Urban Flows Observatory

What Urban Flows Observatory does

Urban Flows Observatory is an EPSRC-funded research institute within the University of Sheffield, co-founded in 2017 by the departments of Civil and Structural Engineering and Automatic Control and Systems Engineering. It operates a multi-modal urban sensing infrastructure that combines 600+ traffic sensors, dense air quality IoT sensor networks, and three mobile sensing platforms (the MOBIUS van, the MORCA electric Smart Fortwo for RF spectrum mapping, and a third vehicle) to characterize how energy and resources flow through cities. Its products and services include the Regenerate circular economy assessment tool (a freely available web application for building design, aligned with GLA circular economy statement requirements), computer vision-based building geometry characterization, probabilistic air quality modeling with uncertainty quantification, predictive traffic flow modeling for the UK's Strategic Road Network, and agent-based simulations for natural hazard risk assessment.

The institute serves academic researchers, local government (notably Sheffield City Council), the UK construction industry through Regenerate, secondary school and university students via the SELA and Urban Champions programs, and international research partners including Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Revenue is not commercially generated; the entity operates as a nonprofit research institute funded primarily by EPSRC research council grants and University of Sheffield institutional support, with all major outputs (Regenerate, sensor data, research publications) distributed freely or through open access. Distribution is achieved through direct research collaborations, government engagement, public hackathons (with Sheffield Technology Parks offering £50,000 in prize funding), educational outreach, and self-serve web access to the Regenerate platform.

Name

Urban Flows Observatory

Legal name

Urban Flows Observatory - University of Sheffield

Website

https://urbanflows.ac.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Urban Flows Observatory is an EPSRC-funded research institute at the University of Sheffield that operates IoT sensor networks, mobile sensing vehicles (MOBIUS, MORCA), and the Regenerate circular economy tool to monitor urban energy and resource flows for academia, government, and the construction industry.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Urban Environmental Research & Monitoring

akta.pro primary industry

Traffic Management & Intelligent Transportation Systems (Signals, TMCs, Congestion) (BPAIALAC)

Keywords

• Urban environmental monitoring
• Circular economy assessment
• Air quality sensing
• Mobile urban sensing
• IoT sensor networks

Headquarters

HQ city

Sheffield

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Research Council Funding: Primary funding from EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) grants and other UK research councils. The observatory is an EPSRC funded research institute at the University of Sheffield.
2. University of Sheffield Support: Institutional support from University of Sheffield through co-founding departments: Civil and Structural Engineering and Automatic Control and Systems Engineering.
3. Hackathon Prize Funding: Funding distributed to winning software solutions from hackathon competitions (£50,000 total pot shared among successful teams).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Urban Flows Observatory is an EPSRC-funded research institute at the University of Sheffield that develops and operates urban data collection infrastructure including IoT sensor networks and mobile sensing vehicles (MOBIUS and MORCA). It produces real-time analytics on energy flows, resource consumption, air quality, traffic patterns, and RF spectrum use, and provides the Regenerate circular economy assessment tool for the construction industry.

Product overview

Urban Flows Observatory is a research institute offering multiple interconnected products and platforms for urban environmental monitoring and sustainability analysis. The core offering includes the Regenerate circular economy assessment tool for buildings, combined with extensive sensor networks (MOBIUS mobile sensing vehicle, MORCA RF spectrum vehicle, fixed air quality sensors, IoT networks, and traffic monitoring systems) that collect real-time data on energy flows, resource consumption, air quality, and traffic patterns. The research platform enables characterization of urban systems through data analysis, modelling, and simulation to support sustainable city planning.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Regenerate: A freely available circular economy engagement tool for the design and construction of buildings. Developed by University of Sheffield researchers with assistance from AECOM, funded by EPSRC Impact Accelerator Account.
• MOBIUS
• MORCA

Products and services

• Regenerate Circular Economy Tool A freely available web-based circular economy assessment tool for the construction industry that evaluates building circularity across four principles (design for adaptability, design for deconstruction, circular materials selection, and resource efficiency) applied to five building layers (site, structure, skin, services, space). Developed by University of Sheffield researchers with assistance from AECOM, funded by EPSRC Impact Accelerator Account.
• MOBIUS (Mobile Urban Sensing) A vehicle-based mobile sensing platform equipped with environmental sensors for collecting real-time data on air quality, temperature, humidity, LIDAR mapping, thermal imaging, and other urban environmental parameters while driving through Sheffield.
• MORCA (RF Spectrum Monitoring Vehicle) An electric Smart Fortwo vehicle equipped with drive-test RF spectrum survey equipment for mapping radio frequency spectrum use in urban environments, including direction-finding capabilities for radio source identification.
• Air Quality Sensor Network

Quantifiable outcome

• 600+ sensors deployed across Sheffield for traffic monitoring
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability10 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• University of SheffieldcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent institution and co-founder. The Urban Flows Observatory is an EPSRC funded research institute housed within the University, co-founded by the departments of Civil and Structural Engineering and Automatic Control and Systems Engineering.
• UKCRICcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities. Partner organization supporting the Urban Flows Observatory research infrastructure.
• Sheffield Technology ParksmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHackathon collaboration offering funding and support for software solutions using urban data. Provides residency support, project coordination, and commercialization assistance to winning teams. Shared £50,000 funding pool.
• SiemensmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partner for air quality monitoring project. Contributed to PhD project funding and provides expertise for urban air quality research.
• ArupminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEvent sponsor for Urban Flows Observatory Sensor Build Competition final pitching event. Provides industry expertise through guest speaker keynote.
• Sheffield City CouncilmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborates on traffic monitoring through 600+ sensor network. Data sharing partnership for tracking traffic evolution in Sheffield. Technical collaboration on urban sensing infrastructure.
• Grantham Centre for Sustainable FuturesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-organizer of Sheffield Air Symposium and joint participant in BlueDot Festival. Provides scholarship funding for PhD research on urban sustainability topics.
• AECOMmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated on development of Regenerate circular economy tool. David Cheshire from AECOM provided assistance in creating the tool alongside University of Sheffield researchers.
• David and Jane Richards Family FoundationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCharitable foundation funding IoT network installation at Tapton School. Supports education initiatives connecting students to urban sustainability data. DJRFF's Big Data Course incorporates Urban Flows Observatory content.
• Tapton School (Sheffield)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSecondary school hosting long-range IoT network gateway on roof. Site for Urban Champions educational program and SELA student projects on urban environmental monitoring.
• Makerere University (Uganda)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational research partner for Kampala air quality monitoring project. Professor Engineer Bainomugisha leads local sensor network deployment. Enables comparative urban air quality research across cities.
• Urban Institute (University of Sheffield)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partner for Sheffield Air Symposium. Interdisciplinary partner for air quality and urban sustainability research dialogue.
• MindSphere (Siemens)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMindSphere Lounge at The Diamond, University of Sheffield, used as venue for Researchers Forum workshops and Air Quality Sensor Network workshops.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Siemens Smart Infrastructure: Industrial incumbent in smart-city infrastructure (including MindSphere IoT platform, a partner of Urban Flows). Compares as a much larger, commercial counterpart with overlapping capabilities in air quality, energy, and traffic monitoring at city scale.
• Vaisala: Established manufacturer of environmental and industrial measurement instruments, including air quality and weather sensors. Comparable as a supplier of the same underlying sensing hardware that Urban Flows deploys, but with a global commercial footprint.
• INRIX: Global leader in traffic and mobility data analytics, offering commercial traffic intelligence at scale. Overlaps with Urban Flows' traffic monitoring and pro-active traffic management work, but operates commercially across many cities rather than focusing on one.

Emerging players

• PurpleAir: Crowd-sourced low-cost air quality monitoring network using community-deployed sensors. Closely comparable to the Luftdaten-based sensor network Urban Flows operates, but at much larger scale and driven by community rather than academic research.
• Aeroqual: Specialist in air quality monitoring instruments and sensor networks, serving cities and enterprises. Comparable because it builds and operates dense air quality sensor networks (Urban Flows' core activity), though it sells hardware commercially rather than publishing research.

Others

• Arup: Global engineering and sustainability consultancy with deep circular-economy and built-environment expertise; sponsors Urban Flows events. Comparable as a partner/channel for translating circular-economy research (Regenerate) into consulting engagements on major projects.
• The Alan Turing Institute: UK national institute for data science and AI research. Comparable as a UK-based, publicly-funded research institute applying data science to urban, environmental, and infrastructure challenges, though with a much broader research remit.

Direct peers

• BABLE Smart Cities: European smart-cities knowledge and platform company that aggregates urban solutions and data for municipalities. Comparable because it serves the same government/city audience with curated urban sustainability tools and frameworks, though more commercial in nature.
• Connected Places Catapult: UK government-backed innovation center focused on transport, mobility, and place-making, running data-driven urban pilots. Comparable in mission to translate urban data and innovation into real-world deployment, and operates in the same UK smart-city ecosystem.
• Senseable City Lab (MIT): MIT research lab that studies urban environments through real-time sensor data, mobile sensing, and data-driven modeling. Highly comparable as an academic urban observatory producing similar environmental and mobility insights, though with broader international city deployments.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/UrbanFlowsObs
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/urban-flows-obs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Urban Flows Observatory