Dr Fiona Edwards Murphy. Image: Maxwells Dublin
The first Edge AI incubator came to a close at Talent Garden Dublin with entrepreneurs demonstrating their computer vision technologies.
Intel’s first ever Edge AI incubator programme, first announced in October 2018, offered a unique opportunity for a diverse group of companies to integrate computer vision technology into their hardware solutions, building on the expertise in machine vision developed by the Intel Movidius team.
After what was deemed a fantastic response to the initial call for participants, the selected companies set to work within the incubator at Talent Garden Dublin in January 2019.
‘We are looking at how we can take the learnings of this first incubator programme and use it to inform further opportunities for technology innovation’
– NOEL MURPHY
The technologies these Edge AI companies have been developing for the past six months are based on Myriad 2 and Myriad X hardware and software from Intel, with the support of the local Intel team in Leixlip.
“The incubator programme has been about taking technology being developed by Intel Movidius and using it to catalyse innovation, which we hope will support Ireland in becoming a powerhouse for Edge AI,” said Noel Murphy, vice-president of Intel’s AIPG group and director of engineering for Intel Movidius.
“We are excited to support companies in developing leading-edge technology and testing it in real-world deployments. We are looking at how we can take the learnings of this first incubator programme and use it to inform further opportunities for technology innovation,” he added.
‘I was very anxious initially as I had no experience in deep learning’
– DR FIONA EDWARDS MURPHY
The programme – facilitated by Intel at the Talent Garden campus based at Dublin City University’s innovation campus, DCU Alpha – comprised structured technical guidance and support in an effort to identify and enable innovators who will develop new AI competencies and deep-learning solutions.
At a final Open Day event this week, participating companies presented their latest developments. The event also gave visitors the opportunity to see the technology first-hand and discuss it directly with the founders.
“I was very anxious initially as I had no experience in deep learning,” said Dr Fiona Edwards Murphy, founder of ApisProtect, one of the participating Edge AI incubator companies. “The incubator programme gave us a wealth of knowledge and education on deep learning and much more. This information will help us to progress our application in the future.”
According to Michael Brogan from RetroTek, the Edge AI incubator offered “a fantastic introduction into AI technology, which will be an essential grounding for future projects”.
“I highly recommend this experience to other start-ups,” said Brogan.
