On October
13, 2016, a beautiful early autumn day, a crowd of about 200 entertainment
industry professionals and press gathered outside, then inside, then again
outside the main theater on the Disney lot in Burbank to watch and listen to
promotional pitches from nine startups whose development has been aided by
support from the Disney Accelerator Program.
Etopia News conducted short video interviews after
the presentations with Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company; Jaunt’s CEO George Kliavkoff; Ayah Bdeir, Founder and CEO
of littleBits; Andrew Tergis, an electrical engineer at littleBits; and nom
Associate Producer Emily Rudisill, accompanied by PR Professional Lena Potter.
Links
to these interviews are interspersed within the following verbatim and comprehensive
press release about the event written and provided to Etopia News by the Disney team:
Disney Accelerator
Showcases Nine Startups at 2016 Demo Day
Participating companies
announce Disney deals and products
Burbank,
Calif., October 13, 2016 – Today, The Walt Disney Company concluded the 2016 Disney
Accelerator program, hosting its third annual Demo Day. At the event, the nine
participating companies presented their businesses to investors, Disney
executives and other industry leaders.
Demo Day follows the three-month immersive Disney Accelerator
program, which gave participants from around the world unprecedented guidance,
access and opportunities to work with all divisions of The Walt Disney Company.
In addition, leaders from participating companies received mentorship
from Disney
executives, including Chairman and CEO Robert A. Iger, as well as leaders
from The
Walt Disney Company, including Disney|ABC Television Group, Disney Consumer
Products and Interactive Media (DCPI), ESPN, Lucasfilm, Marvel, Walt
Disney Parks and Resorts and others.
For a video interview with Bob Iger, in which he comments on
Disney’s competitive advantage going forward, click here.
"Technology
and innovation are at the heart of every experience at The Walt Disney Company,
and Disney Accelerator puts us on the ground floor with some of the most
promising startups in the world through a program aimed at accelerating the
future of media and entertainment," said Kevin Mayer, Senior
Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of The Walt Disney Company.
This year’s program builds on the success of past Disney
Accelerator initiatives, which first launched in 2014. Past
participants continue to work with Disney, including Sphero, which created the
BB-8 droid toy, the number one Star Wars toy in 2015. Additionally, StatMuse , an
AI-powered sports storytelling and knowledge platform, is currently providing
ESPN with interactive statistical content, and Israel-based imperson launched The
Muppets’ Miss Piggy and Disney’s Zootopia chat
experiences on Facebook powered by the company’s artificial intelligence
technology.
The Disney Accelerator 2016 companies and their
announcements with The Walt Disney Company include:
· Ader – a
marketplace connecting advertisers with esports talent. Through the Disney
Accelerator, Ader is working on a pilot program with Maker Studios, a global
leader in short form content and one of the largest influencer networks
worldwide, to together offer unique esports opportunities to the world's
leading marketers. Maker Studios plans to also bring top gaming creators
to live streaming through Ader’s marketplace. Additionally, Ader and ESPN
are planning to bring some of the company’s top esports talent to ESPN.com in a 2017 pilot
program to provide weekly video analyzing key updates to the top esports games.
· Atom Tickets – a
new social mobile ticketing app for movies; Atom makes it easy to find your
favorite movie, invite your friends, and preorder your favorite snacks. Atom
helps you plan your night out to the movies and is available
nationwide. Atom Tickets announced today that it will be working with The
Walt Disney Studios and DCPI to offer consumers the opportunity to purchase
merchandise with movie tickets for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,
with future titles under consideration.
· Hanson Robotics – a leader in creating human-like robots with a full range of
facial expressions. Through the Disney Accelerator,
Hanson Robotics is conducting research and development with DCPI and Walt
Disney Imagineering to explore bringing Disney characters to life as consumer
products that could be sold at retail.
· Jaunt – Pioneering
end-to-end solutions for creating and publishing immersive cinematic virtual reality,
Jaunt is a leading developer of the hardware, software, tools and applications
that put the power of virtual reality in the hands of some of today’s best
content creators. Today, Jaunt announced that it has licensed Disney Research’s
cutting-edge VR video technology and will be collaborating with Disney Research
to integrate it into Jaunt’s Cloud Services. Jaunt is also working with ESPN to
film several of this season’s College GameDay stops in VR, offering viewers
behind the scenes access to the iconic show, tailgates, interviews and sideline
action.
For a video interview with Jaunt’s CEO
George Kliavkoff, click here.
· littleBits – littleBits is
a platform of easy-to-use technology kits that empowers kids to invent anything, from a
remote controlled car to a dancing robot to a smart home device. At Demo
Day, littleBits shared that it is working with DCPI on a potential Star
Wars collaboration. Additionally, littleBits announced that the company is
working with DCPI to develop a short form online video series that features
kids as everyday inventors, premiering this fall with a story featuring Disney
characters.
For a video interview with Ayah Bdeir, Founder and CEO of
littleBits, click here.
For a video interview with Andrew Tergis, an electrical
engineer at littleBits, in which he demonstrates how littleBits work, click
here.
· Nom – Nom is an
online community where people who are passionate about food connect through live
video and chat. Today, Nom announced it is working with ABC to bring video
clips, behind-the-scenes content, and sneak peeks of upcoming episodes of The
Chew to its audience of food lovers. Nom will also be working with
DCPI’s Content and Media sites to feature amazing food videos from Disney
Family and Babble. Additionally, Nom and VICE Media will bring the
world of Munchies, Vice’s food platform, to Nom.
For an interview with nom Associate Producer Emily Rudisill,
accompanied by PR Professional Lena Potter, in which she discusses the company’s
mission, click here.
· OTOY – OTOY is a holographic
content platform bringing the power of light field rendering and streaming to
virtual reality and augmented reality experiences. Through OTOY’s new ORBX
media player, Disney.com, Marvel.com, ABC.com, ABCNews.com and ESPN.com are now available to
browse in Oculus Social and Samsung’s Web Browser for Gear VR. Users can now
explore these web sites in a VR environment with their friends.
· Playbuzz –
Playbuzz is a content-creation and audience-engagement platform that empowers
thousands of publishers, marketers and brands to easily create engaging content
using mobile-friendly formats that are optimized for social sharing. Through
the Disney Accelerator, ABC.com, ESPN.com and DCPI’s Content
and Media sites, including Oh My Disney, Disney Style, and Babble are now
piloting Playbuzz content formats.
· Pley – a leading
toy subscription company that is pioneering the next generation in e-commerce
for toys. Pley is exploring an exciting relationship with Disney Store
which will aim to bring to market a Disney Princess subscription package.
For
more information about the Disney Accelerator program, please visit DisneyAccelerator.com.
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