Final call for entries to Spark of Genius contest

BRIEFS:Early-stage tech firms have their final chance to enter a competition that could see them share in a prize fund worth more than €100,000.

The Electric Ireland Spark of Genius competition has set tomorrow as the closing date for entries.

Winners will be announced at the Dublin Web Summit, which takes place on October 17th and 18th.

Finalists will be given mentoring from some of the industry’s top professionals, get to network with international investors such as Atomico, Accel and Greylock Partners, and will have the opportunity to pitch their idea to noted names in the tech industry.

"Over the last few months we've seen huge successes from Irish start-ups – Balcony.tv, Logentries, Intercom, Newswhip – who've all received close to $1 million in funding and recognition on an international scale," says Web Summit organiser Paddy Cosgrave.

Previous winners of the award include Redeem and Get, which won in 2011 and recently launched its Daily Deal Pro service for marketers on New York’s Times Square, and 2010 winner Datahug, a sales tool that received $1.5 million from Silicon Valley angel Ron Conway.

The tech conference is shaping up to be the largest in Europe, with more than 3,000 people and 150 international start-ups to attend. Some 40 per cent of attendees will come from overseas.

Invisible barcode invented to tackle counterfeiting

Scientists in the US have made an invisible version of square modern barcodes using nanoparticles and fluorescent ink to help in the fight against counterfeiting.

Blocks of black and white QR (quick response) codes are increasingly common in marketing and can hold a hundred times more information than traditional barcodes. Smartphones can scan them in printed adverts to navigate to company websites.

Researchers have found out how to print them with inks that are only visible under laser light, giving them potential in the fight against fake banknotes and counterfeiting, which is estimated to cost the world economy more than $250 billion a year.

The invisible QR code, made by scientists at the University of South Dakota and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, is made of nanoparticles mixed into fluorescent ink, which can only be seen when illuminated with a near-infrared laser.

The process is known as “upconversion” where the nanoparticles absorb photons at a certain wavelength and then emit them at a shorter wavelength visible in normal light.

“We can also change our parameters to make it even more difficult to counterfeit, such as controlling the intensity of the upconverting light or using inks with a higher percentage of nanoparticles,” said Jeevan Meruga, who led the research.

The research was published in the academic journal Nanotechnology. – (Reuters)

Software firm raises funds for international expansion

Dublin-based software company Kinesense has raised €620,000 in funding as it plans to ramp up its international activity.

The funding round was led by Kernel Capital through the Bank of Ireland Seed and Early Stage Equity Fund, which contributed €500,000. The remainder of the money was contributed by BES (Business Expansion Scheme) and angel investors.

Founded in 2009, the company specialises in video content analysis, and has developed a tool for video retrieval and analysis aimed at law enforcement and security markets.

Kinesense developed an algorthim that allows users to search through video footage using filters to pinpoint certain activity.

“It’s early days for us still,” said chief executive Sarah Doyle. “In the first year we really focused on RD development of the product range, and got validation from some Irish and UK customers .

“In the past year or so we have had good success in Northern European markets. That’s really what it’s about now: getting out and taking products that have been validated into international water.”

She said the funding would be used to recruit more commercial staff and would help the company to grow its business internationally.