The AIDC Centre has been named as a winner in a UK-Government-run research competition. The Government-sponsored Technology Strategy Board (TSB) has announced that the AIDC European Centre of Excellence in Barnsley has been awarded £25,000 to carry out research into a new system to allow users with disabilities improved access to public service information. The competition was part of the Government’s “Digital Britain” programme, which is looking to develop new applications, services and business models which can make best use of a new digital infrastructure in the UK.

Since its opening in 2007, the AIDC Centre has developed an international reputation as a leader in automatic identification and data capture. It works with businesses across the region to advise them on the best applications of technologies such as barcodes, 2D codes, RFID, smartcards and biometrics. The company recently relocated from Halifax to a suite of offices in the Digital Media Centre in Barnsley to be part of the Digital Region developments in South Yorkshire. Digital Region is the first major regional deployment of 'Superfast Broadband' in the UK, not only bringing improved access to a whole range of entertainment, business and public sector services, but importantly attracting new investment and new jobs into the region. The project marks the start of a new 'Digital Age' in South Yorkshire putting the region at the Digital centre of the UK and Europe. The network is being designed, built and operated by Thales UK, with funding from Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency. It will bring Superfast Broadband to 1.3 million people, 540,000 homes and 40,000 businesses right across the region.

Ken Bellamy, Operations Director for AIDC feels that the competition win fully justifies AIDC’s decision to move to Barnsley. He commented, “We are only really going to get true value out of a superfast broadband network if we can use it to deliver valuable public services, or to put in place other uses which really improve people’s lives. This research project is the start of a process which could lead to major improvements in the way we deliver public service information to people with disabilities.”