Spinout News

3D Repo wins Canary Wharf Group’s Cognicity challenge

9 July 2015

3D Repo logo

3D Repo Ltd, a spinout of UCL Business PLC was this week announced as the winner of the Virtual Design and Construction stream of Canary Wharf Group’s prestigious Cognicity Challenge.

The company has developed a cloud-based 3D Building Information Modelling (BIM) platform that enables improved collaboration on large scale construction projects using technologies developed by founder Jozef Doboš during his Arup-sponsored Engineering Doctorate research in UCL’s department of Computer Science.

The Cognicity Challenge is a Canary Wharf Group (CWG) initiative and is run by innovation experts ENTIQ. It aims to support the development of ground-breaking technologies, drawing on the expertise of CWG executives and industry leaders including Intel and ARUP.

Receiving a cash prize of £50k, 3D Repo joins the winners of five other streams in the Cognicity Challenge in being able to pilot its product in the prestigious Canary Wharf estate.

Dr Doboš said: Joining the Cognicity Challenge was a great privilege for us. Thanks to this intensive programme we’ve got the opportunity to interact with senior executives at Canary Wharf in order to develop a unique open source solution for issue and asset tracking for all stages of the construction lifecycle.“

About 3D Repo Ltd
3D Repo is a multi-award winning open source software for Building Information Modelling in the cloud. Instead of architects, consultants and contractors sharing massive proprietary files in a costly and time consuming manner, they can simply point their web browser to an encrypted online repository in order to examine all project stages virtually, even on mobile devices. Over 40 different 3D file formats are decomposed and federated in our big data repository. 3D Repo has collaborated on a number of large industrial projects with companies such as ARUP, Balfour Beatty and British Telecom. In 2014, 3D Repo won the MongoDB World Innovation Award, the UCL Bright Ideas Award, the Breakthrough Information Technology Exchange Award and was shortlisted for the Royal Academy of Engineering ERA Foundation Entrepreneurs Awards as well as the EPSRC UK ICT Research Pioneers Awards. 3D Repo is partially funded by InnovateUK and EIT Digital.

For further information, please visit: http://3drepo.org

About UCL Business PLC
UCL Business PLC (UCLB) is a leading technology transfer company that supports and commercialises research and innovations arising from UCL, one of the UK’s top research-led universities. UCLB has a successful track record and a strong reputation for identifying and protecting promising new technologies and innovations from UCL academics. UCLB has a strong track record in commercialising medical technologies and provides technology transfer services to UCL’s associated hospitals; University College London Hospitals, Moorfields Eye Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the Royal Free London Hospital. It invests directly in development projects to maximise the potential of the research and manages the commercialisation process of technologies from laboratory to market.

For further information, please visit: www.uclb.com

About Cognicity
Cognicity is the city of the future, realised today. This pioneering project identifies and accelerates the development of smart city technologies, transforming Canary Wharf into a smarter, more aware city.

This is achieved through the Cognicity Challenge, which is divided into six streams of six companies each. Partners and sponsors provide guidance to the selected companies for 12 weeks and the winners will receive a £50,000 cash prize. The winners will also have the opportunity to pilot their solutions in the ongoing development of Canary Wharf.

The Cognicity Challenge is a Canary Wharf Group initiative and is run by innovation experts ENTIQ.

About ENTIQ
The Cognicity Challenge has been designed and delivered by ENTIQ a global innovation and economy enabler. ENTIQ is a leader in innovation delivery, new venture development and ecosystem creation, and the pioneer of an authentic, results-driven innovation model: the ENTIQ EFFECT.

Founded in 2013 by seasoned entrepreneurs Claire Cockerton and Eric Van der Kleij, ENTIQ has established a bold reputation for delivering innovation for corporations, property developers, government, academics and startup innovators. ENTIQ has successfully delivered genuine, tangible innovation for clients such as Dassault Systèmes, EY, 10 Downing Street and Canary Wharf Group. We have led the design and development of world-leading innovation ecosystems including Innovate Finance and Cognicity, and our founders led the creation of Level39, both pre-launch and in its first two years.

www.entiq.com