Gemalto is assisting The University of Texas (UT) at Austin in its 1 Semester Startup (1SS) program, led by Professor of Innovation and Murchison Fellow of Free Enterprise Bob Metcalfe. Each semester approximately 10 teams are accepted, drawn from undergraduate students who apply with an idea for a startup business. The program aims to promote and advance these "Longhorn Startups" by teaching the fundamentals of company formation and offering real-world resources to incubate entrepreneurial endeavors.

 

Gemalto will provide a 1SS team comprised of engineering students with Near-Field Communication (NFC) tags and software developer suites to further test and develop a platform for its startup project – Lynxin, aiming to connect corporations to consumers by designing customized promotions. Gemalto has a long track record of developing NFC technology through extensive R&D and more than 50 mobile NFC projects worldwide.

 

NFC is a wireless technology that enables communication over short distances between a mobile device and a reader. People can use NFC for many convenient purposes including paying at restaurants, accessing public transport and parking, accessing buildings and other entryways and even reading smart posters to engage in advertising and couponing specials.

 

"Gemalto is a global leader with many NFC deployments under its belt," said Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. "Gemalto's partnering with this startup team of Cockrell School of Engineering students is a great example of the Austin innovation ecology in action. How fortunate we are to have the North American headquarters of this billion-dollar security company in our midst and with such a great attitude toward innovation."

 

"At Gemalto we embrace the opportunities to support up-and-coming entrepreneurs in the technology space, especially right here in our own backyard," said Paul Beverly, President of Gemalto North America. "Technology moves at a break-neck pace, as these selected young engineers are certainly learning. Any head start we can give them as they move the industry forward benefits us all."

President of Gemalto North America