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Brinc Bahrain staged a Demo Day for its first cohort acceleration programme teams, showcasing three budding entrepreneurs and the products they hope will make a positive difference to communities at home and abroad.
The Demo Day was a private event, with only a select few members of the media invited to sit amongst established businessmen and CEOs, who were casting a judging eye over proceedings with the potential for investment.
Furthermore, the event offered a rare opportunity to explore the workspace at the Brinc Batelco IoT Hub, next to Bab Al Bahrain, where most recent accelerator start-ups were developed before they ‘graduated’ into full-scale businesses.
Bryony Cooper, head of the IoT (the Internet of Things) Programme, said: “Brinc is a hub for innovation and connectivity in Bahrain, and our mission is to support and contribute to the Bahrain ecosystem by fostering the growth of IoT and entrepreneurship in the region.
“We bring together a connected community to be inspired, to learn and grow, to ideate, collaborate and accelerate in a high-tech, creative space. Three young, bright minds have done exactly that and were ready to showcase their IoT ideas in front of some of the region’s most prominent business personalities. It was exciting for both them and us!
“The recent buzz around the Internet of Things (IoT) is undeniable; its applications have the potential to change the world around us.
“From wearables that predict heart attacks to smart cars that eliminate road traffic accidents, the impact of a connected community is limitless.
“The Brinc Batelco IoT Hub is at the forefront of this new industry, pioneering the way for start-ups and early-stage companies from the Middle East and across the globe to get involved and make a difference.”
The first of the trio of products to be showcased was Mohammed Khalil’s Smart Nakheel. This is a technology company creating hardware and software solutions to solve one of the major problems in the agricultural sector across the Middle East - the devastating presence of red palm weevil infestations in palm trees. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has estimated that more than $500m is lost annually due to these pests.
Nakheel enables early detection of the weevils by sending a signal to a central server from a sensor placed inside each palm tree. The server can pinpoint the exact tree affected so that it can then be treated.
Mohammed said: “Using these sensors in farms and agriculture can save governments millions of dollars lost from infected trees. Smart Nakheel intends to work closely with the Bahraini government to address this widespread problem here.”
Next up was Ahmed Gharib’s Nabdaa Bahrain. This is a company with the goal of creating a smart trolley and IoT solution called ‘ALGO’, designed to transform the in-store shopping experience with a focus on grocery retailers and hypermarkets.
The aim is to convert traditional shopping trolleys into ‘smart’ ones. There will no longer be a need for queuing for the checkout, as customers will scan every item placed in their trolley on a machine attached to it. Then, on their way out, they will scan the device and the payment will be automatic as card and payment details will have been pre-registered.
In turn, this could lead to huge savings to the outlets, eliminating the need for check-out lanes and the costs of running them and a person to man them.
Finally, Jesus Alvarado presented Time Control Technologies, a company dedicated to enabling more effective and efficient project work for contractors in their HR and accounting departments.
By incorporating an automated software platform with wearable hardware devices, Time C Tech enables businesses to monitor the time and productivity of their workers.
This automation allows them to evaluate quality attributes of their workers, enabling them to implement policies and practices that increase efficiency and productivity in all projects and reduce excess costs related to low staff productivity.
