AVI was started by five partners who have brought their range of skills and experience together to work on joint projects ranging from finance, investing in start-up businesses to engineering and technology.
One of the partners of AVI is Alex Wood who has an engineering background and is also ceo of SRJ-Technologies. Through the two businesses, they have recently provided a solution for a local rib operator, Jersey Seafaris, who came to them with a problem. They wanted to improve comfort and safety for their passengers. Richard Stevens, director Jersey Seafaris, said: ‘Over the last couple of years we have been looking at shock mitigating seating as an option. There are plenty of products out there but they are not completely suitable for our operations. Being able to work with a local company and design a seat that is bespoke to us and our clients has been a great bonus. The seats have been a great success so far, and we are looking forward to working with AVI going forward.’
The seats were designed by AVI in Jersey and built by a precision engineering company in Southampton before being brought back to the Island and fitted by CI Marine. Alex Wood said: ‘The seat project is our proof of what can be done here. We delivered a product needed by an Island business. We have since met with a large company in the UK who make the Naval fast response craft and we are talking to them about the possibility of their using the seat.’
The team is also now developing digital sensors to provide information to the driver to ensure passengers don’t experience any impacts in rough water operations, as well as other marine projects. They’re even providing engineering consultancy for the design of a 300 mph electric supercar.
Without the manufacturing capability in Jersey, the company hopes to export the design and Intellectual Property for the seats and other products they develop, and it’s this idea which they say could be a big opportunity for Jersey.
AVI’s Richard Chilvers worked in finance before moving to Jersey, he says: ‘Jersey is standing on one leg with the finance industry and so we’d like to do something different. It doesn’t require a huge footprint, it’s digital and could use the expertise of tax and legal services to make Jersey a store of IP value. It’s an opportunity to intelligently consider how IP can be used.’
The idea seems like common sense, why design and build a large item and then ship it half way across the world, incurring transport costs and then import duties – not to mention the environmental impact. Instead you can simply email the design of a product so that it can be built locally. It’s similar in concept to digital currencies which are decentralised and can be accessed anywhere.
The team behind AVI are looking at innovative ways to solve problems and they’ve already proved collaboration works for Jersey’s local businesses and economy.
