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    ESA > Our Activities > Technology > Business Incubation

    Company: iOpener Media

    Satellite navigation brings real world car racing into game consoles

    iOpener Media provides the link to importing real-time data into the virtual games world, through its patented technology and by use of satellite navigation technology.

    The company was started by Andy Lürling, inventor of the idea.

    The initial product is aimed at the rapidly expanding games market and imports car racing events happening live into the virtual games world, so that players can race in real time against the world's leading racing drivers.

    "Imagine you are a race game fan; it is 13:55 hours on Sunday afternoon and the Formula-1 grand-prix in Monaco is about to start. You turn on your PlayStation, Xbox or PC and log on to the F1 computer game, and you can play in real-time directly against the professional F1 drivers! Wouldn’t that be the ultimate kick?!"

    Andy Lürling


    The company is constantly exploring creative ways to use new technologies to improve user experience in the game world. iOpener Media is preparing for the future by bringing together an international team of professionals with experience in TV, internet, telecommunications, marketing and gaming to integrate the real with the virtual world..

    Project: Real-time Games

    iOpener Media’s first product is called Real-time Games and is based upon the company's patented technology for integrating moving objects, in two or three dimensions, from the real world to virtual environments.

    The product integrates global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) location data, of professional car races, including car and track data, by using GPS and eventually the Galileo system. This is then fed through to gamers playing on game consoles and online game stations.


    iOpener entrepreneurs
    iOpener entrepreneurs

    This innovative technological breakthrough enables gamers to compete with racing drivers, as well as with other on-line gamers, while an actual racing event is taking place.

    iOpener Media will bring the Real-time Games technology, defined as the ‘real-time live play’ feature, to the market through license agreements with the games industry. Different license schemes are being evaluated, e.g. for a whole race season or for shorter periods which could be used for advertising campaigns.

    In view of the revenue potential from the new micro-payment possibilities and in-game advertising, iOpener Media is also exploring the possibility of co-developing its own games based upon the Real-time Games technology. The initial focus of the company is on games involving motor sports but the company also sees potential for the technology in different genres of online, PC, video and mobile games.

    From space to industry

    iOpener's Media technology utilises GNSS for the location and velocity determination of the 'real' objects, e.g. the race cars. Initially GPS is being used in combination with EGNOS but Galileo, with its higher accuracy, will be used once it becomes fully operational.

    ESA Business Incubation

    iOpener Media was chosen as the 2006 Dutch regional winner of the European Satellite Navigation Competition, which resulted in the initial contact with the ESA Business Incubation initiative.

    The ESA Business Incubator has allowed the company to develop the concept and bring it closer to a business reality. By receiving pre-seed funding, the company has been able to develop the proof of concept needed to convince venture capitalists to invest. As a result, the company managed to acquire €4.1 million venture capital in January 2008 for start-up operations.

    iOpener Media has also received valuable engineering support from ESA experts and help in find potential business partners through the ESA Business Incubator network.

    The incubation period is now completed and iOpener Media has established headquarter in Aachen, Germany, and a research and development office at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

    Incubation period and location

    iOpener Media was hosted at ESA Business Incubation centre at ESTEC from March to December 2007.

    Entrepreneur

    Andy Lürling, inventor

    Contact

    Andy Lürling
    Tel: +49 (0)172 510 1066
    andy @ iopenermedia.com

    Websites:
    www.iopenermedia.com
    www.real-timegames.com

    Headquarter
    iOpener Media GmbH
    Roermonderstraße 199
    52072 Aachen
    Germany
    +Tel: +49 (0)241 608 59 90
    +Fax: +49 (0)241 367 40 27
    email: info@iopenermedia.com

    R&D (Research & development) Office
    iOpener Media BV
    Rotterdamseweg 145
    2628 AL Delft
    The Netherlands

    Last update: 24 October 2008

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