Innovate UK has awarded more than £200,000 to data innovation startups to develop technologies which simplify data handling.
Awarded to the winners of the Intelligent Data Insights contest, six entrepreneurs will get up to £35,000 and work with leading companies to develop prototypes to address data challenges.
IBM, Carnival Corporation, London City Airport, the Office for National Statistics, Barclays, NMP and bathstore will act as mentors for the winning start ups to bring their technology to market.
The winning teams include Bibblio, Telesto Technologies, Autonoma Tech, Morrison Utility Services, Warwick Analytics and Metageni.
All of the winners will be given access to IBM Watson’s cognitive computing capabilities to develop their technologies.
Bibblio will develop a platform that delivers smarter search and exploration for digital educational content, leveraging IBM Watson’s APIs and services.
Telesto Technologies will work with Carnival Corporation to develop a system for marine travel problem detection. It will link up with cameras on cruise ships to identify man overboard situations and will trial its products with Carnival.
Autonoma Tech has developed a way to improve aircraft stand planning and aircraft turnaround times, using AI technologies and techniques. It will now work with London City Airport to develop the technology.
Morrison Utility Services will work with Office for National Statistics to improve the ways to find and fix water leakages in order to reduce water losses.
Warwick Analytics has developed a way to automatically distil and combine disparate financial data, which can be analysed to create simple validated predictors. It will work with Barclays to create an automotive asset management system using Automated Information Retrieval (AIR) system.
Metageni will collaborate with NMP and bathstore to develop a new way to understand how above the line advertising impacts generic search behaviour.
Lead Technologist, Digital Economy and Programme Manager for IC tomorrow Matt Sansam said: "Each of these companies have demonstrated that organisations can utilise the data they collect to provide real life solutions to industry challenges.
"These technologies prove how essential it is to be continually looking for new and innovative solutions across all commercial sectors.
"Innovate UK is dedicated to working alongside start-ups and entrepreneurs to help them realise the potential of digital technology. By providing opportunities like this, talented UK pioneers have the chance to build and develop ideas than can have global impact."
Innovate UK had launched the IC tomorrow Intelligent Data Insights contest to develop digital solutions that will help people share assets, resources, time and skills.
The themes of the contest were trust, tourism and travel, opening up new sectors, home improvement, construction, and data and analytics.
The winning companies will trial their solutions with the industry partners for at least 3 months.