An Indian-origin software engineer has won a prestigious award in the UK for creating an innovative electronic smart key system which enables the creation and management of keys and locks that cannot be copied or picked.
Nandagopal Lakshminarayanan, who has been working as a knowledge transfer partnership (KTP) associate at Lincoln Security Ltd for the past two years, won the Business Leader of the Future award at Innovate UK's 'KTP Best of the Best Awards 2015'at a ceremony in London last month, but the announcement was made public yesterday.
The project was a result of a partnership between the university and the security firm under the UK's national KTP scheme, set up to help businesses innovate and grow by linking them with academia to work on a specific project.
The software for the electronic locking system, called eLOQ, has been created jointly by the University of Lincoln's School of Computer Science and Lincoln Security under the KTP.
"The project has enabled me to get involved in both the academic and business sides. The KTP project has presented a unique challenge because it was not just about innovation and technicality but also about creating awareness of a new product," said Lakshminarayanan, who studied previously in India and Singapore and hails from Tamil Nadu.
Lincoln Security has now established a separate company, Dynamic Access Solutions in order to take the product to market, the University of Lincoln said in a statement.
"The project has been very fortunate to have recruited Nanda. He came with a predominantly embedded hardware background which meant that although he had good programming skills, there was a lot for Nanda to learn," said John Murray, principal lecturer at the School of Computer Science.
"However, very quickly he had taken up the challenge and has been one of the most enthusiastic and diligent people I've had the pleasure of working with," Murray said.
He said due to the nature of the KTP there were many changes and developments in the objectives of the project.
"Where other associates might not have been so accommodating, Nanda took this as an opportunity to expand his learning and deliver excellent project outcomes," Murray said.
ELOQ enables the creation and management of electronic keys and locks that cannot be copied or picked.
The locks contain no batteries and do not require rewiring as all of the power is taken from the key and allows all areas to be controlled.
"The launch of this product comes at a time when only two other similar products are available, our solution offers customers not only cost savings but also greater flexibility," said Peter Corlett, managing director for Dynamic Access Solutions Ltd.
