Five Smart Projects Receive Funding to Improve Cycling in Dublin
Dublin City Council and Enterprise Ireland announced the winners of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) competition at The House of Lords, Bank of Ireland, College Green this evening.
The competition, which was launched by Smart Dublin last March, sought to find smart technology solutions to help improve and scale up cycling across Dublin. The challenge generated 98 expressions of interest, 23 proposals with 14 dragons den style pitches.
Five companies were selected to receive funding of up to €12,500 and supports from Dublin City Council to research and demonstrate the viability of their smart solution.
The chosen companies and their smart solutions are:
- Ambie introducing BikeLook which monitors bicycle usage and deters and detects bicycle theft
- Fluidedge introducing Liberty Bell, a bell that allows cyclists to record actual or perceived obstacles to aid safe cycling in Dublin
- Hindnseek presents a low power device attached to a bicycle that generates real time data with can be integrated with other data sources
- Limeforge Ltd. offers the See.Sense Tracker providing a ‘find your iphone’ like capability allowing cyclists to easily track their stolen bikes
- M2C Smartcharge Ltd. introduces a tracking, logging and data harvesting system for use with bicycles in an urban area aiding the cyclist in predicting the ease of a journey, safety along the way and creating a secure parking facility and the end of the journey
Commenting at the announcement Dublin City Council’s Chief Executive, Owen Keegan said “A key aspect of our Smart Dublin initiative is to test new ways for the Dublin Local Authorities to pilot and understand the possibilities of using innovative technologies to solve city challenges. We are genuinely impressed with the level of ideas that were presented through the SBIR process and look forward to working with these entrepreneurs to pilot and hopefully scale their products using Dublin as a test bed.”
Kevin Sherry, Divisional Manager, Enterprise Ireland commented “Enterprise Ireland is excited to work with Dublin City Council on this initiative, and we congratulate the phase one winners on their innovative solutions which will improve the cycling experience and safety of bicycle users in urban areas.”
David Timoney, Dublin Cycling Campaign who are supporting the initiative added “There are real opportunities to use these new low cost innovations to better understand cycling patterns and experiences. This in turn will allow for more evidence based decisions by the City on cycling infrastructure. The data will hopefully strengthen the already strong arguments for increased transport spends on cycling. Furthermore solutions to address cycle theft in Dublin through smart tracker devices have the potential to dramatically reduce bike theft levels currently estimated at a staggering €20,000 per annum in Dublin alone.”
The companies have three months to develop their solution to pre-prototype stage, after which some will be selected for further funding (up to €25,000 each) to complete their prototype solutions.
ENDS
For further information contact:
Jamie Cudden, Smart City Programme Manager, Dublin City Council M 087 783 5411
Notes to the Editor:
Details of the successful proposals are:
Ambie: BikeLook is a smart city solution to monitor bicycle usage and to deter and detect bicycle theft. Using low power radio (Bluetooth Smart) to track bicycles in the city. Bluetooth trackers’ effectiveness is usually limited by the radio range between the sensor and a mobile phone, but through strategic location of listening posts at bicycle parking, junctions and on street sweepers, the opportunity exists to monitor the volume and direction of cycle traffic in the city.
Fluidedge: ‘Liberty Bell’ – A smart bicycle bell that allow citizens who cycle record actual or perceived obstacles to safe cycling in Dublin. Hotspots are highlighted in real-time and authorities are alerted to poor road conditions or poor behaviour by other road users.
Hidnseek: A low power device attached to a bicycle that has the ability to generate real time data which can be integrated with existing data sources and information to create an overall accurate picture of the cycling experience in Dublin. The device can measure GPS co-ordinates, speed and environmental conditions using the low cost sigfox network.
Limeforge Ltd – See.Sense: The See.Sense Tracker will provide a ‘find your iphone’ like capability using LPWA and GPS, allowing cyclists to easily track their stolen bike anywhere across the city. At the same time, our patent-pending use of sensor technology enables the crowd sourcing of real-time data about cyclist’s journeys over a wide range of variables. Two variants will be created – one for use on personal bikes and one for integration into city bikes alongside our ICON intelligent bike light.
M2C Smartcharge Ltd: A tracking, logging and data harvesting system for use with bicycles in a metropolitan area. The system will endeavour to aid the cyclist in predicting the ease of a journey (front end), safety along the way with geographic analysis (Journey Safety) and create a secure parking facility at the end of the journey (destination management)
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Smart Dublin is an initiative of the four Dublin Local Authorities to engage with smart technology providers, researchers and citizens to solve city challenges and improve city life.
Enterprise Ireland is the government organisation responsible for the development and growth of Irish enterprises in world markets. It supports sustainable economic growth, regional development and secure employment.
Dublin Cycling Campaign The Dublin Cycling Campaign is an independent, voluntary cycling advocacy group that has been working to improve the city for all cyclists since 1993 www.dublincycling.ie
What is Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)? SBIR refers to the public procurement of research and development on new innovative solutions before they are commercially available. It involves different suppliers competing through different phases of development, while the risks and benefits are shared between the procurers and the suppliers under market conditions.
Mannix Flynn 