If you want to know the state of UK IT research and development (R&D), take a trip to Adastral Park, a 99-acre site near Ipswich that houses one of the highest concentrations of technologists in Europe.

Researchers at the labs play a leading role in the development of disruptive technologies, systems that change the way people operate and potentially kill off a previously established way of working. Everyday products such as the PC were once considered 'disruptive', so the work here could have a lasting significance.

BT Exact, the telecom giant's research business, is based at Adastral Park. And a number of the on-site companies have been spun off from the BT fold after receiving backing from the technology venturing partnership, NVP Brightstar.

Scientists from blue-chip companies interact with BT researchers, and academic institutions such as University College London and the University of Essex are based at the hub.

"The culture is starting to change, and there's more interest from venture capitalists in the UK technology sector," explained Chris Sharpe, chief operations officer at Evolved Networks, a telecoms specialist, and one of the companies that was spun off from BT in 2003. "It used to be all US-based a few years ago. Now I don't think that's the case."

BT Pulse
Pharmaceutical and healthcare innovation centre BT Pulse uses a simulated hospital environment to demonstrate how radio frequency identification (RFID) tags can improve healthcare.

The medical showcase opened earlier this year, and BT pharmaceutical marketing manager Gary Hawksworth explained that the interactive centre will help healthcare professionals prepare for changes to technology systems.

"We're looking towards a future view; the National Programme for IT will have a massive impact on the NHS," he said.

Hawksworth acknowledged that the tagging of items in the NHS is still at least two or three years away, but the innovative lab already explores how RFID can be used in hospitals.

Passive tag technology is used to create an entry system. As patients enter the ward, relevant information is loaded onto the database. Leaflets are stored and tagged on the wall in the waiting area and patients can scan these leaflets to retrieve more information via a PC. Patient cards are also tagged to hold specific dietary and medical information.

"There's the patient safety issue," said Hawksworth. "If people are on specific drugs, the system can provide relevant alerts."

At the doctor's desk, the patient's RFID-tagged card can be scanned on a reader to activate the relevant records and notes from the database. The doctor can input directly into a patient's electronic records and complete prescriptions from the PC.

At the patient's bedside, consultants carry wireless-enabled PDAs to provide mobile access to records. Drugs on the trolley are also tagged, so the pharmacy can automatically re-order popular prescriptions.

Hawksworth said that the technology can help healthcare professionals manage processes more efficiently and effectively. "There's nothing that radical, but when you put everything together in combination you can see the benefits," he explained.

Vidus
Customers are a company's most valuable asset, so why do so many businesses leave their clients waiting for the service engineer to arrive? Help may be at hand.

BT spin-off Vidus' Taskforce automated field service management system schedules white vans to arrive and service homes within a two-hour window.

The development of the application, in the early 1990s, can be traced to BT's inability to find appropriate off-the-shelf software. The tool was deployed, taken to venture capital unit Brightstar in 2000 and spun off as an individual business in April 2003.

European blue chip companies, such as NTL and Centrica, have already used the technology in a live environment.

"It's about organisations transforming the way they invest in the customer experience," explained Cristian Parrino, vice president of strategic alliances at Vidus. "We're making companies look at field service management and they're recognising that processes need to be more automated."

Taskforce uses real-time data from the field to monitor and update resource deployment throughout the day. The system looks at available delivery slots to ensure that customer satisfaction is high and costs to the business are low.

To ensure satisfaction and on-time delivery, Taskforce takes into account factors such as weather, travel conditions, emergencies, and the importance of certain key customers, such as those with maintenance contracts.

The system automates 95 per cent of forecasting, and Vidus claims it can reduce management costs by up to 80 per cent.

"We're not teaching our customers to suck eggs," said Parrino. "But the industry has outgrown the existing service technology, and the great thing is that we've started wiping the floor with our rivals."

Vidus is exploring business possibilities in a range of other sectors and countries. "We've focused on European telecommunication and utility companies so far. But we're keen to expand into the US and China for key partnerships," said Parrino.

Evolved Networks
Spinning off from BT has its advantages. For a start, there's the protective arm of the telecom giant's research centre at Adastral Park.

Innovation is encouraged at the Suffolk base, and companies that are created form part of a larger collection of venture-funded businesses.

"There are a lot of bright people around," said Chris Sharpe, chief operations officer at Evolved Networks, a telecoms software developer that came out of BT in 2003.

What's more, spin-off companies can also boast that BT has helped develop the product, which is a useful selling point when you're a new name in the overcrowded telecoms market.

"Unlike other start-ups, we have BT as a blue-chip referenced customer and the benefit of 120 years of development," said Sharpe. "Because of that background, we can rightly claim that we understand the market."

It's a claim backed by a high level of innovation. Evolved's software helps telecoms operators automate management of the access network, the portion of the public switched network that connects individual subscribers to the telecoms system.

It's a procedure that normally requires extensive manual processes and network planning systems. But Evolved's Axcessfirst product suite comprises three software applications that help operators automatically to create designs for the access network, deliver services to the customer and convert complex data into readable information.

The software has more than 1,000 users, including Irish telecoms operator Eircom. And the company, which expects to be profitable in the next year, will be seeking more venture capital funding soon.

Sharpe believes that the hard times for UK start-ups might be coming to an end. "It's quite an exciting time and things are picking up," he said. "The way we're gaining traction suggests high growth rates for the next few years."