A prize-giving presentation for the winner of the UK round of a major competition to develop the latest in satellite navigation technology will take place at The University of Nottingham later this month.
Rosemary McClenaghan was named the UK winner of the European Satellite Navigation Competition for her innovation TaxiZapp, a new internet and smart phone ‘app’ that allows passengers to electronically ‘hail’ their nearest taxi.
The bright idea netted Rosemary a prize of £10,000, three years membership to the Royal Institute of Navigation ( RIN ) and six months of business incubation support from the GNSS Research & Applications Centre of Excellence ( GRACE ) at The University of Nottingham — which hosted the UK round of the competition.
In addition, the project will benefit from a free UK patent submission, business plan advice and introductions to technology partners and funding opportunities to give the new application the best chance of business success.
Rosemary will be presented with her prize by Professor Alan Dodson, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Environment and Infrastructure and Professor of Geodesy, at a ceremony taking place at the Sir Colin Campbell Building on The University of Nottingham Innovation Park on Wednesday January 26.
Rosemary’s TaxiZapp uses a mapping system to allow passengers to locate any available taxis in their immediate area, electronically hail the nearest or preferred taxi and watch as the taxi approaches, offering an innovative, fun and easy way to flag down the nearest taxi home.
The application will save passengers valuable time and money in quickly finding a taxi and provide taxi drivers with a new sales avenue. TaxiZapp will target independent taxi drivers and passengers with immediate requests for hire rather than advance bookings.
Rosemary was among applicants from 23 regions to enter the European Satellite Navigation Competition, which is open to anybody with an idea which uses satellite navigation technology, be it for position time, navigation or any other application.
The UK round of the competition received sponsorship by the UK Space Agency, Technology Strategy Board, EADS Astrium, Scott York, Spirent, IET, Digital Systems KTN, Samsung R&D and Logica.
The prize-giving presentation will follow netBOOST, a free afternoon of seminars and networking being offered by University of Nottingham Innovation Park, which will focus on web-based businesses and how online innovations can be exploited to gain the competitive edge.
Speakers will include Susan Hallam from Hallam Communications discussing clear online marketing strategies and Nick Barber from Aware Monitoring who will talk on the benefits to business of analysing their website.
Representatives from eBusiness Champions and Horizon Digital Economy Research, based at The University of Nottingham, will also be presenting at the event. Further details are available on the web at www.unip.co.uk
The European Satellite Navigation Competition UK round prize-giving presentation will take place on Wednesday January 26 at 4pm at the Sir Colin Campbell Building, University of Nottingham Innovation Park, Jubilee Campus, Triumph Road.
