Open Lab - Newcastle University

What Open Lab - Newcastle University does

Open Lab is an academic research group within Newcastle University's School of Computing, specializing in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Digital Civics research. Founded in 2007 and operating out of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, with 11 listed employees, the lab conducts community-led participatory and action research across five themes: Digital Health, Educational Technology, Digital Sustainability, Design Futures, and Digital Social Innovation. Its outputs are research prototypes and platforms rather than commercial products, including the OurPlace place-based learning mobile app (used by 350+ schoolchildren across ten schools), the App Movement collaborative app-commissioning platform (which has generated apps such as the C-Card Condom Finder deployed via Newcastle Council), the BinCam personal informatics system (featured on BBC Breakfast), the Ambient Kitchen and AK-Lite pervasive sensing environments using RFID and accelerometer instrumentation, the FeedFinder breastfeeding peer-support app, and the INTAKE24 dietary recall system.

The lab's underlying technology combines mobile applications, situated display networks, RFID and accelerometer-based sensing, and participatory design platforms. Distribution is through public app stores (Google Play, Apple App Store) and community deployment partnerships with regional organisations including Glendale Gateway Trust (Wooler and Rothbury, Northumberland), Tyne and Wear Heritage Forum, Newcastle City Council, and the EPSRC Centre for Digital Citizens.

Open Lab operates as a not-for-profit academic research entity rather than a commercial business. Revenue consists of research grant funding from public sources including EPSRC, UK Research and Innovation, and EU Horizon 2020 (notably the Ge.CO Living Lab and CO3 projects), supplemented by partnerships such as a PhD research collaboration with BBC R&D and an EPSRC-funded Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Anchor Hanover. There is no commercial pricing model, no venture or private equity ownership, and no independent revenue outside of grant and partnership funding. Customer-facing relationships are research co-production engagements with community organisations, local authorities, NHS trusts, schools, and charities rather than paid commercial contracts.

Name

Open Lab - Newcastle University

Legal name

Newcastle University

Website

https://openlab.ncl.ac.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Open Lab is an academic research group within Newcastle University's School of Computing that conducts Human-Computer Interaction and Digital Civics research, developing community-engaged technology prototypes across digital health, education, sustainability, and civic participation using participatory design methods.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Research Services

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Virtual Labs, Remote Labs & Hands-On Practice Tools (EDAFABAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Hands-on Science Exploration & Experiments (Lab Kits, Science Clubs) (EDAMABAA), Makerspaces & Fab Labs (Open Build Studios) (EDAMADAC)

Keywords

• Human-computer interaction
• Digital civics research
• Participatory design methods
• Pervasive computing systems
• Community-engaged research

Headquarters

HQ city

Newcastle upon Tyne

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Academic Research Funding: Open Lab operates as a research center within Newcastle University, funded through academic research grants from EPSRC, EU Horizon 2020, and other research councils. Revenue comes from grant funding for research projects rather than commercial product revenue.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Open Lab is an academic Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research center within Newcastle University's School of Computing that develops Digital Civics technologies through community-led participatory and action research. It produces research prototypes including mobile applications (OurPlace, FeedFinder, C-Card Condom Finder), pervasive sensing systems (Ambient Kitchen, AK-Lite, BinCam), and collaborative platforms (App Movement), primarily deployed with community partners rather than sold commercially.

Product overview

Open Lab at Newcastle University is an HCI research lab that develops research prototypes and platforms rather than commercial products. Their portfolio includes mobile applications for digital health and civic engagement (OurPlace, C-Card Condom Finder, FeedFinder, INTAKE24), pervasive sensing systems for kitchens (Ambient Kitchen, AK-Lite), personal informatics tools (BinCam), and a collaborative app development platform (App Movement). These are primarily research outputs developed through academic projects rather than packaged commercial products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Digital Civics: A research theme focusing on citizen empowerment through and with technology, led by Open Lab
• Open Lab Athens

Products and services

• OurPlace A mobile application for Android and Apple devices that allows anyone to create, share and complete fun learning activities in outdoor spaces, featuring photography, video, audio recording, map marking, drawing and location hunting interactions. Used with schools, youth councils and heritage organisations.
• BinCam A personal informatics system using a camera phone attached to a bin lid with accelerometer detection that photographs bin contents, identifies objects via crowdsourcing, and integrates with Facebook to raise waste awareness among young people. Featured on BBC Breakfast.
• Ambient Kitchen A pervasive sensing kitchen environment using RFID technology embedded in worktops and cupboards, pressure-sensitive flooring, LCD screens behind tinted glass, and wireless accelerometers in utensils to track and reason about user behavior for supporting independent living, healthier eating, and language learning.
• AK-Lite (Ambient Kitchen Lite) A portable version of Ambient Kitchen consisting of utensils fitted with accelerometers, attachable sensors for oven handles, taps and food containers, and a tablet computer in a bespoke case for home-based deployments.
• C-Card Condom Finder App A mobile application generated through App Movement that allows users to find and review places where they can use C-Cards to access free condoms and sexual health information, available through Newcastle Council's scheme for young people under 25 across the North East.
• INTAKE24 A 24-hour dietary recall system for large scale population studies, developed for dietary assessment and currently undergoing further development and translation into different languages for international use.
• FeedFinder A mobile application described as 'TripAdvisor for breastfeeding' that allows women to find, rate and review places according to how breastfeeding friendly they are, supporting breastfeeding women and peer support networks.
• App Movement A platform that allows people to collaboratively commission and design their own mobile applications by creating campaigns, gathering 150 supporters, and collaboratively customizing app features before automatic generation and release on app stores.

Quantifiable outcome

• OurPlace used by 350+ schoolchildren across ten schools
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Glendale Gateway TrustcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2015Collaboration with Glendale Gateway Trust, a charitable trust located in Wooler, Northumberland, to deploy a network of eight situated community displays to mitigate social exclusion of young people through better support for sharing information in the community.
• Newcastle CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Newcastle Council to develop the C-Card Condom Finder app for the C-Card scheme providing free condoms and sexual health information to young people under 25 across the North East.
• Tyne and Wear Heritage ForumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHeritage organisation that has used OurPlace app and applied for funding to create a staff position to design and run OurPlace activities.
• Anchor HanoverminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInnovation Associate in EPSRC-funded Centre for Digital Citizens exploring technology for older adults through Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Anchor Hanover.
• BBC R&DcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPhD research partnership with BBC R&D in their Designing for All program, investigating how to build more beneficial relationships between public service media organisations and their audiences.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• BBC R&D: Public-service media research organisation and direct partner of Open Lab. Comparable in mission-driven research focus, UK base, and citizen-facing technology development, but operates at much larger scale as part of the BBC.
• Microsoft Research: Global industrial research organisation with major HCI, social computing, and civic-tech research programmes. Comparable in research breadth and impact, but operates at vastly larger scale with much broader mandate than Open Lab's specialised civic focus.

Direct peers

• MIT Media Lab: Premier academic research lab at MIT conducting interdisciplinary research at the intersection of design, computing, and societal impact. Highly comparable to Open Lab in structure (small research-focused team), research breadth across multiple civic/social themes, and emphasis on prototyping novel socio-technical systems.
• Northumbria University Design Research Group: UK-based design and HCI research group with overlapping research themes around design for social good, participatory methods, and interaction design. Comparable in UK academic structure, research scope, and interdisciplinary focus.
• Edinburgh HCI Group (University of Edinburgh): UK-based HCI research group with overlapping focus on interaction design and social computing. Comparable in academic structure, UK base, and publishing profile at premier HCI venues.
• Stanford HCI Group: Stanford's HCI research group conducts research on human-centred AI, design, and social computing. Comparable in academic structure, publishing profile, and emphasis on prototyping technology for societal benefit.
• Microsoft Research Cambridge: UK-based industrial research lab conducting HCI, sensors, and social computing research. Comparable in UK geographic base, research themes (sensing, civic participation), and publication profile at top-tier HCI venues.
• UCL Interaction Centre (UCLIC): UCL's HCI research centre focuses on human-centred computing, interaction design, and participatory research. Closest UK academic peer to Open Lab — both operate within UK universities, publish at the same top-tier HCI venues, and emphasise community and societal engagement through technology.
• Carnegie Mellon Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII): Leading US academic HCI institute producing interdisciplinary research on interaction design, social computing, and novel interfaces. Comparable in research output volume, top-tier venue publishing, and breadth of socio-technical research themes to Open Lab.
• Lancaster University HCI Group: UK HCI research group with overlapping expertise in participatory design, ubiquitous computing, and social computing. Comparable in UK academic structure and research focus on community-engaged technology.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/nicktaylor3
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/open-lab-newcastle-university

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Open Lab - Newcastle University