Bath tech firm secures £1.2 million worth of export deals

ScienceScope, based at Downside School near Bath, develops technology to teach children about the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) and connected devices.

The deal with the National Institute for Education in Singapore will see the company build an IoT lab on-site and provide every school in Singapore with 300 micro:bits, one of ScienceScope’s flagship products, over the next 3 years.

In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), ScienceScope was awarded a grant from Expo 2020 Dubai to build an IoT school project at 2 schools. The schools will receive IoT weather stations and IoT development kits as part of a pilot scheme which could be rolled out to other schools in the Gulf region.

The micro:bit is a pocket-sized codable computer that encourages young people to get creative with technology and code their own projects, including designing video games. A million were handed out to 11-years-olds across the UK in a partnership with the BBC 2 years ago.

Both deals were enabled through support from the Department for International Trade (DIT). Most recently, DIT assisted the business to attend global education training and technology show, Bett Middle East in Abu Dhabi, with support from DIT as part of Exporting is GREAT campaign, which encourages SMEs to export their products.

DIT also put the business in touch with an export manager on-the-ground in Dubai and thanks to this the business now sells 80% of its products overseas.