“You can feel the energy in the room, you can feel it, the buzz of activity” said Rowena
Burns, Chair of Manchester Science Partnerships at an event that saw just under a 100
people from the Manchester ecosystem celebrate the launch of the new GCHQ programme.
Four start-ups from the Greater Manchester area were welcomed by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and leader of Manchester City Council Sir Richard Leese to the GCHQ Manchester Software Engineering acceleration programme. In a packed room of academics, corporates, government officials and tech supporters the new companies pitched their ideas to celebrate the partnership between GCHQ, MSP, Cisco and O2’s innovation arm Wayra UK.
The selected companies offer smart solutions to control our data through blockchain supported software and machine learning infused applications that shall notably improve the efficiency of data processing.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham explained why it was important to give Wayra UK and GCHQ his full support: “Our city, is a city of purpose that makes us a natural home of the emerging digital community of our country, many of the people that we would most want to be involved, will be our new talent coming through.”
The cohort met each other during Welcome Week where they were able to connect, collaborate and prepare for the world-class programme already delivered worldwide. This challenged the companies to refine their personal brand and presentations right before stepping on the stage to face industry leaders and supporters later that evening.
The start-ups gaining access to the expertise and network:
Data Choice – A blockchain powered programmatic ad technology that rewards users for their data and allows them to take back some control of their personal data online. The
hashed data segments makes it impossible for any breach of data to happen and forms the off chain Data Audience Platform allowing to the speed of transactions for the millions of programmatic bids per second.
Locometric – Founded by a serial entrepreneur Max Christian, the company offers the most effective way to create models of spaces for visualisation, monitoring and control of buildings and the technology within.
Jobseekrs – The world’s 1st offline-enabled, video interactive, job & culture-fit matching marketplace. Through unique features and proprietary algorithms, they enable candidates to unbiasedly connect with companies they fit, both culturally and skilfully, for their career growth. Their solution is designed to save invaluable time and money in the hiring process.
PlaceDashboard – Provides actionable insight, performance indices and national benchmarking of your retail or leisure location. Additionally, PlaceDashboard provides
insight regarding where your audience is spending their time when they are not at your location, what draws them to the alternative sites, who aren’t visiting your site, where they are and what you need to attract them.
