UEA Case Study
Back to where it all began. The University of East Anglia was the starting place for the Beep platform and a test site for the Beep prototype.
UEA by numbers.
The University of East Anglia is one of the largest universities in the East of England. It has a modern campus that is rich with culture, a testament to the importance of innovation in higher education.
20,000+
Students
1,400+
Doors
3,500+
Members of staff
The first university in the UK to use a digital campus card.
When we first reached out to the University of East Anglia looking to trial a new ‘digital campus card’ platform, there was a lot of excitement around what this could mean for the future of access control at the university.
The university admitted that ‘plastic cards have no place for the future [at UEA]’ and that ‘a digital platform is the only way forward’. We worked closely with the estates and executive team at the university, who helped to consult on the build of the first Beep platform – discussing everything from useful features to potential use cases for other areas of the university such as catering and events.
In 2021, it was decided that the Beep platform would first be trialled on the university’s latest science and engineering buildings, used to demonstrate the advanced security that the platform would bring to the university. The use of this platform would make UEA the first university in the UK to use a dedicated, fully functional digital campus card – paving the way for other universities to follow.
“We’re very excited to be working with Beep and we look forward to seeing the impact a digital platform will have on the student experience at the university.“
– Miguel Rios, Head of UEA Estates
Our Investment Story
Beep is a company that was born out of the University of East Anglia ‘Student Enterprise Scheme’. Advertised as the home for entrepreneurial students, Beep founder, Josh Davies, visited the team there in 2018 with a vision to produce a new platform for university students that would help improve student life.
Initially pitched as a digital student discount card to help students get the most out of their university experience, the platform quickly evolved when the Beep team spotted the opportunity to replace existing campus cards with an innovative digital platform. Beep received £50,000 of investment from the university to build a prototype of the platform – and from that moment, UEA would forever be a part of the Beep story.
Fast forward to 2022 and Beep has developed in to the largest provider of digital campus cards across the UK, having had yet another successful investment round closing in 2021.
Are you the next university to go digital?
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