The Cisco BIG Awards- The BIG Announcement

by Startacus Admin

The time has finally arrived - the announcement of the winners of this years Cisco BIG Awards took place in London last thursday and having followed the progress of the 6 startup finalists with great intrigue, we were more than a little eager for the finale of this particular startup saga.  

Despite our best efforts, we sadly were not shortlisted (sad face) but never let it be said that we are bitter or cannot celebrate the success of others! But before we get to all that, a little information about the awards and the prizes on offer.

Through The BIG Awards, Cisco embarks on an annual competition which takes them the length and breadth of the country in search of the next big UK technology startup.  For the most promising, innovative and viable businesses a pirate’s hoard of wonderful prizes lies in wait, here’s what is up for grabs:

• 1st Prize - $100,000 in cash, 12 months technology and business mentoring from leading Cisco engineers and managers, $35,000 in strategic workforce consulting, $30,000 in digital marketing support, $30,000 in PR support, $15,000 in legal services

• 2nd Prize - $25,000 in cash, 12 months technology and business mentoring, 12 months mentoring support,

• 3rd Prize - $10,000 in cash, 12 months of mentoring support

So now without further ado, here are this year’s winners and the 3 runner-ups:

UMotif (1st Prize)

This is a new digital health platform that is designed to help people live healthy and independent
lives with support from their clinicians and carers.  Through the platform they deliver evidence based improvements in the care of long term conditions and post-operative recovery.  They are at a really exciting stage of development as their new diabetes products are about to be trialled by 2,000 patients across 4 NHS organisations.

Whisk (2nd Prize)

Whisk is an app which has set itself the task of of helping the world to discover, organise, cook, buy, enjoy and share food better. Through the collation of huge amounts of data, Whisk is able to provide users with an intelligent shopping list that ensures they meet dietary requirements whilst helping to reduce waste and stay within their budget.  Simple but beautiful!

Actual Experience (3rd Prize)

A company which claims its services will be valuable ‘to every computer user’, Actual Experience tasks itself with closing the gap between people's expectations, needs and desires from an application and its actual performance. They pride themselves on their no jargon approach to improving customers digital experiences.  The value of the business lies not only in its ability to reduce frustration through increasing usability, but also the increase in productivity which will come from ensuring optimal performance of applications.

Runner Ups

Bleep Bleeps

A great name for a great technological innovation startup - Bleep Bleeps describe themselves as a ‘family of little friends that make parenting easier’. Basically they are a series of colourful devices that connect to the Bleep Bleeps app to give you access to simple tools, guidance and content to make parenting easier.  The first of their colourful chappies is ‘Tony Tempa’ an in-ear thermometer that measures body temperature and sends the results to the app.  They have a whole range of little gadgets in the pipeline which even include fertility testers and ultrasound scanners!

Presence Orb

This is a new and original data collection and predictive analysis engine for use across a huge range of business aspects including advertising, transport and retail.  For example, a presence orb can detect mobile devices over multiple locations - this allows retailers and advertisers to analyse the data which is produced and gain valuable knowledge about customers tastes and the kinds of products that they would be interested in.  Many of you will be wondering about privacy and an increase in annoying online advertising so you will be happy to know that the service requires an explicit opt-in to be involved.

SupaDupa.me

The e-commerce platform for creatives that lets anyone open-up a great looking online shop in just a few minutes.  The site has an ever growing community of independent creatives including artists, fashion designers, jewellery designers and lots of other self-starters, who can all create an online store and stock their first 10 items for free!  Here at Startacus we really love this idea, not only because it is creative but also because it is a great way to encourage people to start their own business easily and in a relatively risk free way.    

We’re sure you will agree that the standard of innovation was truly exceptional this year!  The Startacus team congratulates the winners and indeed all the finalists and we’ll be watching very closely to see how these exciting ideas develop in the future.

Incidentally, if you’ve got an idea for a great eco-friendly startup, then you might like to check-out The Shell Springboard Awards for a great opportunity.

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Published on: 18th November 2013