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Metro mayor visits tech startup boosting local jobs
Following his swearing-in ceremony at Engine Shed, metro mayor Tim Bowles continued the entrepreneurial theme of his tenure to date by visiting Ultrahaptics – a Bristol-based tech company investigating Virtual and Augmented Reality, based in Glass Wharf in Temple Enterprise Quarter.
The metro mayor was there to announce that 1,618 new jobs were created in the West of England region between 2016 and 2017 – a trend he clearly hoped would continue under his guidance, and with the help of Invest Bristol & Bath.
In his first public appearance since being elected in early May, Bowles tried gamely put on a Virtual Reality headset and tried out some of the latest in mid-air touches technology, which uses high-pressure sound waves to create the feeling that you are touching something solid.
is needed now More than ever
The metro mayor experiments with the VR headset
Bowles praised CEO Steve Cliffe, who helped grow the company from just four people in 2014, to its current staff of 58. Ultrahaptics has recently secured multi-million pound investments from global companies, including Dolby, to continue developing their technology.
The company started as a Phd project at the University of Bristol, and then expanded into offices in Engine Shed as it grew. “We had no intention of moving from Bristol,” Cliffe explained. “Bristol remains a great place for us, due to the pool of excellent engineering talent in the area.”
“What we’re all focused on is providing jobs for everyone across the region, and jobs that are going to be in the industries of the future, to provide sustainable, long-term employment for everybody,” Bowles told Bristol24/7.
“What we’re going to keep driving forward is how jobs at this level can create more jobs in the supply chain, and in all the smaller business that support that supply chain, helping us to provide jobs throughout the region, throughout different sectors and provide real long-term economic growth. That’s what’s really vital to us.”
Read more: Metro mayor Tim Bowles promises to deliver change
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