Technology innovators prove strongest voices in the crowd
Early-stage risk funding may have dominated the talks, but it was innovation that shouted loudest at the annual technology showpiece for start-up companies and near-market products, Meerkats and Avatars.
Held at the Hauser Forum, and organised by St John's Innovation Centre, the event has previously seen some of Cambridge and the East of England's brightest companies make their earliest public appearances before moving on to bigger things, such as Light Blue Optics and Breathing Buildings (formerly E-Stack).
This year’s range of companies were once again strong and diverse. Though no single technolgy sector stood out, a common theme seemed to be tools that allowed users to take greater control of their own home and work lives, whether through more accurate medical diagnostics, remote security or more convenient and intuitive handling of data, be it music, images or IT infrastrucutres.
Gmax, a spin out from Cambridge Design Partnership, uses a biometric device that fits underneath the horse on the girth and lets trainers make informed decisions based on quantified physiological information such as the horse's gait, temperature and heart rate, rather than the traditional human error-ridden methods of rough timings and general overview.
Input Dynamics, a Cambridge University spin-out is bringing touchscreen capabilities to non-touchscreen mobile phones by using a camera's microphone to detect where it has been tapped. It can be retrofitted in existing phones or added to smartphones providing non-touch areas like the back of the phone with new interactive capabilities.
Psonar provides an online music service that allows you to upload and download music at any time through almost any internet connected mobile device, not just smart phones.
Other products included a finger printing device that simultaneously confirms identity and detects illegal drug use, a handheld sensor to detect cancer spread without highly intrusive biopsies, a 3D visualisation tool that offers clarity for complex IT infrastructure, and a box that allows anyone with a broadband connection – individual, shop, café – to turn it into a chargeable wireless hotspot.
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