If you are a developer or
existing team/startup focused on building a business that takes advantage
of the Kinect and Natural User Interface technologies, then the Kinect Accelerator
is where you need to be. Through this program, Microsoft is supporting entrepreneurs,
engineers and innovators like you to bring to life a wide range of business
ideas that leverage the limitless possibilities Kinect enables. Following
a competitive screening process, ten finalists will be chosen for this unique
three month incubation program running from April 2 - June 28, 2012 in Seattle,
WA (details). The Kinect Accelerator is “powered by TechStars” using the same mentor-driven
methodology pioneered and proven in New York, Boulder, Seattle and Boston.
Mentors for the Kinect Accelerator include a broad base of entrepreneurs
and venture capitalists in the industry as well as executives from Microsoft
Studios, Xbox, Kinect for Windows, Microsoft Research and other Microsoft
organizations.
What the program offers:
Every company participating in the Kinect Accelerator will receive an investment
of $20,000, an Xbox development kit, the Windows Kinect SDK, office space,
all the resources of BizSpark, technical training and support, and mentorship
from entrepreneurs, investors and Microsoft executives intensely focused
on making their business a success. At the end of the program, each company
will have an opportunity to present at an Investor Demo Day to angel investors,
venture capitalists, Microsoft executives, media and industry influentials.
What qualifies for the Kinect Accelerator?
- Any Kinect-enabled application on Windows or Xbox SDK that can be
a commercial business
- Manufacturing to retail, education to healthcare, art installations
to gaming, social to interactive play…hmmm, the possibilities
- Can be cloud-hosted, on any platform, but needs to be an application
- Could be one view of an application that may also have a web UI,
mobile UI, etc
- Kinect-controlled applications, like what you have on your phone,
but on a big screen or a computer screen
- Content you might expect to consume in your living room or in an
operating room
- Go ahead, surprise us!
Your company does not necessarily need experience
developing with Kinect, but the business concept does need to leverage Kinect
capabilities as part of the final offering. Your team must also be willing
to develop the technical skills required to bring your solution to a functioning
prototype.
Meet with us:
We are visiting San Francisco, New York, Boston and Seattle in early February.
Register for one of our
tour dates to learn more about the program, meet Managing Director Dave
Malcolm and possibly win Kinect for Windows hardware. Hope to see you there!
How to apply:
Applications for the Kinect Accelerator are now closed. Thank you to everyone who applied. We are reviewing applications and will notify finalists on March 5th.
For more information, please refer to the
location and schedule detail.
