We are delighted to announce our second round of Creative Informatics Resident Entrepreneurs. Nine exciting projects from across the Creative Industries will receive funding of up to £12,000 to support the development of innovative new products and services!

Boom Saloon
Boom Saloon is a print magazine with a bold mission: to democratise creativity for good. They showcase work from a broad range of environments, providing a platform to champion any work of talent, no matter where it comes from.

Having disproved the theory that “print is dead,” the magazine industry continues to grow from strength to strength, but some aspects have failed to keep up. Distributors remain geared up for large-scale corporate partnerships, with little on offer for smaller businesses.

To combat this, Boom Saloon want explore the concept of “social distribution”, which would allow them to develop their own direct sales by offering copies of their magazines in bulk, at discount, to their existing readers. This would enable them to create a database of information about their community and obtain real time insight into potential markets, readerships and audiences. Find out more at www.boomsaloon.com/

Edinburgh Tool Library
Edinburgh Tool Library was established in 2015 as the UK’s first tool sharing library. They promote sharing as an alternative to ownership, reducing the environmental impact on the planet while making ‘fixing’ and ‘creating’ something that everyone can afford.

In an ever more circular economy, sharing libraries are a way of maximising the usefulness of objects, without the need to manufacture more. Their Resident Entrepreneur project aims to embed data collection in the culture of sharing libraries, so that the impact, social and environmental benefits of tool libraries can be measured and demonstrated more effectively. Find out more at https://edinburghtoollibrary.org.uk/.

Roomerical
Roomerical is a cloud-based acoustic simulation platform that enables acousticians and architects to predict the acoustics of a space under design, in order to fix defects and issues before building projects begin, saving valuable time and money.

The aim of Roomerical’s Resident Entrepreneur project is to adapt the acoustic simulation technology they have developed, for use in the Film and TV industry. This new product will enable sound engineers to create a high-quality aural renderings of spaces that will be used during filming, so they can add accurate artificial reverberation effects during the audio post production phase. This would significantly enhance sound in films and TV shows that rely heavily on CGI backgrounds (e.g. Game of Thrones). Find out more at https://www.roomerical.com/

Ploterre
Ploterre uses environmental data to create artwork from processes and discoveries within the natural world, combining principles from the fields of mathematics and design.

Through her Resident Entrepreneur project, Ploterre founder Rebecca J Kaye will research and develop new ways of working, to transform her practice by automating many of the existing repetitive processes she relies on at the moment. This research will enable Rebecca to reduce her costs, broaden her client range, create and more importantly experiment with new work, by integrating data into her creative process. Find out more at https://www.ploterre.com/

Stageport
For the last three years, Stageport have been delivering digital innovation projects for the creative industries, collaborating with leading arts organisations and connecting with specialists in immersive media, digital design, architectural design and web development.

During their Resident Entrepreneur project, Stageport will design a mobile app and content management system that will allow performing arts producers to share digital content directly with their audiences.

This app will offer an alternative to the traditional paper program, linking audiences to enhanced, previously unseen content about production and performances before they happen, and providing access to digital archives about shows long after the curtain has come down. Find out more at http://www.stageport.co.uk/

Russell Henderson
Russel Henderson’s Resident Entrepreneur project will focus on developing an app that will allow people to make high quality mini-movies about the important moments in their lives, using templates developed by professional film-makers. This product will enable users to upload their video to the app for automatic editing, adding effects and titles to provide an instant movie for them to treasure and share.

While it easier than ever for anyone with a smartphone to capture video and share it, producing a video that has fidelity – which tells a story with structure and pace – still requires additional skills. Russell hopes to develop an easy to use app that will make high fidelity film-making accessible to all.

Stems

Stems is a captivating new toy that promotes problem solving, fine motor skills, and 3D understanding. It emerged from an idea for a new zip fastener and is the creation of inventor/designer and Splatform founder, Euan Lind. Its potential as a toy became clear when children found they could zip together its weird and wobbly pieces to make just about anything!

The Stems team currently produce support materials for their product, providing step by step graphic guides showing how Stems models are constructed. Through their Resident Entrepreneur project they would like to create a more efficient, interactive guide which can run live on a user’s personal device, making for a fun and intuitive experience. Find out more at www.stems.shop/

Thrifty
Thrifty is a market place for charity shopping, where shops can digitise their stores, and customers can find things faster and easier. Thrifty’s mission is to increase sales, help charity shops recruit more volunteering staff and reduce landfill waste.

The aim of Thrifty’s Resident Entrepreneur project is to create a platform that assists charity shops to tackle challenges they face around waste, hiring volunteers and increasing their sales. This project has become even more urgent given current restrictions on retail outlets as a result of Covid-19, and the focus has pivoted accordingly, as founder Effie Ioannau explores the best way to provide Thrifty’s services remotely. Find our more at https://thriftyapp.co.uk/.

PicoJar

PicoJar is a note-taking system that has been designed to be compatible with human cognition. It provides a unique workflow to help people capture, organise and retain information they encounter day-to-day, allowing individuals to regain control of their knowledge.

As a Resident Entrepreneur, PicoJar creator Siwei Kang will develop her screenshot-first note-taking app, using artificial intelligence to extract text and data from images, and allowing users to stash anything that inspires them in an ‘idea inbox’ that can be edited on a daily basis. Find out more at https://picojar.com/

Applications for our next round of Resident Entrepreneurs will open in October 2020. If you would like to know more about any of our current Resident Entrepreneur projects, or are interested in applying to be a Resident Entrepreneur in the future, contact the Creative Informatics team at creativeinformatics@ed.ac.uk.