Llama Digital One of the Winners of Smart Lab - Innovative Ideas Set to Change Sheffield

10th December 2015

Llama Digital is proud to be one of the winners of Sheffield Smart Lab announced last week at an awards ceremony at Sheffield's Town Hall.

Earlier this year, the Sheffield Smart Lab initiative a partnership between Sheffield City Council, Amey and Ferrovial Services Centre of Excellence for Cities invited entrepreneurs and start-up businesses to submit innovative ideas that would help to address two different challenges: how to energise the city centre and how to support people to live independently. Organisers of the initiative received pioneering ideas from entrepreneurs and start-up businesses in Sheffield and around the world, and had the challenge of narrowing it down to just nine winning solutions which are set to change the way in which Sheffield tackles some of its everyday challenges and build an intelligent city. Llama Digital's winning proposal was to build a 'Culture Finder' app that allows users to discover and explore venues and events in Sheffield. This will use Llama Digital's mobile app platform Situate (www.situate.io) which allows venues to create a personal tour guide app for their visitors. Using Situate venues can provide everything a visitor needs for self-guided familiarisation of a location: including maps, floor plans, audio commentaries and video. Using iBeacons and GPS, Situate can identify where the visitor is and automatically show them relevant content, or their position on a map or floor plan. Situate also allows venues to engage with audiences who may not currently be actively visiting venues or events in Sheffield. For example people with disabilities, or people who don't have English as their first language. Stephen Elliott, Managing Director of Llama Digital, said: -We're thrilled to have been selected onto the Smart Lab programme. We want to use our Situate product to make a tangible difference to Sheffield's residents and visitors by helping them to discover and engage with arts and culture happening around the city. Cllr Leigh Bramall, Deputy Leader & Cabinet Member for Business, Skills and Development, said: -As a council, it is important to us that we drive innovation to Sheffield. There's an energy and appetite for it in the city and we recognise that in order to do this we need to partner with start-ups and innovators. That's what Sheffield Smart Lab is all about and by attracting entrepreneurs we can support and help them to build on their ideas, making them a reality, benefitting both them and the city. The challenges that the solutions solve are hugely important to Sheffield and this gives us a great opportunity to offer a better quality of life for the people of Sheffield and attract visitors to the city centre. Nick Gregg, Amey's Local Government Managing Director, said: -Well done to the nine teams that have been shortlisted. Over 50 innovative ideas were received after the launch in June and I'm confident that the solutions that have been selected could make a big difference to the city of Sheffield. By bringing the use of technology to the city in an innovative way, we can enhance the services that we already offer and improve the quality of life for both residents and visitors. -I'm looking forward to watching the selected solutions progress during the next phase of the initiative and seeing how they can contribute to the development of Sheffield. Llama Digital will now participate in an incubation and acceleration programme, where they will be able to develop their idea, product or service in a 'smart lab' facility, supported by both the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University, before showcasing it early next year. For more information, visit www.sheffieldsmartlab.co.uk