The Federal Government has awarded a Commercialisation Australia Grant to Whispir, a communication solutions company in Melbourne, to develop a cloud-based platform in the field of incident management.
The award of $2 million, granted by the Innovation Minister, Senator Kim Carr, will go towards funding the development of OpenWhispir, whose cost is estimated at $4.5 million.
The platform is intended to enhance capabilities in crisis and event management, the company announced in a media release. By employing crowd-sourcing and facilitating connections between public and private communities, OpenWhispir will enable the tracking of emergencies and other breaking events in real time as they unfold.
Jeromy Wells, the CEO of Whispir, said he was honoured to be recognised by the government and that the award attests to Whispir’s innovation.
“We have always believed in the Whispir Platform, its capabilities and industry-leading reputation in Asia-Pacific,” said Wells.
Founded in 2001, Whispir’s cloud technology is aimed at organisations communicating among employees and customers using a variety of technologies including email, SMS, mobile and social media.
The company currently has offices in New Zealand and the UK in addition to Australia. Mr. Wells said that he hoped the funding would allow the company to further expand into Europe and the United States.
“Being selected from such a highly competitive arena is a validation of the quality of the current Whispir Platform, our understanding of the market’s needs, and the insight and expertise of the Whispir team,” he said.
The Commercialisation Australia program awards innovation grants to creative enterprises based on merit. The program has a five-year funding amount of $278 million through 2014.
