RCS - Frontier IP Group - Celerum appoints David Gladding as CEO

Frontier IPAnnouncement

09/01/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 9966L  Frontier IP Group plc  09 January 2023

Reach - a non-regulatory announcement

AIM: FIPP

9 January 2023

 

Frontier IP Group Plc

("Frontier IP" or the "Group")

 

 

Portfolio news - Celerum appoints David Gladding as Chief Executive Officer

 

Frontier IP, a specialist in commercialising intellectual property, today
announces that portfolio company Celerum Limited ("Celerum" or the "Company")
has appointed David Gladding as Chief Executive Officer.

 

His experience in the software industry will help drive both the commercial
and technical development of the Company's novel artificial intelligence-based
metaheuristics, including nature inspired computing ("NIC"), to make logistics
more efficient.

 

Celerum is at an important stage of development. The Company launched its
first commercial product, Truck Logistics System (TLS), earlier this year to
cut road haulage costs, carbon emissions and delivery times for small to
medium-sized truck fleets, which is now winning customers. The first was Colin
Lawson Transport, a haulage firm based in Aberdeen, operating 75 trucks and
about 150 trailers. Frontier IP holds a 33.8 per cent equity stake in the
Company.

David has more than 30 years' experience at senior levels in software and IT
services companies, including those specialising in fleet management. He was
Senior Vice President Global Sales for Chevin Fleet Solutions and has also
worked for Civica and Fleet Clear over the past 12 years gaining a wide and
in-depth understanding of the industry.

 

Other potential applications for the technology are in the maritime, energy,
and telecommunication sectors where positive use cases have already been
identified.

 

The technology is based on more than 25 years' research into metaheuristics by
Celerum founder and chair Professor John McCall, Head of the School of
Computing, Science and Digital Media at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. He
is a director of the Company and continues to support development of the
software.

 

Metaheuristic algorithms lie at the heart of Celerum's technology. They are
designed to find the best solution out of a range of possible solutions to
particularly complex problems. A subset of these is NIC algorithms, which use
lessons from the natural world where evolution has overcome inefficiency. For
example, bees and ants are extremely good at finding the best routes to food
sources or returning to their nests.

 

Researchers have found metaheuristic algorithms achieve a high degree of
accuracy when used to predict and propose "what if" scenarios, providing a
basis to explore. This formed the basis to explore industry applications.

 

Unlike other forms of AI, such as machine learning, algorithms based on
metaheuristics do not need to be trained on past data or special training
datasets, helping to make Celerum's software easy to deploy. It needs no
special hardware and resides in the cloud to give customers access to an
evolving platform. Celerum's AI works as soon as it is activated to enable
customers to take advantage of opportunities sooner than most other systems.

Celerum Chief Executive Officer David Gladding said: "I am excited to be
joining Celerum at this time. We have an opportunity to help businesses
understand what their data is telling them, giving them easy access to very
smart technology that will help simplify complex business challenges. The real
power behind our AI is how it helps educate users when interrogating data to
increase their success of making informed business decisions. Whilst our
platform is industry agnostic, we have won customers from the fleet management
industry, which is worth $27 billion a year globally. Our platform is unique
in this market, and I am expecting to see a great deal of interest. We know
that this market is intensely competitive, where every marginal gain is
important, and we believe our software can give customers an important edge in
efficiency and productivity gains, cutting costs and making their operations
greener."

Professor John McCall, Head of the School of Computing, Science and Digital
Media at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, and Celerum director said: "David
has a very keen interest in how we use data to improve business efficiencies
and reducing the carbon footprint, along with his vast experience in software
and the fleet industry, we are excited that David is leading Celerum to future
success".

Neil Crabb, Frontier IP Chief Executive Officer, said: "I am delighted with
David's appointment as Celerum's Chief Executive. His experience means he is
the right person to drive the Company forward following the successful launch
of its first commercial product."

 

 

ENQUIRIES

 

 Frontier IP Group Plc                                                      T: 020 7332 2338
 Neil Crabb, Chief Executive Officer                                        neil@frontierip.co.uk

 Andrew Johnson, Communications and investor relations                      M: 07464 546 025

 andrew.johnson@frontierip.co.uk (mailto:andrew.johnson@frontierip.co.uk)

 Company website: www.frontierip.co.uk (http://www.frontierip.co.uk/)

 Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser)

 Nick Athanas / George Payne                                                T: 0203 328 5656

ABOUT METAHEURISTICS

Metaheuristics are a development of heuristics: a heuristic is a cognitive
short cut used by humans and computers to arrive at a decision or solution in
the face of confusing and sometimes conflicting data.

Metaheuristic algorithms are designed to derive the best possible solutions to
complex problems where there are no perfect answers. These problems could
involve incomplete or imperfect data, unpredictability, tight timeframes,
unpredictability, and limited computing power.

There are many different strategies used to develop metaheuristic algorithms.
They include local search, where an existing, single solution is refined to
develop an optimal answer; global search, where several solutions are
collectively refined to solve a problem in the best way; and nature inspired
computing, where lessons from the natural world are applied.

An algorithm based on the theory of evolution, for example, will test many
potential answers until the "fittest" emerges.

Often different metaheuristic approaches are combined - a development known as
hybrid metaheuristics. They can be applied to many different problems. Unlike
other forms of artificial intelligence, such as machine learning,
metaheuristics do not have to be trained on large datasets.

Celerum has applied these methodologies and developed bespoke algorithms
specifically for logistic companies to help them tackle the complexity of
managing many trucks and drivers. Many firms currently rely on multiple legacy
systems.

Because of the way metaheuristics work, they are very efficient in terms of
the amount of data they process. Metaheuristic algorithms do not need to be
trained on large datasets. Therefore, they provide a very cost-effective way
to reach an intelligent solution that would otherwise be out of reach for many
small to medium size logistic businesses. The algorithms are able to work on
everyday computers, mobile phones and other devices.

 

ABOUT FRONTIER IP

Frontier IP unites science and commerce by identifying strong intellectual
property and accelerating its development through a range of commercialisation
services. A critical part of the Group's work is involving relevant industry
partners at an early stage of development to ensure technology meets real
world demands and needs.

The Group looks to build and grow a portfolio of equity stakes and licence
income by taking an active involvement in spin-out companies, including
support for fund raising and collaboration with relevant industry partners at
an early stage of development.

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