Interview with Univercell Battery Company, Partner Project, from United Kingdom

What is the sector of activity for the AceOn Group?
The AceOn group was formed to specialise in solar and portable energy products. The current directors have over twenty years experience in this market and the group has four main divisions; Univercell Battery Company, AceOn Solar, AceOn Battery and Solar SDS™ Generators. We have a highly dedicated and skilled team that offers worldwide sales and manufacturing operation from our sites in Telford and Solihull.
Our vision is to be a leader in the market for portable power whilst offering off-grid solutions for the power hungry market.

What was your motivation to be part of the UC-Crowd project?
The fastest growing SME’s (Small, Medium, Enterprises), generating half of all new jobs, are those that are driven by innovation. Having started the process of working with the University of Wolverhampton I’ve started to understand the complexity of how companies can use the resources of higher education institutions. Bringing a simple to use platform for companies to engage with HSE’s, we felt we could help in the implementation of this project. Added to this gaining contacts from around Europe would also be a benefit to our organisation.

What kind of advantages do you think that the Challenge Academy platform will bring?
The UC-Crowd project has the advantage of bringing all parties together with real life experiences. The platform will be developed and changed with new ideas as it progresses. Feedback from the questionnaire will help map the platform to bring the companies & HSE’s closer to understanding each other’s partner’s needs. Companies face many challenges and by having a simple to use Challenge Academy platform this will only help further engagement between students, professors and companies.