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Trends and Insight in association withSynapse Virtual Production
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4 Crowdfunding Initiatives Changing the World via Technology

05/09/2018
Publication
London, UK
204
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Technologists from TBWA\Helsinki, Huge, Isobar, Firstborn and POSSIBLE pick out their favourite recent crowdfunding projects
Heaps of newly formed or expanding businesses get their feet off the grounds nowadays via crowdfunding. Companies like Kickstarter and Crowdcube allow everyday people to invest small (or large) amounts of money into various businesses in return for a reward, dependent on how much cash they chipped in. This method of investment unsurprisingly goes hand-in-hand with the amount of new technology that’s being developed, allowing maverick developers to get their creations out into the open without the need for hedge fund investment and the like. 

We picked the brains of technologists from Huge, TBWA\Helsinki, Firstborn, Isobar and POSSIBLE to see which crowdfunding initiatives have been exciting them recently. 


1. ‘Vector’ by Anki


Chosen by Sean McInerney, GVP of Technology at Huge



“Anki already has a great track record in building and launching small robots, and each iteration of their product demonstrates an iterative improvement of their technology and manufacturing capabilities. Vector is an evolution of their Cozmo project and is a friendly, ‘smart’ robot for homes. Vector is a small form factor robot, so it's not going to do the laundry for you, or take the dog on a walk. However, Vector does pack a lot of the same technology that can be eventually applied to larger, service-oriented robots such as voice recognition, laser guidance systems, self recharging, and an ‘AI’ brain that will evolve over time. Another exciting part of the Vector project is that this is a way to build a public familiarity and acceptance of ‘personality’ based robots that share our living spaces and perform daily tasks for us and with us.”



2. The Looking Glass 


Chosen by Dave Meeker, VP, Global Director of Emerging Technology, Isobar AND Juhana Hokkanen, Head of Creative Technology, Partner at TBWA\Helsinki



Dave: “This is an innovators’ innovation. Throughout our work we talk to a lot of really sharp people about new concepts, hardware and experience enabling technologies. In the last 10 years, I’ve not seen any single crowd-funded project have as much buzz around our industry collaborators, internal staff and global network as The Looking Glass.”

Juhana: “Looking Glass is raising funds for The Looking Glass: A Holographic Display for 3D Creators on Kickstarter! The Looking Glass is the first desktop holographic display designed for 3D creators. In the end my love for new technologies is inspired by a long time interest in sci-fi movies and concepts. We aren’t necessarily getting a real hoverboard or flying cars in the next few years but the holographic type of technologies has been on the rise. The Looking Glass seems like a good step in that direction. Obviously it’s not yet on the Star Wars level but nothing is. I can see great applications of this type of technology in the future of digital outdoor advertising here, going beyond the traditional DOOH.”


3. MIX: The Smallest AR Glasses with Immersive 96° FoV


Chosen by Eric Decker, VP of Technology, Firstborn



“Kickstarter has no shortage of virtual reality projects - so much that they actually have their own dedicated section. While VR goggles seem a dime a dozen, I am hopeful for projects like MIX that offer more affordable alternatives to overly promoted projects like the Magic Leap. If nothing more, smaller companies operating in the same space can be more focused and keep behemoths on their toes with healthy competition.”


4. WeCounterHate.com

An AI that counters hate speech via retweet-garnered donations 
Chosen by: Shawn Herron, Creative Technology Director, POSSIBLE



“One of the most impactful lessons I got from building WeCounterHate.com was how tied the risk of CT should be to the reward, as everything we do has inherent risk. We are breaking stuff to make stuff. The reward or outcome should be enough to energise a team, inspiring them to put in the extra effort needed to accomplish it. It must be powerful enough to keep them focused as the inevitable dead-ends or hurdles occur. And I think that same relationship between the risk level and reward level is necessary for the clients that partner with us on these endeavors. Reimagining technology isn’t easy and keeping the teams and clients inspired enough to weather the storm will always be necessary to find the finish line.”
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