intu to trial seven new technologies for its second start-up accelerator
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New technologies that will reduce carbon emissions and deliver shoppers’ bags straight to their cars will be piloted by intu across its 14 UK shopping centres from this month as part of start-up incubation programme intu Accelerate.
intu has signed up seven start-up companies, selected from 97 applicants, who will test their innovative ideas to shape the future of retail and leisure at its shopping centres and online at intu.co.uk.
The new businesses have been invited to work with the owner of intu Trafford Centre, intu Lakeside and intu Metrocentre to develop their products and services over a ten-week period.
intu Accelerate is now in its second year following the success of last year’s initiative which trialled retail robots, queue jumping apps, and online personal shoppers. It is once again being run in partnership with innovation specialists L Marks.
The companies taking part this year are:
CarTap – provides secure access to vehicles to deliver shoppers’ bags straight to their cars
Grid Edge – saves money and reduces carbon emissions by using artificial intelligence to control energy usage
Rhythm – creates multiplayer games for big screens that connect companies with crowds of people
WeFiFo – an online marketplace that connects amateur and professional chefs with paying guests
Greendeck – uses AI to help fashion brands and retailers automatically classify products into categories and attributes
Yosh.Ai – a virtual assistant that provides a personal shopping service
Roialty – hi-tech marketing platform that turns anonymous social media data into valuable customer insight
David Fischel, intu chief executive said: “Retail is one of the UK’s most exciting and dynamic industries and it’s transforming at pace. Together with these creative and innovative businesses, we’re developing answers to many of the questions facing our customers and retailers today.
“intu Accelerate is giving these seven new businesses the opportunity to show how we can do things differently through live trials that will also demonstrate the potential of their idea to shape the future of retail and create the perfect shopping experience.”
