Company: Co-Lab Engineering
Founder: Clyne Albertelli
Website: https://www.co-lab.engineering
About Co-Lab Engineering
The vision I have for Co-Lab Engineering (CLE) is to cultivate world-class engineering capabilities whilst addressing some of the world’s most daunting challenges. I officially launched CLE in August 2022. My decade-long experience in the nuclear sector, starting as an apprentice and advancing through various roles including Engineer, Project & Programme Manager, and Innovation Lead, laid the foundation for this venture.
Recognising an opportunity for rapid engineering development through real-life industry problems, I inaugurated CLE with our first publicly available offering, The Engineering Academy (EA). This six-week industry training experience is designed to develop early career professionals through live industry challenges. Our inaugural EA included five early career professionals from Jacobs and Sellafield Ltd, who tackled the challenge of bio-fouling on submarines. Their invention, ‘The ScrubMarine’, a Submersible Remotely Operated Vehicle (SROV) designed to clean barnacles and algae from marine vessels, has attracted international interest after being featured on ‘Interesting Engineering’.
Continuously identifying opportunities, I established an Industrial Product Development (IPD) unit focused on engineering solutions, leveraging ‘Co-Laboration’ to address other industry and societal challenges. The result is a series of solutions now evolving into independent businesses. For instance, The HydraPulse, a collaboration between Technology Consortia Limited and Co-Lab Engineering, developed the Compact Hydro Energy Device (CHED), with the potential to revolutionise micro-hydro power worldwide. I secured a combination of grant and equity funding through Innovate UK and Carbon 13, being selected as one of five from 222 global businesses, with total investment reaching £500,000. Additionally, an Internet of Things (IoT) product line for Agriculture is currently under development, involving collaboration with university experts across the UK.
Supporting CLE’s operations is a global team of five, with two operating remotely from Egypt and three working part-time from the UK.
My proudest moment, not the one yielding the most financial gain but the one with the greatest social impact, was when I led CLE in delivering a Junior version of our Engineering Academy to a group of 12 youngsters from a local football club, named the ‘Greener than Green’ project. The objective was to discover financially and environmentally sustainable energy solutions for the clubhouse through hands-on exploration of solar, wind, and hydro technologies. As a result of CLE’s support, the club is now halfway to securing investment for the installation of solar panels, which will slash carbon intensity by 1,000 tonnes per year and reduce operating costs by £5,000 to £8,000 per annum.
It’s been an exhilarating journey, and I wouldn’t exchange it for anything in the world.
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