A CHARITABLE housing group has visited the headquarters of an Oswestry company after winning a national prize.

Aico welcomed representatives from Yorkshire Housing after they won the Inside Housing Innovation Week award, which included £10,000 and support from Aico to develop their innovative idea through a product development session within their Centre of Excellence.

The visit provided a selection of informative sessions led by Aico colleagues, as well as a tour of Aico’s Centre of Excellence.

The product development session guided Yorkshire Housing attendees through Aico’s development process from a hardware perspective, showcasing many of Aico’s product development journeys, including Aico’s connected home products and the benefits they can bring to both Housing Associations and their tenants.

HomeLINK’s product manager and DPO, Jordan Toulson walked Yorkshire Housing through the development and innovation behind Aico’s Internet of Things platforms, commenting: “It was great to welcome Yorkshire Housing to the CoE – as part of their prize for winning the Housing Innovation Week Award we showed them how we go about innovating both our hardware and software products, as well as some sneak-peaks at upcoming products and features.

"It was great to hear what Yorkshire Housing are doing to make sure they are at the bleeding edge of innovation too."

The day concluded with a product feedback session, that enabled Aico to hear Yorkshire Housing’s thoughts and opinions on their product development process and the products themselves.

This offered insight into what housing associations want to see next when it comes to fire alarm safety systems and connected home offerings, enabling Aico to continue to lead the way in home life safety.

Lauren Hemmings, Yorkshire Housing’s ICT service development manager, reflected on their visit to Aico, commenting: “It was fantastic when Yorkshire Housing won the first Inside Housing Innovation Award, including the opportunity to visit Aico at their Centre of Excellence and get a peak behind the scenes of how products are developed and tested.

"The day was informative, interactive (including a demo of how devices work in reality) and opened up a chance to collaborate on future ideas for products that will enable our customers to receive insights via emerging technology.

"I cannot wait to see how Yorkshire Housing’s customers will benefit from the feedback that Aico and HomeLINK use for future innovative development ideas.”