A joint venture between British software development consultancy DRS Software (DRS) and Italian engineering consultancy Alpha Process Control (Alpha), VPI is developing a ground-breaking software platform (Visual Process Intelligence) for the aggregation, visualisation and interpretation of process and control data. Visual Process Intelligence is a next-generation solution to provide intuitive, data-driven root-cause analysis to the process control industry.

DRS was awarded an Innovate UK SMART grant on a £500,000, two-year project to develop VPI Soft Sensors, a novel extension of VPI for the design, calibration, and real-time deployment of software predictors of unmeasurable industrial process data. The product, which relies heavily on big data analytics and machine learning, will be launched on the market in 2023, with early adopters starting to use it in Q4 2022.

On the Italian side, Alpha has secured not one but two public funding sources: an Invitalia (Italy’s National Agency for Inward Investment and Economic Development) grant for the technical refinement of the VPI platform, and a SIMEST (part of CBP, supporting the innovation, growth and internationalisation of small, medium and large companies in Italy) grant forfurthering the international expansion of VPI.

The joint venture, established in Leeds in 2021, has secured, through Alpha, the clientele of some of the largest oil- & gas-refining companies in the world, including Shell Singapore, Shell Germany, and GS Caltex in South Korea.

Stefano De Rossi, co-founder and CTO of VPI, Director of DRS: “We are thrilled and honoured to have received this Innovate UK Smart Grant. This funding will support the development of a key piece of innovation that will enable our vision of being the market leader in specialist big-data solutions for the process industry.”

Filippo Trivella, co-founder and CEO of VPI, Managing Director of Alpha: “R&D activities have been ongoing in collaboration with De Rossi Consulting for several years. The awarding of the Innovate UK Smart grant is a recognition that the ideas and products we are developing will bring significant benefit on the performances of the process operations of our customers.”

Vivien Badaut, Managing Director of DRIAD: “We have worked with the project partners for over a year, helping them refine their business strategy and getting them funding-ready. There is an excellent alignment between our capabilities and that of the project partners, and we are looking forward to working with them in the longer term as they scale up their operations.”

For more information: www.vpisoftsensors.com

Contact: Stefano De Rossi, Director, De Rossi Consulting, Director, VPI

Filippo Trivella: Director, Alpha Process Control, Director, VPI