The use of 3D in digital signage means advertisers have a more eye-catching way to showcase their products. Italian software firm Edisonweb used the Enterprise Europe Network to tap into this new technology through German company 3D International. 

A 10-person company based in Mirabella Imbaccari, Edisonweb was looking to expand its flagship project, Web Signage, a system for retailers, public authorities and the entertainment industry to control the schedule and content of displayed signage, and to broadcast Bluetooth messages.

Riccardo D’Angelo, CEO of Edisonweb, approached Consorzio Catania Ricerche, the local branch of the Enterprise Europe Network in Catania, to help him find new R&D partners. The Network has Europe’s largest database of cutting-edge technologies, containing more than 13,000 profiles, bringing together research and commercial applications.

“It was a valuable tool,” says D’Angelo. “They helped us in our drive to internationalise and integrate the best European ICT experiments.”

Network expert Francesco Cappello first visited the mathematics department at Catania University to understand exactly what Edisonweb was looking for. He then inserted a profile in the Network’s database.

3D International Europe, based in the central German city of Jena, has been an active Network client for years. CEO Markus Klippstein is signed up to regular alerts from STIFT and spotted Edisonweb’s cooperation offer. He expressed interest quickly and the Network partners put the companies in touch.

Cappello’s German counterpart, Beatrix Scheel of the Network’s Thüringen branch, the Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research (STIFT) assisted 3D International Europe. She saw great potential for the technology, saying “in the near future, glasses-free 3D will have applications in the entertainment, medical, industrial and communication sectors”.

Cappello says: “After publishing the company’s needs in our database, we got a handful of expressions of interest, and one of them was from 3D International Europe. This was an easy set-up, everything went very fast.”

“The Network was very helpful,” says Vittorio Polizzi, Edisonweb’s Chief Technology Officer. “They gave us details of potential partners and customers in Europe, but they also alerted us to 3D International which has this great technology that displays 3D content on screens without the use of goggles.”

The two companies met at Viscom trade fair in Frankfurt in 2010, where they promptly signed an agreement to work together. “Our 3D video playback supports 80 different 3D displays from some 20 makers,” says Klippstein. “This, combined with Edisonweb’s expertise, gives a powerful digital signage tool for 2D and 3D networks.”

Edisonweb can now successfully manage content on any kind of 3D display and clients are beginning to show a keen interest.