Goodwood Festival of Speed introduces skignz

29th - 2nd July saw skignz having an awesome time at The Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The Festival of Speed (FOS) offers enthusiasts an unrivalled opportunity to get close to the action and to meet the great champions who gather at Goodwood each summer. 

It has been running since 1993 on the same stretch of the March family's driveway. 

While the location has remained the same and Lord March continues to lead the creative direction, the main aspect that has evolved is the scale of the event: with the enthusiasm and investment of the wider motoring and motorsport community, FOS has become an internationally celebrated, sell-out occasion.

                       

skignz was part of the Future Lab which was the most popular stand/exhibition over the 4 days with numbers of 4-8,000 people entering the Future Lab each day. There were queues constantly from each morning until the end of the day.

Among the other exhibitors were:
Robocar - world's first driverless racing car. This was the focal point of future lab with thousands taking pictures of this amazing racing car - we took a picture created a png and placed the racing car on the Goodwood track.

 

Boom Supersonic - Boom, based in Denver, Colorado, is designing, building and flight testing history’s first independently developed supersonic jet.

Siemens with Tech partners Bentley Systems - 4 days prior to FOS they created a 3d Virtual Map of the Hill climb at Goodwood. using drones and a vehicle.

P-Val - Flying car concept which could be seen flying around Goodwood using our AR technology and APP.

Samsung VR - They had VR roller coaster seats the attendees got on and experienced the thrill of a Rollercoaster (their screams could be heard from outside)

Other exhibits included: Facebook 360, Ital Design Airbus, Trust UAV and also not forgetting the great Gran Turismo with their real driving experience (VR)

Being involved in this amazing event was very exciting, the atmosphere with its never-ending buzz.

We gave out our skignz QR code to guests around the festival to encourage them to download skignz. People could be seen scanning the QR and downloading then viewing the content around the Festival.

So how did we do it? How was skignz beneficial to those attending this awesome festival?

As always, our aim is to improve the experience of any event people attend and with Goodwood Festival of Speed it was no different ... 

We set-up the following Channels to help the guests/attendees:

* Facilities/Essential Info - toilets / water points / card machines / First aid points / disabled toilets / car parks

* Brands - Location of all the main car brands such as BMW / MINI / Maserati / Land Rover / Jaguar / Porsche / Ford / Bentley / Fiat / Audi / etc.
* Crossing points - points to be able to cross the track safely and via bridge/stewards.
* General fun skignz - flying cars/concords, driverless cars etc.
* Hospitality - Highlighting the Sponsored / Partnered catering.
* Family - Focus on family orientated areas - Big Wheel / GAS (motocross aerial display) Vauxhall sponsored kids play area / zipline / football golf and football theme events.

People's interaction with skignz on the day was a great way of people using AR at it's best. An event that not only provided essential information but added an extra element of fun to this already fantastic event.

For further information on Goodwood and its Festival of Speed and other events, please see their website www.goodwood.com

For further information on skignz and how it can help you and/or your business then please visit www.skignz.com or check us out on the usual social media channels under @skignz

ChooseATL Delegation visit the home of skignz

Over the last 12 months we have being spending considerable time in Atlanta GA. Across this period we have met some amazing and interesting people from all walks of Atlanta life…

So for them to take time out, during a very busy trip to the UK, and sandwich in a trip to Middlesbrough in between activities in Manchester and London Tech week was hugely appreciated. We obviously didn't sell them on the Sunny weather, Fortune 50 Company HQ's brands or having an EPL Football (Soccer to our US counterparts) team now.

They were, however, extremely happy with their first impressions of Teesside, with a scenic tour of the North Yorkshire Countryside en-route to their historical hotel at Gisborough Hall and especially the coastline down at Saltburn-by-Sea. 

As well as Teesside's wide and varied 'cultural offering' these guys from ATL were here on 'Business' with the focus being on understanding where skignz comes from but also what other possibilities does Middlesbrough and the surrounding area offer from an Economic Development (ED) point of view, both for Atlanta and the wider Teesside area.

After a fine lunch, it had been arranged for an insightful gathering of what actually occurs in Middlesbrough Council, InvestMiddlesbrough, Teesside University, Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA), BE Group, Digital City, Calm Digital and of course, skignz we all provided background on where we fit within the area, our aims, aspirations and also key the challenges we face. 

This was opened up for discussion with the visiting counterparts from the Metro Atlanta region headed by the Metro Atlanta Chamber's (MAC) Grant Wainscott.

From our local area, we were proud to be joined by some major representatives of the varying key LED organisations:

Present on behalf of the Atlanta were senior representatives of MAC, British Consulate:ATL (UKDiT), Fayette County, Invest Atlanta, Coca Cola, Alpharetta , choose:ATL and Aprio, 

Suffice to say, after an engaging few hours of conversation and discussions around joint issues and objectives, quite a bit of common ground was discovered and shared. 

Individual feedback from the MAC contingent proved extremely positive, Emily Poole (Fayette County Dev) said: "We were all speaking the same language, on the same level and the amount of crossover, feedback and potential was quite incredible, I am really looking forward to developing relationships with Middlesbrough and the wider area".

As part of their whistle-stop tour, the skignz team felt it important not only to 'show them the sights' but also engage with local businesses and organisations. 

We would like to say a huge thank you to the guys at Gisborough Hall, Coatham Coaches, Pacittos, Middlesbrough Football Club, Dickens Inn, Lucia's Italian Kitchen in Yarm and Preston Park Museum who went out of their ways to make our guests as welcome and looked after as only we can in the Teesside area. 
Again the feedback from the ATL Group was so compelling they actually wanted to stay a few more days and had praise for each and everyone of the people from the aforementioned local companies especially things like 'the most amazing hotel', Saltburn-by-Sea is a beautiful place, North Yorks Moors look amazing, first lemon top, beautiful food especially the local delicacy (parmo - yes they practically all had one or at least a taste), the Victorian Street was mind blowing and such a treat with the goodie bags from 'The Boro' (educated from the Middlesborough - adding the extra 'o')

Business being the theme of the visit (underpinned by local culture, of course!) was discussed constantly throughout the few days, the ATL contingent fascinated but the history for the Teesside region and where it's now at, the Coach tour of all of the key sites, helped them further understand the transition the area has taken over many periods of time.

From way back to Capt. James Cook, through the 'Industrial Revolution', the emergence of the 'Infant Hercules' and providing steel for the rest of the world (Sydney Harbour Bridge), ICI being the largest chemical plant in the world, locking of the Ayresome Park gates at the football club's lowest ebb.

The resurgence of old shipyards after 'Maggie's Walk in the Wilderness' and the further decline of the steel, shipbuilding, offshore and supporting industries over the more recent past, through to the change of offering from Teesside, with Digital & Creative Technologies, Advanced Manufacturing, BioTech, Logistics and Offshore Power.

Teesside was likened to Atlanta (known as the 'Phoenix City' because it's reinvented itself constantly over time), so not only the key issues and opportunities faced by our own area in the present time, relating to our US counterparts, both historical (there's not, as long as ours, admittedly by them) and present day provides a firm foundation to look forward together. 

What that will look like in the future, is down to all those who participated, all we can say, coming from the area and the progress we have made as a company over the last 12 months, despite some significant adversity along the way, is testament to what can be achieved working in both areas simultaneously.

The skignz team feel privileged that the US guys who came took the time out to visit us, the local guys who stepped up (you know who you are) and supported us and look forward to continuing the journey with you all on both sides of the Atlantic. 

Thank-you all again for participating and being present.

If you would like to find out more about Atlanta, then please take a look at the following websites:

Metro Atlanta Chamber: https://www.metroatlantachamber.com 

Choose:ATL:  http://www.chooseatl.com

Fayette County: http://fayetteville-ga.gov
Aprio: http://www.aprio.com

If you would like to find out more about skignz, please follow us on the usual social media channels.

skignz accepted onto Atlanta Bridge Community.

It’s exciting times for the skignz team; we are pleased to announce that we have secured a place within the Coca-Cola led Atlanta Bridge Community.


This is amazing news for our innovative geo-location based Augmented Reality platform. skignz Chief Operating Officer says:, Jamie Clarke
"The Bridge Community gives skignz an opportunity to collaborate on a number of levels with some of the biggest companies and Brands on the planet. 

We are humbled and rightly excited about Atlanta is one of the fastest growing technology ecosystems in the US. It is the largest economy in the southeast and home to over 30 Fortune 1000 companies, including the Coca-Cola Company.

The Bridge Company is a unique entrepreneurial community model backed by an exclusive set of large corporates focused on growing communities through corporate start-up collaboration. 

It was founded by Coca Cola and now includes some major businesses such as Cox Enterprises, Coca Cola, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Porsche North America, SunTrust Bank, Capgemini and The Weather Company are just a few who wholeheartedly support and contribute to the Atlanta Bridge Company.

The Bridge Project started in 2014. The success of this fantastic opportunity shows in their figures; with 10 start-ups and five large corporations starting 2014, which enabled 9 pilots and proof-of-concepts. Collectively these start-ups hired 32 employees, increased their revenue monthly by 150% and raised $2.9M in VC funding.

So you can imagine how ecstatic we were when we realised skignz had been chosen as one of the 22 companies to be part of this amazing project that helps companies take a huge step up on the commercial ladder.

We are thrilled with the opportunity to receive tactical, in-depth training from an enterprise perspective including marketing branding, sales and negotiation tailored to our individual needs. The idea behind such training is to accelerate us into our targeted marketplace. We will have access to internal and external mentors from some of the top companies across Atlanta / America / Globe

The Atlanta Bridge Community Model truly cares about the start-ups on the program; their aim is to help them build a global businesses. They ask for no financial investment, equity stakes and all start-ups maintain ownership of their IPR.

So you can see why we are so excited about this amazing opportunity. 

'Above we can see Jamie Clarke, skignz COO, in full-swing engaging with some amazing companies.'

Jamie added... "It's such an exciting opportunity for us to engage, not only with some of the biggest brands in the world, but also embed ourselves into the Tech ecosystem in Atlanta.  The partnership opportunities with the companies who are also part of the Bridge Community is an added bonus."

You can see more from other companies such as, Tech-Up Techwire and PR Web, who are finding this news just as exciting as us.

You can find out more about how you can apply to be part of the Bridge Community.

If you want to find out more about skignz, then please visit our new recently launched website (www.skignz.com) as well as the usual social media channels

This Years (2017) Winners of The Sports Technology Awards

Making The Sports Technology Awards Interactive...

Here's how we presented the winners

Best Elite Sports Facility or Venue

Sacramento Kings, Golden 1 Center

Rights Holder of the Year

The Championships, Wimbledon

Best-Integrated Digital Media

CricHQ

Most Innovative Sponsor

Dimension Data - Tour De France

Most Innovative Fan Engagement Campaign

Dimension Data - Tour de France

Best Technology for Fan Engagement

NBA Rapid Replay

Best App

Find A Player

Most Innovative Wearable

STATSports

Best Technology for Managers and Coaches

Performance

ForceDecks

Best Technology for Managers and Coaches

Athlete Welfare

DNAFit

Best Web Development

NBA Facebook Messenger with WSC Sport

Sports Tech Young Exec

Alexandra Willis, AELTC

Best Digital TV Product or Broadcast Innovation

Neulion 4K Live Streaming

Best Technology for Commercial Returns

KORE Software

Best Participation Technology

LTA ClubSpark

Best New Innovation

RightNow Digital

Outstanding Start Up

Football Whispers

Most Innovative Sports Partnership

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and DS Virgin Racing Formula

Most Innovative Live Sports

Experience or Event

BT Sport - UEFA Champions League Final

If you want to find out more about the Sports Technology Awards, then please visit their website (www.sportstechnologyawards.com)

If you want to find out more about skignz, then please visit our new recently launched website (www.skignz.com) as well as the usual social media channels 

skignz proudly partners with The Sports Technology Awards

May 2017, took the skignz UK team to London to partner with this year's Sports Technology Awards (#sta2017) and wow! 

What an A-listed spectacular event it was with some amazing sports personalities attending, such as, Barry McGuigan, Martin Corry, Marlon Devonish, Kelly Sotherton, & Gemma Morris to name but a few.

skignz was thrilled to be asked to be a partner and bring our fresh, unique, engaging industry to the awards evening.

STA Awards Director, Mark Hunter, explained:

'The Sports Technology Awards is a unique celebration of innovation in sports globally, as such, our audience is highly sophisticated so each year we face a challenge of how to impress and engage them in ways they’ve yet to see. We had seen some creative yet practical uses of AR so decided that this should be one of the technologies we embrace this year and the response has been phenomenal.'

Alan Clayton, skignz Partnerships Manager, said: 'It’s exciting to work with prestigious brands like The Sports Technology Awards, especially when we are given the opportunity to demonstrate how practical, yet playful Augmented Reality can be. AR can be dismissed as signs in the sky but they can also be fascinating portals to more information and provide a highly effective and engaging way to inform audiences.'

For skignz, the project started months ago, augmenting the shortlisted companies invitations outside their office environment, which then allowed users to press a link through to the STA registration page. 

100's of individuals within the nominated companies downloaded the app to view the invitation and got a sneak-peek as to whether they was shortlisted or not. Ahead of everyone else who would have found out the next day via the STA website. 

Social media was going crazy with the companies posting images of their invitation outside their office and within the office itself.

Not only is skignz tech useful but it can also be fun, with this year's STA on May the 4th (for those few who don't know Star Wars) it was suggested that skignz be used to augment content around the Star Wars theme. 

So characters and ships were seen flying around the Roundhouse and life like size characters being found and photographed within the ceremony room. 

Prizes were offered for the best picture entry on Social Media. 

Back to the serious stuff, with Mark Chapman (Chappers) presenting this year's awards it was down to him to explain how skignz was used and the channels of content that were available during the awards evening. Some channels consisted of AR Table plans, AR Running order and AR menu, all of which were interactive linked to the relevant information. 

The other Channels were Star Wars as previously mentioned and a channel dedicated to the winners, where the content was placed live on the evening and linked through to a video explaining and showing why they were the winner of their award.

The awards were a huge success and our congratulations go to all the winners and the shortlisted companies for getting so close in this prestigious and competitive awards.

If you want to find out more about skignz, then please visit our new recently launched website (www.skignz.com) as well as the usual social media channels

skignz talks to Hypepotamus - the go-to source for Atlanta's tech industry

Forbes has noted Atlanta as one of the top 3 tech mecca of tomorrow, so we are thrilled to be working with some key players in this ever-growing city. 

skignz is thrilled to be receiving the most awesome support from some inspiring people. Support recently came from Hypepotamus, who generate awareness about Atlanta's innovative tech & creative community. 

They are the ultimate go-to source of news and events for the Atlanta tech industry. 

Jamie Clarke, skignz, COO was thrilled to discuss why we chose Atlanta, our view on AR and our thoughts for the future...

You see the full interview here

If you want to find out more about Hypepotamus, then please visit their website (www.hypeotamus.com).

If you want to find out more about skignz, then please visit our new recently launched website (www.skignz.com) as well as the usual social media channels

From Pitch…to Panel

As many of you will know, skignz CEO Si Brown presented to HRH Prince Andrew over 2 years ago as part of the skignz involvement in Pitch@Palace 3.0.

 We have stayed in touch with the office of the Duke of York throughout that time and were delighted to be invited to speak about that experience as part of a panel recently in Sunderland.

The event was part of the Pitch@Palace 7.0 Series, in which several North East Start Ups were involved in pitching their ideas and businesses to the Duke of York himself!

The day was expertly hosted by Billy Webber, COO of Sunderlands own Software City, and gave a warm welcome to newcomers and guests alike.

skignz Head of Operations, Jamie Clarke, attended on behalf of the company and took part in a panel discussion which involved previous winners and participants.  Giving the attendees a flavour of what the series can do for start ups, including greater exposure, links into contacts and increasing the reach of a company network, was a great honour for skignz, something which we are excited about continuing.

Jamie had great things to say about the event, stating  “The whole feel of the day was one of solidarity, of opportunity and of expectancy.  The organisation of the event was second to none, and we were really excited to hear the pitches of some of the new start ups who were only just embarking on their own journey.”

The real value in the day was the huge opportunities to network with likeminded people and people from huge corporations who and trying to remain at the forefront of Technology developments.  

The guys thoroughly enjoyed the day, making some new friends and reacquainting themselves with old ones. Something which is a thread running through the Pitch@Palace events.

As Jamie said, “Part of what we are trying to achieve at skignz is to have a network of people who want to work in partnership, and can create a Win/Win situation for both them and us.  

The Pitch@Palace events are a great place for that to happen and we are really looking forward to our next visit/event in March, which we are so pleased to have been invited to.  

This is a place to gain support, for your business, and that shows in the interactions, the comms and the whole set up”

The guys lasting impression however, was of being summoned back from coffee breaks and lunch by a royal trumpet, something which gave everyone in attendee the sense of Royal Occasion!

For more information about th enext Pitch@Palace and how to enter then please take a look at their website: http://pitchatpalace.com

If you want to find out more about skignz, then please visit our new recently launched website (www.skignz.com) as well as the usual social media channels