DC based incubator 1776 is in the midst of their International Challenge Cup where startup companies compete through three rounds to win over a million dollars in funding. The first round of the Cup spans 45 cities across the globe. On October 29^th, at 1776’s main campus in DC, 27 competing companies had two minutes each to present followed by one minute of questions, to pitch their product or service to a room full of judges.

From each local event, three winners are chosen to go on to the regional round. From each of those rounds, 5 winners will be picked to return to DC in June 2016 to compete in the Global Finals.

The competition was also an opportunity for the startups to pitch their ideas to the many investors in the audience. As a Corporate Partner and Angel Investor with 1776, NAB Labs was in attendance looking out for possible new technologies that could help shape the future of broadcasting. Some of the companies that pitched ideas relevant to NAB Labs are listed here:

Cybrary

Ryan Corey CEO and Co-founder of Cybrary

Cybersecurity is a big challenge, and the recent high profile attacks on broadcast stations like TV5 Monde and the Public Radio station RDS hack highlight the intensity of the threat to our industry. One of the big issues in cybersecurity is that the demand for talented professionals far outweighs the supply.

“There are over three hundred thousand unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the US,” said Ryan Corey, CEO and co-founder of Cybrary, “The cause of this problem is a lack of educational options. It has become an industry norm to pay $3000 to $5000 for a one-week class that will teach you a skill set that is potentially 100% obsolete within two years.”

Cybrary aims to provide online IT and cybersecurity training, from entry level to advanced and even leadership courses.

Verb8tm

David Tohn CEO for Verb8tm

Verb8tm is a technology based captioning service that “converts audio to text in real-time…and provides transcripts with 99.6% accuracy within 4 hours of file delivery.”

David Tohn, CEO of Verb8tm, said that by making audio searchable and discoverable, “we bring words into the information age.” Verb8tm’s service currently powers the captioning for NPR’s website, educational institutions, as well as provides live captioning for deaf and hard of hearing students.

TransitScreen

TransitScreen, one of the three winners of the DC Challenge Cup, provides real-time information on all transportation options available in your city. The screens are installed in office lobbies, condominiums and near train stations, bike shares, subways, and car shares.

The information is updated in real time so that city dwellers can quickly choose the fastest and most efficient route to their destination.

TransitScreen’s SmartWalk system

TransitScreen also provides its information through a system called SmartWalk. SmartWalk projects the latest transit information onto sidewalks or buildings, and includes arrows for simple directions. According to TransitScreen, SmartWalk “makes way-finding instantaneous – all you need to do is follow the arrows to the nearest bike share rack or metro stop.”

Broadcasters could potentially deliver data to TransitScreen and similar services.

Real Life Analytics 

Real Life Analytics has developed a system to bring targeted advertising to digital signage. Through a plug-in dongle and camera, their system is able to determine the gender and age of the person looking at the sign, and then provide advertising content relevant to that demographic.

Privacy concerns are a natural reaction to facial recognition software, though RLA insists the data collected is “100% anonymous.”

“Everything that we do happens in the device,” said Co-Founder and CTO Jorge Torres, “We don’t send any pictures of video to the server. Within 20 milliseconds, our device can classify and make a decision, so we can protect customer privacy.”

You can get an idea of how it works by checking out this beauty testing robot. It accurately picked NAB Labs’ Rich Johnson’s age and gender, and after trying several different facial expressions, haircuts and masks, he managed to obtain a “beauty score” that he felt was reasonable (a solid 8, in case you’re wondering).

Shattered self-esteem aside, RLA’s system could assist broadcasters with the targeted advertising opportunities.

The winners of Thursday’s event were Hotberry, a web platform designed to provide alternate funding to first time homebuyers; Medzpeed Solutions, a cloud based SaaS solution that tracks medical tests in real-time allowing the clinic to provide an accurate bill at the time of service; and TransitScreen, the real-time transit tracking service we highlighted above.