WetPC obtains Knowledge Fund grant | |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
PRESS RELEASE
Thursday 3rd October 2002
WetPC obtains Knowledge Fund grant
WetPC Pty Ltd (WetPC) announced today that it had been successful in obtaining
a grant from the ACT Government.
ACT Business Minister Ted Quinlan announced that 21 ACT organisations
had won a total of $1.2 million from the first round of the ACT Knowledge
Fund.
WetPC Managing Director, Peter Moran, said that the firm was delighted
to receive the grant and that it would greatly assist its commercialisation
activities. WetPC's highly innovative user interface technology, originally
developed for use in the WetPC® underwater computer, will be developed
into an advanced form so that it can be directly marketed to overseas
manufacturers in Japan, Europe and the USA.
Bruce Macdonald, WetPC's Technical Director, said that the grant would
be mainly used to locally develop a production quality one-handed controller
(called a Kord® Pad) and advanced prototype interfaces.
Background
WetPC Pty Ltd (WetPC) is an early stage IT company which develops and
markets Kord® Interface Technology (Kord® IT) – a totally
new way of controlling mobile computing devices. Kord® IT was originally
invented at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) to enable
divers to control the WetPC® underwater computer. It comprises two
main elements: a hand controller called a Kord® Pad, which is used
to control the computer and a Chordic Graphical User Interface (CGUI).
WetPC has an exclusive worldwide licence from AIMS
to commercialise the technology – which provides an intuitive, ambidextrous,
one (or 2) handed interface for use in a range of computing and mobile
electronic devices such as mobile phones, hand-held and wearable computers,
computer games, TV controllers, vehicles controls and handicapped appliances.
WetPC established itself in Canberra about 4 years ago. It has negotiated
a sub-licence with another Australian company, Nautronix Ltd for all underwater
applications, and is currently finalising licensing arrangements with
a US company which will see the technology being used in a range of hand-held
devices.
Contact
Dr P. Moran
Managing Director
WetPC Pty Ltd
Contact details
