DUBAI // A young entrepreneur has won first prize at a competition for inventors with his idea for a “Google” for speech.
Rishav Jalan, a student at Bits Pilani University in Dubai, impressed judges at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards competition in the UAE with his Wrappup voice recording app.
It has a database of words that are most used on the internet and will highlight words that are unique or rarely used.
“Wrappup is a smart voice recording platform that uses AI to transform speech into useful business data,” said the 22-year-old Indian. “Whether recorded through the mobile app, web conferencing, or VOIP calling, it leverages speech technology to create more efficient and productive communications in the workplace.”
Wrappup is also able to detect important moments in conversations.
“It recognises clusters of important activity and moments for the user, creating playable bite-sized notes from the discussion,” said Mr Jalan. “Users can then share and reference these playable minutes as needed.”
The inspiration for the idea came from Mr Jalan’s co-founder during their time at a management consulting company where he took part in many meetings.
“Suddenly, the chief executive said something important, and everyone’s head dived into their notebook as they struggled to note down what he said while listening for more information,” said Mr Jalan. “At that moment, he realised everyone was duplicating the same effort to captured a moment that already happened.”
As the winner of the UAE competition, Mr Jalan will head to Frankfurt, Germany, in April for the global finals were he will compete against 50 others for a share of $400,000 (Dh1.5m) in prizes.
He has won $3,000 worth of Aramex shipping aid for his business and the GCC Harvard Business School Club will mentor him until the finals in Frankfurt.
Looking to the future, Mr Jalan plans to fully automate the process of taking minutes during meetings by creating an AI “secretary”.
“The idea is to squeeze the most valuable information and make it useful wherever there is communication between people whether it’s a meeting, classroom or a conference,” he said.
“Finally, through wearables like the Google Glass and Snapchat Spectacles, Wrappup could move from a secretary for your meetings to a personal assistant for your brain. The possibilities are endless.”
Ashish Panjabi, UAE chairman for Entrepreneur’s Organisation, which organises the GSEA competition, was impressed with all the entries.
“Rishav’s business has already got their first round of funding which has meant he has had to learn a lot very quickly and his thirst for learning, was very clear as he did bring this up during presentation,” he said. “He was also very humble about his accomplishments.”
Organisers hope to expand the competition format for next year.
“We hope next year to have qualifier competitions in the UAE before we get into the national finals,” said Mr Panjabi. “These qualifier competitions could be spread across the country where we hope to have qualifiers in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai.”
The UAE competition is supported by Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre at the American University of Sharjah; shjSEEN — Sharjah Chamber of Commerce’s Incubator; in5 — Tecom’s incubator; the UAE University’s Science and Innovation Park in Al Ain; and the American University of Dubai.
For more details visit www.gsea.org
nhanif@thenational.ae
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A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
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Essentials
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Delhi from about Dh950 return including taxes.
The hotels
Double rooms at Tijara Fort-Palace cost from 6,670 rupees (Dh377), including breakfast.
Doubles at Fort Bishangarh cost from 29,030 rupees (Dh1,641), including breakfast. Doubles at Narendra Bhawan cost from 15,360 rupees (Dh869). Doubles at Chanoud Garh cost from 19,840 rupees (Dh1,122), full board. Doubles at Fort Begu cost from 10,000 rupees (Dh565), including breakfast.
The tours
Amar Grover travelled with Wild Frontiers. A tailor-made, nine-day itinerary via New Delhi, with one night in Tijara and two nights in each of the remaining properties, including car/driver, costs from £1,445 (Dh6,968) per person.
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