Imagine if you could find a 3D character in Belfast that looks human, is realistically believable and can pretty much do anything it wants in a virtual world? A Belfast start-up will unveil just such a development as its latest venture during this week’s Northern Ireland Tech Mission to the United States.
Led by Greg Maguire, Belfast-based Humain is hoping to impress potential investors and prospective clients with its dazzling abilities to create realistic 3D characters for virtual reality, mixed reality, film, television and games.
Both Maguire and the team at Humain have a track record of making the unbelievable scarily believable.
He previously co-founded another Northern start up, Inlifesize, in 2011 with game designer Phil Campbell. The team at Inlifesize worked with some of the world’s leading studios and were responsible for creating ionic characters from Avatar to Spiderman, Harry Potter and Happy Feet.
Recreate that magic
Now Maguire wants to recreate that magic with Humain and believes his participation in the NI Tech Mission to San Diego and San Francisco, which runs from January 18th-25th, will help him to not only define what his product is to a wider audience, but also potentially help him land some new business.
Humain is one of 14 start-ups chosen to take part in the annual tech mission, now in its fourth year, which aims to showcase some of the North’s most promising hi-tech start-ups. It offers them the chance to pitch to audiences which could literally be life changing for their businesses.
There is a diverse collection of start-ups taking part in this year’s tech mission which is organised by Invest NI and Connect at Catalyst Inc (previously the Northern Ireland Science Park).
It includes companies such as Flyte,which has developed drone flight planning software, Neurovalens which makes non-invasive brainstem stimulation devices that modify metabolism, appetite and fat storage and Jumpack, which has developed a portable extreme sports jump ramp.
Steve Orr, director of Connect, one of the mission leaders, believes it offers a great platform for ambitious hi-tech start ups to talk about “their story”.
But one thing they should try not talking about, according to Orr, during this trip is “politics” – either at home or anywhere else for that matter.
“It is really important for the companies on this mission to forget about everything else that is going on because for the men and women who are chosen to participate in the tech mission it is about their making their dreams, their struggle worthwhile.
“Nothing else can occupy their thinking because when it comes down to it they are making a pitch for their future.
‘Compete with the best’
“We have state of the art products and – okay– nobody may have invented a new light sabre, but we know that we can compete with the very best technology that the likes of San Francisco or San Diego has to offer,” Orr said.
In the past the NI Tech Mission has also been used as an opportunity to quietly promote what Northern Ireland has to offer potential US investors, with a strong emphasis on how the North is one of the most “digitally connected locations” in Europe.
Last year the then Northern Ireland minister for enterprise Jonathan Bell and Employment Minister Stephen Farry led the 2016 NI Tech Mission to the US – this year there are no government ministers participating.
According to Invest NI none were scheduled to take part this year but given the local escalating political crisis it could be interpreted differently by some in the US.
This year’s tech mission to the US should have been a perfect backdrop for Invest NI to continue to promote the North’s new 12.5 corporation tax rate that is scheduled to be introduced next year.
But the devolution of corporation tax to the North has always been linked to the Northern Ireland Executive’s ability to demonstrate that its finances are on a “sustainable footing”.
With the current political crisis and no government, not to mention any budget in place many are now questioning how realistic it is for Northern Ireland to plan for the devolution of corporation tax by 2018, never mind advertise it to potential investors.
