TMW Launches Business Incubator Programme 'Project Iliad'

TMW is putting an initial investment of £20,000 into a new business incubation programme, called Project Iliad, which aims to launch new business and product ideas early next year. 

TMW’s entrepreneurial employees will get to pitch their ideas for Project Iliad in a Dragon’s Den-style live contest in early November to win a share of the investment fund. 

Project Iliad was announced at the agency’s recent two-day Incubator Expo, which demonstrated new and emerging technology created by TMW_Labs. 

TMW_Labs presented its GPS-enabled bike that tweets its location, a beehive monitoring platform that uses technology to help beekeepers monitor the health of their hives, a Google Glass/iBeacon app that gives guided tours round TMW’s offices, and the Sentimeter, an Arduino-powered device that measures the mood of the agency.

TMW_Labs’ key point of difference is its continuing commitment to not just talking about new technology, but experimenting with and building both digital and physical projects. 

Marc Curtis, Head of Labs, said: “Incubator Expo is a manifestation of our mission to bring innovation to life for our clients and all parts of the agency as well as forming links with the most exciting tech companies out there.”

The Incubator Expo played host to several of the Creston-owned agency’s sister companies, including Walnut Group, which presented its EEG monitoring technology, and DJM, which demonstrated an Oculus Rift voyage through the brain and a virtual X-ray machine.

The event also featured a session chaired by Microsoft Ventures called Pitch My Start-Up - an exciting and fast-paced hour, where cutting-edge start-ups presented speed-pitches in front of an audience of Creston clients and partners. 

TMW also hosted its fifth quarterly Influence Session titled ‘Technical Innovation: Influential Marketing Tool or Gimmick?” at the Expo. The panelists included Microsoft Ventures UK CMO for start-ups Diane Perlman; Ken Valledy, CEO of Tech2brand; CNN International Special Projects digital producer Urmee Khan; and TMW’s director of innovation, Daren Kay.