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Bradford Business Students Win Dragons' Den Innovation Competition

Smart TV platform developed by Bradford University School of Management Students to tailor TV advertising.

By  Jessica Hadley

Fri Jul 20 2012

BusinessBecause
A group of seven Masters’ students studying on the Technology and Innovation Management module at Bradford University School of Management have won an innovation contest run by smart TV specialists, Inview Technology.

The competition, to develop a service that targets consumers via a Smart TV platform, was organised as part of the module by Dr Rana Tassabehji and Andrew Isherwood, an associate lecturer. The Smart TV represents a completely new way for brands to target customers – using the trusted portal of a TV in combination the internet to give a seamless, interactive experience. This is expected to be a multi-billion dollar industry globally over the next 5 years.

More than 30 students from Masters’ programmes at Bradford University School of Management, which has been ranked the North’s top business school by the Financial Times, entered the competition. Five groups presented their ideas in a presentation influenced by the TV series Dragons’ Den.

The winning group, which included students Mohsin Khais, Toshimitsu Kumada, Sarath Manohar, Lloyd Membere-Otaji, Sumeeha Shaffiq, Shao-Hsiu Wang, and Omolola Ogunleye, developed an application called ‘Inview Inserts’, which enables retailers, specifically supermarkets, to push special offers that are personalised to their customers via their TV. The idea tries to combine traditional TV advertising with personal information and targeting to create a powerful new way for brands to target customers. With everything from Google, to Facebook, and even adverts on mobile phones using information about our preferences to select the information that’s most likely to interest us, it seems Smart TV is the natural next step.

Mark Rooney, Competition Judge and Director of Media at Inview Technology said: “Smart TV is an exciting new platform and offers excellent opportunities for brands across the globe. We were pleased to see the range of ideas and approaches that all the students put forward as it demonstrated the flexibility of the platform. The winning idea brought together all the right elements – a useful service, that takes an existing approach and updates it while taking advantage of the ability of the new platform.”

Dr Sarah Dixon, dean of the School of Management, who presented the winners with their prizes, explained: “The idea of the competition was to help the students bring the theoretical concepts of innovation to life with a real business example. It is essential that our students gain real industrial experience alongside their academic studies. We are extremely grateful to Inview for this partnership and providing their Smart TV platform as a focus for the project. The television has been in our homes for nearly 100 years, yet, as this contest shows we can still come up with new ideas and innovation for how we use it.”

Inview Technology transforms any TV or set-top-box into a connected device. The Inview platform enables viewers to enjoy smarter TV experiences with access to blended internet and broadcast content through a simple user interface.Inview’s unique software solution combines a royalty free EPG with a TV app platform and intelligent content discovery to cost-effectively turn any TV or STB into an advanced, feature-rich connected device. A set top box (STB) or TV with Inview Inside allows viewers to search and discover video on demand (VOD) and regular digital TV programming seamlessly in one curated schedule. It also features a range of country-specific internet TV apps, including Twitter and Facebook, internet radio, local and niche content and retail apps.
Inview’s offering is based on over 15 years of digital TV innovation and a proven technology track record with 9 million set-top-boxes already deployed in the UK.

 

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