AGT International participated at the largest computer expo in the world CeBIT at 20-24 March in Hannover. The company presented the VaVeL and two other EU research projects (CPaaS.io and GrowSmarter) at the Smart City Forum hall, Public Sector Parc.
Smart City Forum is organized by Urban Institute and unites a range companies, research institutes, and projects dedicated to the development of Smart City applications and urban solutions. In particular, the forum included the following companies’ booths: Deutsche Telekom, Microsoft, SAP, and others.
AGT International prepared for the event three types of promotion materials and brought the necessary equipment to the expo. Firstly, we showcased demo demonstrations of the capabilities developed in the projects. It included Emotion/Attention detection solutions, VaVeL video analytics solution, and Smart Home application. Secondly, using an additional screen we gave PowerPoint presentations for each of the projects and generally the overview of the companies’ activities. Thirdly, we provided paper materials: flyers, leaflets, and business cards to establish a follow-up connection. The material included short description of features of the projects and the contact data.
Over the week we managed to meet a large number of relevant audience and received fair press and media exposure thanks to the efforts and events organized within the Smart City Forum and the prepared live demos of the company. In particular, we met numerous representatives of companies related to Smart City including majors such as:
Smaller companies were interested more in the specific products and the solutions developed in the projects including VaVeL. Larger companies such as Microsoft and Deutsche Telekom were looking for the ways to build partnership and to participate together in future research and business projects.
In addition, we were able to meet a significant number of government and city officials who expressed their interest in the solutions of the VaVeL. They were particularly curious about the Video Analytics solution’s capabilities and its practical applicability for the Dublin City Council. The list included representatives of:
Smart City Forum has drawn attention of the EU officials and been visited by representatives of EIP SCC and EC’s Policy Officer on Smart Cities development Svetoslav Mihaylov. Our stand and the VaVeL project also received good exposure to the press attention as the Smart City Forum organized a press conferences and the media representative had a chance to get to know better about each of the companies and products presented at the forum. List of press members included journalists and reporters from the following newspapers and magazines:
Overall, we interacted with over 70 relevant professionals at the event and hereby it should have definitely served as an effective platform for the dissemination of VaVeL ideas and achievements. Moreover, using established contacts we have laid foundation for the further exploitation of the VaVeL solutions and new future partnerships in the area of Smart Cities research.
This project received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Programme (Horizon2020/2014-2020), under grant agreement n° 688380
