About the Business
North Shields based Kinewell Energy launched in 2015 when they introduced the KLOC software solution to the market optimising offshore wind inter-array cable layouts following two years of research and development. In 2016 the software product was Highly Commended by the IET Innovation Awards in two categories; Power, and Model Based Engineering. It became clear that in addition to a consultancy offering, the market also demanded a licensable solution. During 2018, the company launched an initial licensable solution developed with the skills and resources the company had in-house. Further development however required external expertise, and in 2020, alongside North East BIC support from their Innovation Programme, Kinewell Energy developed a much more sophisticated and comprehensive offering. The development of this offering has resulted in further innovation and the company pioneering a new-to-market game-changing platform technology.
Support from the SME Innovation Programme
Prior to the SME Innovation Programme’s financial support to enable Kinewell Energy’s project to progress, support was also provided by the NE-BIC to find a suitably experienced and qualified sub-contractor through way of a public tender.
Commenting on this Dr Andrew Jenkins, CEO and Founder of Kinewell Energy said, “Innovation is our company, its what we are all about. For us the support from the NE-BIC allowed us to complete a vital project progressing our new-to-market game-changing platform technology to an investable position enabling substantial further investment to be leveraged.”
Benefits and impacts
The company has grown, and is growing, rapidly, achieving around 100% year-on-year revenue growth since first revenue in 2017. This trajectory looks set to continue as the world accelerates its efforts to achieve net-zero. All profits are reinvested into innovation, the life blood of the company. In February 2022, the company was nominated as ‘one of the most innovative companies in the North East’ through the VentureFest initiative. The North East based company now employs eight staff and is actively recruiting to the team via its website www.kinewell.co.uk/recruitment.
One of the benefits the company has derived from getting involved with the NE-BIC has been the development of their skills in funding and tender applications, which has led to them winning more work and successfully closing investments opportunities. These successes allow the company to re-invest into new innovation projects to further support societal efforts towards the net-zero transition and the company’s exceptional growth trajectory.
Next Steps
Kinewell Energy is an ambitious company with net-zero focused innovation as the ethos of everything it does. Andrew is keen to encourage other companies to embrace innovation. Commenting on this he said, “The Innovation Programme is very accessible and this is due to the approach of the Team at NE BIC. Their ‘can do’ attitude is refreshing. Their support has been invaluable to us, in all it’s been a fantastic experience.“
If you would like to speak to the BICInnovation team about support and funding for innovative projects, contact us on 0191 516 6039 or read more here.
The North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) has received £899,250 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund for the North East SME Innovation Programme 2 as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.