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Innovation seekers


L to R: Instant Effects, Shozu, Metaio and Ymogen
How can you tell when an great idea may turn out to be ‘the next big thing’? And how do you articulate the idea so that it has the potential to prick the ears of those who can make it go from dream to reality?

Cue the Innovation Arena - a brand-new concept for IBC2009, which took place in the conference on Saturday. The premise was to invite 12 young companies to come along and pitch their ideas to a panel of judges, and for them to convince those judges of why their idea will change our lives. Oh, and they only had five minutes to work with!

“We were real strict on time,’’ said Ken Blakeslee, who produced and chaired the session. “They had precisely five minutes to pitch, and there were big countdown clocks. Most people were pretty good, but if we had to cut them off we did.”

Following the pitch, the panel of judges, led by Shawn DuBravac of the Consumer Electronics Association in the USA, had another five minutes – again, precisely timed – to probe their ideas. They quickly scored each offering on innovation, market alignment, uniqueness, potential to impact the industry – and whether they felt it was likely to be a good investment. The top scorers in each of the four categories got a certificate which said 'I caught their eye'.

“As a first event of a very new idea, everyone thought it was great,” said Blakeslee.
Going home with the certificates were ShoZu with a new way of moving around social networks, and Ymogen with Create.tv, who continued the social network theme by helping people get together in collaborative projects.

The other two winners were also linked: Metaio showed some stunning augmented reality ideas to place virtual 3D content into the real world, and Instant Effects which showed a simple and fast way to add 3D to advertising and even Powerpoint presentations.

“The sessions were great, and we also had the Innovation Zone out in the Ruby Lounge, where for a couple of days the companies could show and talk about their ideas to everyone,” said Blakeslee. “It created a real buzz – I know it’s going to be even better next year.”