Fredericton’s Eigen Innovations among six finalists for Cisco Innovation Challenge

Eigen Innovations, a machine learning platform developer aimed at the high-speed manufacturing sector from Fredericton, New Brunswick, is one of six finalists at the second annual Cisco Innovation Challenge.

Eigen is the only Canadian team left in the “Super Six” group of finalists, representing companies from Finland, Germany and the United States.

The Innovation Challenge focuses on Cisco’s “Internet of Everything” category, with particular attention paid to companies working in the Manufacturing, Smart Cities and Transportation, and Energy sectors.

Eigein is a spin-off company from applied research conducted by University of New Brunswick professor Rickey Dubay.
Founded in 2012, Eigen started with an investment from the New Brunswick Innovation Fund.

“Our Intellexon solution tells operators and engineers the where, when and how processes or product quality is starting to degrade within highly complex manufacturing systems,” says Eigen Innovations Chief Technology Officer Scott Everett. “Our algorithms use massive amounts of data to learn how to differentiate between good and bad quality products; when conditions are starting to change, it can tell the reasons why.”

The Eigen team will be participating in a pitch session on December 7 with their five competitors at the Internet of Things World Forum in Dubai.

The pitch session will showcase of the six finalists with a five-minute pitch followed by a Q&A session.

The Cisco Grand Innovation Challenge began in June with over 3,000 entries from 100 countries, whittled down to a short list of 15 by Cisco in October.

“To me, as the organizer of this Grand Challenge, these innovators are incredibly inspiring in how they combine sheer creativity with the technical skills of our digital era,” said Cisco Director of Innovation Strategy and Programs Alex Goryachev.

First prize is $150,000 US, second prize $75,000, and third prize $25,000, with all three top prize winners receiving mentoring from Cisco and its partners, access to Cisco Internet of Everything Innovation Centres, and the opportunity to pitch to the Cisco Investments team.