STARTUPS METALIQUID AND CIKALA WIN OBJECT RECOGNITIONÂ FOR A SMART CHECKOUT: THE CALL OF BRICOMAN ITALIA AND DIGITAL MAGICS
On the day that pitches were made within the coworking campus Talent Garden Milan Calabiana, the 9 finalists proposed their projects to the Jury comprised of Bricoman management, Groupe Adeo and other insignia of the Mulliez galaxy, such as Bricocenter, Auchan, Decathlon
Milan, June 9, 2017 – The innovative startups Metaliquid, which uses deep learning technologies and artificial intelligence to analyse audio and video content in real-time in order to recognise actions, people, objects and relationships among each other, and Cikala, which develops systems and technologies in the areas of proximity marketing and proximity sharing for B2B and B2C markets, ranked, respectively, first and second place, in the Call for Innovation with a focus on OBJECT RECOGNITION FOR A SMART CHECKOUT.
The Call for Innovation launched by Bricoman Italy, the largest specialist in professional and technical products for the construction and renovation of houses, operating 17 shops with more than 2,300 employees, also present in Spain, France and Poland with more than 70 stores and 10,000 employees, along with Digital Magics, the most important business incubator focused on the topics of Digital Made in Italy, aimed to discover new technological solutions to improve and speed up the payment process at check-outs in Bricoman stores.
The jury of OBJECT RECOGNITION FOR A SMART CHECKOUT, comprised of Bricoman Italy, Groupe Adeo, Bricocenter, Auchan, Decathlon and Digital Magics, chose among 9 finalists – selected from the applications submitted to http://objectrecognition.digitalmagics.com – the two startups that have best responded, through their projects, to the objectives of the Call for Innovation, awarding a prize of 5,000 Euros to Metaliquid and a second prize of 2,000 Euros to Cikala. In addition to the awards, the two startups will have the opportunity to start an industrial partnership with Bricoman Italy, which will initially result in the execution of a pilot project and later in the adoption of their innovative technological solution in all the stores.
“The Open Innovation increasingly proves to be the most concrete and qualified way to bring innovation in more mature and established companies. The variety of innovative projects with high technological content, of which the Italian startup ecosystem is rich, represents the differential factor in creating value from both parties. – said Layla Pavone, Managing Director of Digital Magics for Industry Innovation – Companies, such as in the case of Bricoman Italy, can discover and adopt new technological solutions with a high degree of added value in a short time, in order to improve processes or introduce new services and products, startups can benefit from a more solid partner that will help them in their growth and business development. In fact, the result of this second Call for Innovation, that we organised for Bricoman Italy, will result in the possibility of developing a pilot project with both winning startups.”
“We are very happy to have impressed Bricoman Italy with our solution of product recognition in real time. – said Simone Bronzin, co-founder and CEO of Metaliquid – The Metaliquid technology was the natural path from our experience in machine learning applied to big data and in the field of artificial intelligence, and though born as a solution for real time analysis of media in the broadcast world, we have developed the system so that it would be scalable and agile in order for us to make it possible to find high-level applications in other fields as well, where computer vision has a high business value. To be chosen by Bricoman Italy in this Call for solutions that can streamline the ‘checkout’ process represents for us the proof of the value of our work and the opportunity to work on an exciting project alongside a group that believes in the value of innovation”.
“Interfacing with the managerial teams of international brands has been exciting and challenging experience – states Augusto Casillo, founder and CEO of Cikala – I want to thank Bricoman Italy and Digital Magics for the opportunity given to my Team and we will do everything to present within the next 30 days a prototype of ‘Smart Checkout’ with all the technological features required during the Call”.
This press release is available on www.digitalmagics.com in the section Investors/Press Releases.
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Bricoman is a leader in the wholesale and retail of professional and technical products commonly used for building, construction and renovation. It caters for installers, operators, craftsmen, small businesses but also non-professional private citizens, to which it provides stocks always available and at the best price regardless of category. In Italy, Bricoman has been present since 2008 and now counts 17 stores, a turnover higher than 800 million EUR and a team of over 2,300 people. For three consecutive years, from 2013 to 2015, Bricoman has positioned itself at the top of the Great Place to Work© ranking, among the major Italian companies. It is part of Adeo, the network present in 12 countries with 32 brands and more than 97,000 employees. www.bricoman.it – www.lavorainbricoman.it
Digital Magics, listed on AIM Italia (symbol: DM), is an incubator of digital projects that provides consulting services and acceleration services to startups and enterprises, to facilitate the development of new technological businesses. Thanks to the partnership with Talent Garden and Tamburi Investment Partners, Digital Magics has created the most important national platform for innovation for DIGITAL MADE IN ITALY, by offering services for the digital transformation and “Open Innovation†to excellent enterprises, while providing support to innovative startups to create successful projects, from conception to IPO. The incubation and acceleration services offered by Digital Magics are active in the TAG co-working campuses present throughout Italy. Complementary services include investment activities, which have produced over the years a portfolio of 70 investments in startups, scaleups and digital spinoffs with high growth rates. Accelerated companies are flanked by Digital Magics LAB, a team of highly experienced business partners, and benefit not only from the large network of private and institutional investors that support them through “club deals”, but also from the many partner companies that support them on an industrial scale.
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For further information:
Digital Magics – Press Office
Giorgio Bocchieri – Mail: giorgio.bocchieri@digitalmagics.com
Tel. 02 52505202 – Mob. 334 6853078
IR Top – Investor Relations
Floriana Vitale – Mail: f.vitale@irtop.com
Domenico Gentile – Mail: d.gentile@irtop.com
Tel. 02 45473884
Integrae SIM – Nomad
Mail: info@integraesim.it
Tel. 02 87208720
