CHICAGO – Toymail, a Gross Points start-up, won $25,000 and third place in the Innovation Grand Challenge at this year’s Cisco Internet of Things Global Conference.
Toymail allows parents to send and receive messages wirelessly through toys from a mobile app. Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior called Toymail “proof that IoT (Internet of Things) is already changing the way we live, work, play, and learn.”
Thousands of people around the globe are using Toymail to stay connected with their children every day, which was developed by two graduates of the University of Michigan.
Earlier this month, Cisco also announced that in concert with a global network of companies in the IoT space, local organizations and non-profits dedicated to women in STEM, it is launching a worldwide Internet of Things World Forum (IoTWF) Young Women?s Innovation Grand Challenge.
Cisco also launched two separate global IoT Grand Challenges in the areas of Security and Innovation. IoT is not a one-company solution alone, it is an industry banding together. Through the Grand Challenges, Cisco invited and encouraged startups, entrepreneurs and universities to submit their best solution ideas for the Internet of Things.
In addition to cash prizes of more than $550,000 for the Innovation and Security Grand Challenges, Cisco intends to provide winners with mentoring, training and access to business expertise from Cisco and other supporting organizations. They will be able to develop, test and pilot new technologies, plus have the opportunity for potential investment and partnering opportunities in the future. Entrants and winners retain the IP for any and all ideas submitted.
Cisco hosted a crowdsourced community for its IoT Innovation Grand Challenge and received more than 800 entries from 71 countries for a chance to win $250,000 in prizes. Six finalists were invited to participate in a live judging event at the IoT World Forum this week in Chicago and the following three teams were selected as winners, with first place going to Relayr, second place going to Waygum.io; and third place going to Toymail:
1st place ? $150,000
Relayr (Berlin, Germany) is providing simple and inexpensive tools that will accelerate developers? ability to take advantage of IoT and start programming for the physical world around us.
2nd place ? $75,000
Waygum.io (Dublin, California) is connecting mobile devices to machinery and enabling developers to create mobile-enabled industrial applications.
3rd place ? $25,000
Toymail (Gross Points, Michigan) is changing how the world plays by bringing IoT to toys and fostering communication between children and their families.
