Zen Oracle - Yorkshire Innovation Fund

YORKSHIRE INNOVATION FUND CASE STUDY:
Zen Oracle
Managing
Nick Middleton
Director:
Location:
Sheffield
Website:www.zenoracle.com
Twitter:@ZenGolf
Twitter:www.facebook.com/Zen.Golf.
TheArtOfWinning
Funded via: Yorkshire Innovation Fund
Telephone:
01274 236 673
Website:www.yorkshireinnovationfund.org
Twitter:@YorkshireIF
Partner:
Sheffield Hallam University
Website:
www.shu.ac.uk/business/how-we-can-help
support-and-funding
Twitter:@sheffhallamuni
Yorkshire Innovation Fund Case Study: Zen Oracle
The Business…
Established by Managing Director Nick Middleton in the 1990s, Zen Oracle
began life as a specialist golf equipment company. Following diversification
into coaching and, more recently, into performance technologies, the
company operates within the elite performance area of golf. Zen Oracle
research, design and engineer putters – clubs used to make short,
low-speed shots – which offer players a proven competitive advantage.
With a client base which includes elite golfers, PGA professionals, golf
unions and federations, Zen Oracle aims to provide an end-to-end solution
in putting. Their scientific approach, based on ‘mind, body and motion’,
combines all aspects of golf performance.
The company, which operates from offices in Sheffield and a studio in
Rotherham, harbours ambitious long term plans to become a golf course
design company.
The Need for Innovation…
In 2013, Nick and fellow director Andrew McCague launched Zen Green
Technology to develop Zen Green Stage, a variable contour putting green
which would allow users to perfect the art of ‘reading the green’.
The concept was based on an original idea put forward by retired US Air
Force Colonel Horace Templeton who first created green reading maps in
the 1970s. According to Colonel Templeton, an inability to ‘read the green’
was the biggest barrier to performance.
Nick wanted to develop a remote control system through which users could
control the contours of Zen Green Stage using robotic technology and, in
2014, he approached the Yorkshire Innovation Fund for help in taking his
innovative golf product to the next level.
The Role of the
Yorkshire Innovation Fund…
Following a successful application for support from Sheffield Hallam
University’s Strategic Intervention which focuses on innovation in material
technologies, Zen Oracle began a collaboration with Dr Fabio Caparrelli.
Together, they designed and built a control system, adding sensors
to a platform which would report to the user via a digital map.
“The engineering consultant at Sheffield Hallam University was
commercially-minded and very comfortable working in a real business
environment”, says Nick.
www.yorkshireinnovationfund.org
“Thanks to the Yorkshire
Innovation Fund, the
team at Sheffield Hallam
University gave us a fresh
outlook on our future
possibilities.“
NICK MIDDLETON
Yorkshire Innovation Fund Case Study: Zen Oracle
The Impact…
With a market ready product and plans to sell to sports facilities, golf
coaches, elite golfers, clubs and academies, Nick is in no doubt of the
impact on his business, which includes:
the ability to position Zen Green as a significantly higher value product
a projected 100% increase in sales potential
savings on the indoor space required by golf coaches when using the green
Nick has also recently recruited a part time member of staff whose position
he hopes will become full-time as sales of Zen Green Stage continue to grow.
“We’re particularly excited by opportunities to export to countries looking to
invest in innovative sports facilities. We are confident that Zen Green Stage
technology will revolutionise the way golf is taught in the future”.
The Future…
Nick’s immediate priority is to sell Zen Green Stage in its current form as widely
as possible. He is already exploring opportunities to apply the technology
to third party products such as golf simulators. His longer term plan is to
enhance the technology, allowing users an increased range of experiences.
With considerable ambitions for Zen Green Stage, Nick is quick to highlight
the impact of his collaboration:
“Thanks to the Yorkshire Innovation Fund, the team at Sheffield Hallam
University gave us a fresh outlook on our future possibilities. The current
trend to bring golf inside is expected to continue and we’re ready to capture
this growing market.”
About The Yorkshire Innovation Fund…
The Yorkshire Innovation Fund brings together ten of the region’s higher education institutions to
help small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Yorkshire and Humber region to grow.
Part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the fund helps small businesses to develop
ideas for new products, services or processes by funding collaborative projects with the region’s universities,
drawing on their expertise, specialist equipment or facilities to develop ideas which result in business growth.
The project has attracted £3.06million of investment from the ERDF as part of Europe’s support for local economic
development through the Yorkshire and Humber ERDF Programme 2007-13. Partner universities contributed a
further £1.87m, bringing the total investment to £4.93m. The project team are based at the University of Bradford.
The delivery partners are: The University of Bradford, The University of Huddersfield, The University of Hull, The
University of Leeds, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds College of Music, Leeds Trinity University, Sheffield Hallam
University, The University of York, York St John University. The University of Sheffield is a strategic partner.
Yorkshire Innovation Fund
University of Bradford, Richmond Building, Bradford, BD7 1DP
T: 01274 236 673 E: [email protected] www.yorkshireinnovationfund.org Twitter: @YorkshireIF
www.yorkshireinnovationfund.org
Yorkshire Innovation Fund
University of Bradford, Richmond Building, Bradford, BD7 1DP
T: 01274 236 673 E: [email protected]
www.yorkshireinnovationfund.org
Twitter: @YorkshireIF