The 1st Testing Services Facility of its kind in Scotland 
The Crover testing laboratory is based at the newly built National Robotarium, the new centre of excellence for UK robotics, and part of the Heriot-Watt University campus.
The laboratory was born out of a lack in Scotland of:
- Affordable testing for early stage companies, startups and solo entrepreneurs
When building a product you want to iterate fast and grow your traction through sales. For physical products though it can take a lot of time and resources before you can make the first sale and frequent hardware updates may not be possible due to the requirements imposed by UKCA/CE marking and the cost of testing services.
We aim to provide an affordable solution, so that you don't have to break the bank to launch and iterate over your product. - Short queues and reliable lead times for product testing
When running an early-stage business every moment is crucial and needs can change very fast.
Waiting 1-3+ months to get through the queue of third party test houses / testing laboratories can sometimes be the difference between success and running out of cash for a hardware business.
We aim to cut those lead times and accelerate the time to market of your product by offering the option for a fast and reliable turnaround on our services. - Test equipment/services capable of performing standard tests required for compliance with ATEX/UKEX
A few years ago we started the search for a laboratory in Scotland with the equipment required for performing standard tests that a product needs to pass in order to comply with requirements of the ATEX directive and/or UKEX regulation for equipment intended for use in hazardous areas / explosive atmospheres. The result: despite several of the leading engineering, enterprise organisations and universities in Scotland joining the search, no lab with the required equipment could be located in Scotland.
This led to us bringing rare EX expertise and equipment in-house, which we have been growing over the last years. Part of our team previously worked in leading Ex manufacturing companies and has experience with regulatory compliance, ATEX / CE, IECEx / IEC, CSA-NEC505, TR CU / EAC, INMETRO, NEPSI (now CCC-Ex).
We are now delighted to open this up to more Scottish businesses and to help grow the ecosytem.
As a team of engineers developing and commercialising deep-tech hardware products, we have experienced all of the above and understand the requirements of both engineering and business teams.
Crover's testing services provide a local solution in Edinburgh, Scotland, for businesses and entrepreneurs working on physical products, to accelerate the time to market of products made in Scotland.
Whether your priority is pricing or lead time, our pricing model is flexible: we can offer the most affordable options with standard lead times; or you can choose our express service with short lead time for a premium.
Below are a few example situations in which we can typically help:
Affordable Self-Certification
You have developed a product which doesn't require accredited testing and for which a self-certified statement of conformity is acceptable. Before you can issue a statement of conformity, the product needs to pass certain standardised tests: you are looking to obtain these tests through an affordable local option so that you can avoid paying the significant premium charged by third party test houses / testing laboratories and so that you can see the tests in action and learn from those.
Pre-Compliance Example
You are developing or have developed a component or a complete equipment and want to know if the product would pass testing and certification, before potentially taking the product to a test house / testing laboratory and certification body / notified body that are accredited by a body like UKAS. You are worried that in case you take the product to the accredited test house / testing laboratory and it doesn't pass the first time, you would not have the time and/or budget to repeat the tests a second time with them. You are aware that pre-compliance testing is best practice and can often save you from expensive mistakes.
Fast Turn-Around Needed
You have a 6-9 months runway left and are looking for investment to extend that runway and scale the business. Customers are lined up and the product is ready, albeit it has not yet gone through standardised testing, which you require before you can issue a statement of conformity for the product and start selling the first units. You have contacted other testing laboratories and they have a queue of 3 months, but you need to start selling the product by next week in order to have enough traction to show potential investors at least 6 months before the end of your runway, so as to have enough time to close a deal.
Product Intended for Explosive Atmosphere(s)
You have a novel product for the highly demanding requirements of an industry that operates with potentially explosive atmospheres (hazardous areas where a potentially explosive mixture of dust or gas can be present) and are targeting customers (in the oil and gas or agri-tech sectors) prepared to pay a premium for usage in those environments and for ensuring that the product is explosion-proof. Expertise and equipment for those requirements are however hard to come by and you are either not sure where to start (looking for guidance to define requirements, review designs, etc. for ATEX/UKEX compliance) or you have already completed the design of the product and need to put it through testing: in either case we can probably help.
Note that as this is a new service, we are not UKAS accredited and hence can only issue reports for pre-compliance and ATEX and UKCA/UKEX self-certification or manufacturer's declaration.