APEM’s remote sensing services for the water industry have been voted the ‘best of the best’ in WRc’s newly launched Innovation Forum Award – a Dragons’ Den style showcase.

Director of remote sensing, Dr Stuart Clough, faced a field of seven competitors, all of whom have won water industry and innovation awards this year. APEM was invited following this year’s Water Industry Innovation Awards, where together with United Utilities we won the award for the best use of existing technologies.  Each company had five minutes to present on its prize winning innovation to an audience of over 300 people from the water industry, regulators, academia and government, who used interactive handsets to vote for industry’s top innovator.

APEM emerged as the clear winner, claiming almost 50 per cent of the audience vote.

It was the third time that WRc has held its Innovation Day conference, with this year’s focus on using innovation to deliver value to clients and customers.

Dr Clough said: “We use airborne sensors mounted on survey aircraft to produce high resolution visible light images, near infrared images and thermal infrared images. We can use these to map underground pipe networks, spot signs of water leaks, identify potential illegal connections, map private sewer networks and create 3D maps of the ground. Click here to read more