A new Edinburgh Napier University spin-out is expanding as it seeks to market a product which brings real-world objects to life in mobile devices.
3FINERY uses and new form of Augmented Reality (AR) technology, it’s calling ‘Intermediated Reality’ to boost customer engagement with remote marketing campaigns, by showing products in innovative new ways.
The company hopes to appeal to businesses affected by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and looking for new ways to engage with consumers.
The new twist on AR was developed at the Napier School of Computing over a three-year period by Professor Kenny Mitchell and his former PhD student Dr Llogari Casas.
Intermediated Reality technology enables efficient communication via animation of real objects. Unlike some existing AR technologies, which simply overlay information on top of the real world, the 3finery’s technology enables objects to interact, play and receive messages remotely as if they were “magically coming to life.”
Now the start-up is looking for Graphics Software Engineer and Technical Artist talent with the intention to grow the team rapidly in readiness for the final push to get the product market-ready.
Co-founder Llogari, told the SGN:
The technology provides a novel way of interacting with products both around you and far away, and can be easily integrated with existing software, offering unique interactive experiences.
It is very exciting to have got the project to this stage, with the backing of the University, and we are now looking to press on with commercialisation.
Intermediated Reality was developed by Llogari and Kenny through an EU Horizon 2020 project entitled ‘DISTRO’.
The ICURe programme – Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research – made a grant of £45,000 to support six months of intensive market assessment and engagement with prospective customers, suppliers, partners and regulators to test the project’s commercial potential.
3FINERY raised a further £150,000 to develop the product for the market by winning a funding from Innovate UK.
Fiona Mason, Head of Business Engagement and IP Commercialisation at Edinburgh Napier, said:
3FINERY is a really exciting new technology emerging from our School of Computing. As a follow-on from the EU Horizon 2020 funding where the idea was developed, we were delighted to receive backing from ICURe to help us with our commercialisation journey – this is a highly competitive funding programme and well sought after, and the team found the support invaluable.
The recent award from Innovate UK is further testament to the ingenuity of the idea, the expertise and skillset of the inventors, and the market readiness of the idea.
Over the last 10 years, our School of Computing has achieved three successful cyber spin-outs – ZoneFox in 2010, Symphonic in 2013 and Cyan Forensics in 2017. We are delighted to be including 3FINERY in our venture portfolio and believe this magical technology will be a welcome disruptor in a fast-paced marketing landscape.
You can find out more about 3finery and all of the details of their vacancies on the company’s website.
