INSIGHTS / News

One month to enter UK search for innovative wireless technologies sponsored by Deloitte

The winners of last year’s Discovering Start-Ups competition are urging young UK companies and entrepreneurs to enter the 2014 search for the most innovative wireless technologies and business opportunities. Run by Cambridge Wireless (CW) with Europe’s number one university business incubator, SETsquared and hosted and sponsored by Deloitte, the free-to-enter competition gives finalists the opportunity to pitch their technologies and business plans to some 20 leading wireless industry investors and experts.

One of last year’s winners was Chirp, which has developed an innovative way to share mobile content such as links, photos and contacts – using sound. Data can be shared from anything that carries audio: a mobile phone speaker, a radio, TV, an ATM, a YouTube video or a banner ad – everything from dedicated audio hardware to a doorbell. A chirp is a tiny clip of electronic birdsong, lasting about two seconds. The audio is encoded or decoded by the Chirp app as a sonic link to any mobile content. See more at http://chirp.io/

“Taking part and being a winner of Discovering Start-Ups 2013 was a great experience, bringing us kudos and valuable exposure,” said Patrick Bergel CEO and Founder of Chirp. “Since the competition, Chirp has gone from strength to strength; we’ve picked up new users in over 188 countries worldwide, received mobile industry innovation awards and even had our product featured at Sochi Winter Olympics. We are just now in the process of closing a new funding round, with the lead investor based in Cambridge.” 

This year, the line-up of judges for Discovering Start-Ups 2014 will include senior executives from companies such as Amadeus, BT, Broadcom, Cambridge Angels, Google, IBM, London Business Angels, Orange Labs, Philips Innovation Services, Qualcomm Ventures and Samsung Electronics. 

Now in its 5th year, the finals of Discovering Start-Ups will be hosted at Deloitte in London on the 22^nd October and jointly sponsored by Qualcomm Ventures, Google, , Microlease & Agilent Technologies, IC Resources and Dorsey & Whitey. The competition is also supported by Tech City UK, techUK, New Entrepreneurs Foundation and UK Trade & Investment.

In addition to Chirp, the other winners of Discovering Start-Ups 2013 have all benefited from the competition and reflect the diversity of entrants. WhiteSpace Water is looking to reduce water loss using wireless sensors and White Space spectrum; Ether Books has a mobile publishing and social commerce platform; Simpalarm has developed a family telecare monitoring systems; and SQR Systems’ innovative encryption technology makes it possible to securely distribute video over low-bandwidth and bandwidth varying networks.

“Discovering Start-Ups is a tremendous showcase for the very best in UK wireless innovation,” said Soraya Jones, CEO at CW. “It is a great way to get noticed and pitch to some 20 much sought after investors and industry experts – all at the same time.”

Five ultimate winners will each receive a £500 cash prize sponsored by Qualcomm Ventures along with a prestigious Discovering Start-Ups trophy and a further opportunity to pitch to 400 global wireless delegates in the Innovation Hothouse at The Future of Wireless International Conference 2015 run by CW. The winners will also get one year’s free virtual membership to CW, the leading not-for-profit, international community for companies involved in the research, development and application of wireless and mobile technologies, and SETsquared, including a business MOT, networking and mentoring support, investor readiness training and the opportunity to be selected for various investor showcases in London and the US. 

The closing date for entries is 26th August and the finals will be held on 22nd October at Deloitte offices in London. Discovering Start-Ups is open to start-ups and early-stage companies looking to take their businesses forward as well as design groups in larger companies looking to exploit new technologies and students or academics in education. Details to enter can be found at http://www.cambridgewireless.co.uk/dsu