July 4, 2016Blog -
Tech Communities Come Together And Are Encouraged to Reach Out
June 27, 2016Blog -
It’s Right to Remain
June 21, 2016Blog -
In for a Penny…
June 13, 2016Blog -
Catalyst Challenge: what’s it all about?
May 9, 2016Blog -
Catalyst calls on science and technology start-ups for 2016 programme
April 21, 2016News -
Southampton to host Hampshire innovation showcase
April 12, 2016News -
The budget 2016: What it means for small businesses
March 21, 2016Blog -
BluPoint goes global
March 14, 2016News -
xim’s Lifelight™ attracts investment
March 4, 2016News -
Dynamon takes to the stage in the middle east
February 29, 2016News -
The peak of success
February 22, 2016Blog -
Big ideas spring from leakage
February 12, 2016Blog -
Catalyst Centre tenants onto something big!
February 5, 2016Blog
Catalyst 2017 Profile: Soton Audio Labs
Catalyst 2017 Profile: Soton Audio Labs
Continuing our profiles of the businesses that successfully won a place in Catalyst, Southampton Science Park’s incubator for early stage businesses, today we introduce Soton Audio Labs (SAL). A spin-out arising from research conducted into audio reproduction at the University of Southampton, SAL was founded by Marcos Simón and Filippo Fazi. Marcos tells us more.
Marcos, what are you creating? We are creating the sound of the future! We work in the consumer electronics sector, creating novel technological solutions for spatial audio reproduction, enabling accurate reproductions of 3D sound fields in the form of a loudspeaker array (or ‘soundbar’).
Our invention will enable listeners to experience sounds coming from any direction within the home from a single soundbar with an attached camera system which tracks the location of the viewer within the room. This delivers an immersive, extremely realistic 3D audio experience.
Who will benefit? The average Briton spends nearly a decade of their adult life watching television, but millions of viewers enjoy a limited experience through a small set of loudspeakers. In real life, we hear and locate sounds all around us. This reality can never be truly recreated through our screens or even sophisticated home cinema systems – until now.
Our technology has both business-to-consumer and business-to-business potential.
Originally, we set out to design a replacement for conventional 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound systems; a way to provide the same listening experience but without the need for positioning loudspeakers around the listener or for the listener to wear headphones. This will appeal to affluent, early-adopting consumers who are at the forefront of technology and seek differentiation.
However, the resulting technology has opened up the prospect of taking it beyond the consumer market into a whole new set of applications across commercial markets. We would like to licence our technology to car companies, cinema-audio companies, or companies producing high performance simulators; in fact any application that requires an accurate 3D reproduction without the need to wear headphones.
How does it work? Very simply! Our smart soundbars radiate acoustic waves that create acoustic and destructive interferences, creating “virtual headphones” at the listener’s head positions. These virtual headphones allow us to render any 3D soundfield we want, just as listeners would hear in a real life situation.
What stage is the business at? We have incorporated our company and are in the process of securing funding and consolidating our business plan. Our main concern at the moment is to understand which business model we should follow – whether to manufacture ourselves or licence the technology to an original equipment manufacturer (OEM).
And what’s next? We are working towards having a fully formed company, have secured funding and have a couple of licensing deals or feasibility studies lined up.
How did you feel when you were informed that you were successful in gaining entry to Catalyst? I was very happy to receive the news and very grateful that Catalyst is giving me this opportunity to grow as an individual and gain the business skills that I need.
And how is it going so far?
It is going great! The support and advice from the Catalyst mentors is just brutal. Decision making on an early life start-up is extremely hard sometimes and I am finding the weekly meetings we are holding with the mentors very useful.
I enjoy every day I am at the Catalyst Centre and I look forward to keep working and advancing our company formation with the help of the mentors here.
Where can we find out more? Take a look at our video at https://futureworlds.com/soton_audio_labs/. It explains the technology and wait until you see peoples’ responses having listened to it!