Director
Bellevue - WA United States
The big idea: In 25 words or less, please tell us how this Fast 50 Nominee is helping to address the planet's problems.
VoiceBox solves the problem of the interface in cars and on mobile devices by enabling users to navigate and access information through casual, free-form language.
Please describe how this nominee is using business as a force of positive change. What technology, idea, or strategy is the nominee using -- and what problem, such as global warming, poverty, or pollution, does it address? (suggested length: 100 words)
The VoiceBox conversational voice search platform is a novel innovation in that it ‘re-thinks’ an existing field of research in a way that transcends the limitations of current technologies. The market has long been intrigued by the potential for voice; however, no one has yet been able to deliver a genuinely usable solution.
Specifically, VoiceBox is the first technology that models the cognitive processes of the brain. To date, all other voice technologies approximate more the human ear: They take utterances, break them down into units of sound, and match to a known set of sounds.
VoiceBox’s approach is noteworthy in that it applies across user situations and devices. It thus provides a single, universal interface for anytime, anywhere access to content and information independent of device – PCs, set-top boxes, in-car navigation, PNDs, cell phones, etc.
The applications of the technology are significant, far-reaching and truly capable of changing our daily lives:
. The ability to safely access information while truly mobile…
“Get me directions to the airport.”
“Find me the nearest pizza place.”
“What’s the traffic like on 405North?”
“What’s the stock price for Cisco?”
. Remarkable improvement in usability of in-car navigation systems, which require several minutes just to input a location by tapping a screen while driving…
. The ability to discover, and sell, deep into mobile content catalogs…
“Are there any college fight song ringtones?”
“Any TV theme songs?”
. Access to information required by hands-on workers, such as a technician calling up specs while working on a repair or a surgeon calling up vital information…
”Show me the AV700 board configuration.”
. Device navigation for handicapped users…
From Star Trek to The Jetsons, we have all imagined a world where we could simply speak to ‘the machine’ and get an answer. VoiceBox has made a significant and necessary step toward technology’s ability to deliver on that vision.
What are the results, both financial and social? How has the nominee's business performed, and what impact has it had on the problem it addresses? (suggested length: 100 words)
Socially, the VoiceBox approach is life-impacting because it applies across user situations and devices. A device independent, single universal interface that allows anytime, anywhere access to content and information represents a quantum, versus incremental, improvement in speech technology’s ability to impact lives.
Financially, the Company has been funded through a combination of private capital, investments by strategic partners, and revenues. Revenues to date, resulting from key design wins, have been derived principally from contracts for engineering services and prepaid licenses. With the shipment of our technology to end users, our sales will begin to shift to recurring licensing based revenues and profitability. We anticipate that we will begin receiving sales revenue from the shipment of our technology later this year.
