Welcome to Startup Weekly, our roundup of the week’s top tech news for startups in the UK.
Mi-IDEA in Manchester
Cisco and Manchester Science Partnerships (MSP) have announced the opening of Mi-IDEA, a new post-accelerator centre in the heart of Manchester’s innovation district.
The centre aims to help digital tech startups flourish and be a catalyst for co-innovation between businesses, academia and the government in the North of England.
“Innovation is fundamental to the future of any digital economy, but it cannot prosper in isolation. Mi-IDEA is a hive of co-innovation, fostering collaboration between industry, government and academia; we’re excited for what it will bring toManchester and look forward to seeing the start-ups at the centre flourish as we expand our relationship with MSP in this new venture,” stated Scot Gardner, chief executive of Cisco UK & Ireland.
Rowena Burns, chief executive at Manchester Science Partnerships, added: “We are proud and delighted to launch both our stunning new Bright Building and Mi-IDEA, which we are sure will be a fantastic engine for growth in Manchester’s digital sector. Our partnership with Cisco will give these exciting young, entrepreneurial businesses a fantastic chance of success thanks to the brilliant technology here and the supportive and collaborative community they will find in both the Bright Building and across MSP’s campuses.”
In conjunction with local organisations in Manchester, the programme will use innovative technology to conduct research into bee habitats, pollination, and sustainability in the UK.
Charity and entrepreneurship
Enterprise Jungle co-founder Emma Sinclair MBE has launched a crowdfunding campaign to help transform refugees in Jordan into innovators and entrepreneurs. You can donate here.
Oracle’s accelerator in Bristol
Oracle announced the inaugural class of startup participants commencing its six months Startup Cloud Accelerator program in Bristol.
The participants include:
- Duel: using cutting-edge machine learning and machine vision tagging technology, Duel helps brands and retailers acquire and convert online, using branded content their customers have made for them.
- GRAKN.AI: is the database for AI. It enables organisations to effectively manage complex datasets that serve as a knowledge base for AI applications, uncover knowledge that is too complex for human cognition, and therefore increases the rate of innovation by orders of magnitude.
- Interactive Scientific: creates immersive digital-science learning and research tools. The company has created Nano Simbox, a digital platform that brings to life atoms and molecules, so complex scientific concepts can be more easily visualized for the purposes of education, training and research.
- iGeolise: has created the TravelTime platform that makes maps and data searchable by travel time, rather than distance.
- Trail: a simple, smart checklist for effortless operations. It’s designed to guide teams through their day with repeat processes and automated integrations, delivering business actions from finance to compliance.
“We were thrilled with the initial response from the local startup community—all tremendously tenacious and all addressing big global opportunities. We look forward to working with the five innovative, talented startups in our inaugural class,” said Reggie Bradford, the senior vice president.
“Already we have seen progress by bringing together collaborators from startups, customers and Oracle product development. I look forward to continuing these efforts with the vibrant group of startups in Bristol.”
FDM everywoman in Technology Awards
- One to Watch Award – awarded to girl aged 11-16 who is actively encouraging girls to study STEM subjects at school-level.
- Apprentice Award *New for 2018* – awarded to a young woman apprentice who is a game-changer and is excelling in her early career.
- Rising Star Award – sponsored by T-Systems – awarded to a woman aged under 26 who is excelling in her technology career, making a valuable contribution to her organisation.
- Digital Star Award – sponsored by CGI – awarded to a woman who is excelling in a digital role. This could include innovative digital content, social media, web development or developing online solutions.
- Software Engineer Award – awarded to a woman who has made a significant difference to the art of software engineering and has built something new, shifted the art of the possible and is moving the profession forward.
- Academic Award – awarded to a woman in academia who has made an outstanding contribution to technology and science and whose work has made or has the potential to make a significant long-term impact in STEM.
- Team Leader Award – sponsored by American Express – awarded to a woman whose team leadership has greatly contributed to the organisation’s success and is leading a team of up to 100 employees.
- Startup Founder Award – awarded to the most inspirational female founder of a startup business (under 18 months old)
- Entrepreneur Award – awarded to an owner/operator of a technology business whose vision and talent will inspire others to start their own technology related venture.
- Innovator Award – sponsored by Equiniti – awarded to a woman designing, developing, researching, implementing or being exceptionally creative with technology in an unconventional and innovative way.
- Leader Award – sponsored by BP – awarded to the woman operating in a senior technology role within her organisation, leading over 100 employees and making a contribution to the strategic direction of the business.
- International Inspiration Award *New for 2018* – awarded to an individual based outside of the UK, male or female, for their active commitment to encouraging, advancing, sponsoring or championing the progress of women working in technology.
- Male Agent of Change Award *New for 2018* – sponsored by VMware – awarded to a male agent of change for their active commitment to encouraging, advancing, sponsoring or championing the progress of women working in technology.
A hackathon in Croydon
Co-working space TMRW in Croydon is set to host the ConstructionTech AEC Hackathon from 5pm on 6th of October until 5pm on 8th October.
Damon Hernandez, the co-founder of the AEC Hackathon series and executive director, commented: “It’s about bringing together various different professionals from the built environment and further, but
essentially technologists, to solve problems that affect everyone that lives, or works in a house, or
building.”
That’s all for today! See you next Friday!