New 3D Visualisation start-up shortlisted for award

A newly minted 3D visualisation company is in the running for a prestigious award after reaching the finals of a Thinking Digital competition.

Spearhead Interactive has been shortlisted in the Thinking Digital Start Up Competition to be held in the Sage, Gateshead later this month.

The winner will receive membership of the ‘Rackspace Startup programme’, which includes more than £15,000 of cloud hosting.

The firm was founded with the help of a DigitalCity Fellowship at Teesside University and consists of Dan Riley and Paul Li.

The company specialises in creating 3D interactive solutions for the corporate, education and public sectors.

If Spearhead is successful , Dan and Paul, both graduates of Teesside University, will will also be placed among the final 20 interviewees for the ignite100-2013 accelerator programme.

The competition will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday (21 and 22 May), with the grand final taking place in front of the full ‘Thinking Digital’ audience in Hall 2 of the Sage Gateshead.

Dan, the founder of Spearhead Interactive, said: “We’re really excited and humbled to have made it through to the finals of this competition.

“We’re just over three months old as a company and so to make it to the final 10 entrants from across the country is a great honour.

“What this means to us is not necessarily the prizes, but also the validation that what we’re doing is on the right path and people see a commercial value in our work.

“Also, the exposure will be fantastic. Being able to pitch in front of some of the leading figures in digital media from across the UK and beyond will be a fantastic experience.”

Spearhead Interactive create 3D interactive solutions for the corporate, education and public sectors.

The company has used their DigitalCity Fellowship to build a range of demonstrators showcasing the breadth of their work and potential applications for it.

These include a 3D model of Teesside University’s Phoenix Building which the user can walk through in real time and also toggle their view to strip away elements and see individual parts of the structure such as the construct and even the heating system.

Dan said: “While 3D has been around for many years in a range of high-end industries, what we can offer is online models and experiences which can be shared online across different user groups.

“We’re continually pushing at the forefront of what is possible and are having to educate the market about what we can do.

“We like to say that we make the intangible tangible.”

DigitalCity Fellowships offer up to £4,000 funding to cover living costs while a business idea is developed, as well as providing mentoring and advice from industry experts at Teesside University.

David Jeffries, the Head of DigitalCity Innovation and Graduate Enterprise at Teesside University, said: “Dan and Paul are doing some truly ground-breaking work at Spearhead Interactive and we’re delighted that this has been recognised.

“The potential for Spearhead’s technology is great and has huge future commercial opportunity and I am sure that the Thinking Digital audience will be extremely impressed with what they have to show and say.”

Applications are being invited for the next round of Fellowships. The deadline for submissions is 12 noon on Monday 20 May.

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