A RETIRED computer expert is 'over the moon' after being awarded £43,000 to develop a ground-breaking piece of medical

equipment.

Otley man Gordon Bradley, 67, has won Government backing to develop the instrument which he believes could make him a

millionaire.

Once developed, it will replace a commonly used but expensive and more bulky piece of equipment and although he will not reveal details - because of copycat companies racing to develop a similar tool - he is confident it will revolutionise the work of doctors both in local surgeries and in hospitals.

"I'm over the moon," he told the Wharfedale Observer. "Through-out my working life I have tried to find another way of doing something. With this I saw a demand and I've worked on it.

" It is a portable piece of medical equipment that will replace something that is static and bulky. Doctors' surgeries will be able to use it and it is also something that people will be able to take into the jungle.

"I'm hoping to make millions out of it,"he added.

Mr Bradley, of Kineholme Drive, a fellow of the Institute of Analysts and a member of Mensa, decided to improve on the piece of equipment after a visit to his own doctor.

"I had to undergo some tests that were uncomfortable and I thought there must be another way of doing this," he said.

And now his company, Harrogate-based Brigantia Software Ltd, which he runs with fellow Mensa member and fellow of the Institute of Analysts, Anne Gray, 61, has been awarded the Smart Award from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The company has been given 18 months to come up with the piece of equipment and in that time has to give the DTI regular updates on its progress.

It has been given more than £43,000 towards the project and has to come up with another £19,000 to see the scheme through.

A team of electronics engineers, a mathematician and a medical consultant is busy working on the device and it is scheduled for the first prototype to be ready by this September.

Mr Bradley said: "I will take it to the Leeds General Infirmary where I will hope for some harsh but constructive criticism. I will then go back, refine it and build a nice, tidy prototype that I can get a manufacturer interested in."

In fact, one manufacturer is already interested in making the instrument and Mr Bradley hopes - if everything goes to plan - that it will be in use by doctors in around two years' time.

Now Mr Bradley, who was the first person to put Arabic on a computer, says his success shows it is never too late for people to come up with bright ideas.

"My partner is 61 as well. It just shows you should not allow yourself to vegetate and should keep going.

"There are several people working on the same idea as me but they've not got the same quality of ideas and people as I have," he said.

The Smart Award Scheme provides cash for firms to get good ideas off the drawing board and into the marketplace.

Felicity Everiss, regional director for the Government office for Yorkshire and Humber, said: "The range and ingenuity of these winning ideas demonstrates that the Yorkshire and Humberside region has in abundance the innovative entrepeneurial spirit that is needed in today's and tomorrow's world."

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