Smart city initiatives select biometrics providers and startups

Scrum Ventures has announced that it has chosen 18 startups from 9 countries around the world as early participants in a project known as SmartCityX community intended to revive the vibrancy, appeal and hope in cities across the globe.

Scrum Ventures said it had made tremendous efforts over the past decades to bring this project to life notably through the expansion of its partnership with Japanese companies and institutions.

The early acceptance of the companies, which are offering services in diverse domains of society, is part of the effort to put together a Leadership Circle that now goes above 50 leading industry executives from the corporate, public and venture circles, according to the announcement.

John Rossant, Chairman of NewCities Foundation and Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of CoMotion expressed excitement over the selection of the early members of the SmartCityX project. “Innovation in the city space is not only white-hot, it is also happening on a global basis. And this initial group of startups will likely grow to over 100 through the duration of the application and evaluation phase. I’m truly looking forward to getting to know these companies and others that will be applying prior to the deadline,” he said.

According to Scrum Ventures, SmartCityX is a project designed to see how technology can be used as a powerful tool in solving some of the complex problems and inefficiencies affecting cities around the world, and by so doing, improving the way of life of citizens. It added that the project is even more relevant especially as the world is currently faced with a pandemic that has forced the adoption of new ways of life both on and offline.

They said they will use the period leading up to the 30 November deadline of registration for the initiative to convince more startups that have the ability to bring on board break-through technologies to join the space so as to make a difference in their world.

The early startups selected for the SmartCityX project cut across a wide range of technology services including biometrics solution providers, digital and smart card platforms, AI-powered data anonymity solutions, drone infrastructure companies, renewable energy solution providers, just to cite a few. A majority of them are from the United States, including facial recognition provider PopID, with the rest picked from the UK, Japan, Korea, Canada, Indonesia, India and Mexico.

Twelve entrants join Scottish accelerator

The Scottish Government’s ‘CivTech’ program, meanwhile, has selected a dozen companies for a national innovation accelerator and to showcase their technologies in a February event, FutureScot reports.

The program consists of ten key challenges, in areas ranging from forestry to transportation to healthcare.

The twelve selected entrants include the rapid COVID-19 test developed by Yoti and GeneMe with biometrically secured results, and were chosen from among 132 applicants, the most the accelerator program has ever had.

Article Topics

biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  facial recognition  |  funding  |  healthcare  |  PopID  |  smart cities  |  startup  |  Yoti