Start up! The European Entrepreneurship Summit
Brussels, 21 February 2012
Maria Lijding, Director, Smart Signs Solution B.V.
EIT finalist: 'Smart Signs' point the way to market
A Twente spin-out is named by EIT ICT Labs as a finalist for the first annual EIT Entrepreneurship awards
Ever get lost in a building? Maria Lijding wants to sell you some computerised signs so that never happens again. Her company, Smart Signs Solutions, is developing personalised signage that can point the way for each visitor in a business, hospital or other big building. And it is one of three finalists from the EIT ICT Labs KIC, competing for the EIT Award.
When the Dutch computer scientist was developing her company, her main goal was efficiency. She wanted people to be able to find their way around large buildings, such as hospitals and offices, more easily and quickly. Today, she realises that it's comfort, not efficiency, that tempt customers. "No-one cares if it takes Mrs. Smith an extra 15 minutes to find her way to the doctor's consultation room," Lijding says. "What matters is if Mrs. Smith has had a stress-free experience and arrives feeling relaxed." In other words, it is the positive impact that Smart Signs products can have on people that is the attraction for companies.
Lijding founded Smart Signs Solutions, a spin-off of the University of Twente where she did her PhD and worked as a post-doc researcher, in 2008 with a €225,000 STW Valorization Grant. The company has four products that make it easier for people to find their way: way signs, door signs, meeting room signs, and message boards. They are all personalised and dynamic, reacting to changes in the environment such as an out-of-order lift. They take individuals' preferences into account, such as not using the stairs. Smart Signs made its first commercial sale in March 2010 and now has three clients, all large hospitals in the Netherlands.
"I always dreamt of seeing the result of my research come into the market," Lijding says. "By helping people find their way in complex environments like hospitals, I can remove one source of stress. I cannot cure people, but there are other ways in which you can help."
None of Smart Signs' clients has introduced the full concept of personalised way-finding, opting instead to use just one or two elements. The AMC Emma Children's Hospital in Amsterdam asked for personalised digital door signs for the children's rooms. The signs not only provide up-to-date information such as whether a child is available for a visit; they are also a way for the children to personalise their space by choosing a picture, text or smiley-face to go on their sign.
Another example: The VU Medisch Centrum Alzheimer's unit in Amsterdam uses personalised signage to guide professional visitors to, say, their meeting with a researcher. The digital sign, triggered by a diary entry, greets visitors at the entrance and directs them to the lift; and then as they come out of the lift another personalised sign shows the way to their researcher.
Lijding and her team, eight people in total, have a target date of the second half of 2012 to roll out the first full products as envisioned during their research. As well as hospitals, another target is large offices, especially 'flex' offices where desks and rooms are used by different people on different days. Smart Signs' solutions aim to personalise a shared space, with signs updating information regarding who is in a particular office or where a particular person is.
The company's main competitor is traditional signage, a cheaper option. Lijding is keen to emphasise though that her Smart Signs are not a simple replacement. They introduce more efficiency and they create s€atisfaction among patients and employees, she notes. "They are a new technology that quite radically changes the way things work," she says.
Read more about this finalist: The Finalists - Just the Facts
 |
|
 |
Organised in cooperation with the Science|Business Innovation Board |