$2 million to aid Whispir commercialisation, expansion

Peter Dinham
Tuesday, 08 November 2011 12:29

Business IT - Technology

Communications solutions provider, Whispir, has been awarded a $2 million Commercialisation Australia Grant by the federal government to develop its $4.5 million OpenWhispir product - a next-generation solution, combining the company's latest developments in web and social collaboration with its advanced communications technologies.

The grant to Whispir, a Melbourne-based company founded in 2001, was announced today by the federal Innovation Minister, Senator Kim Carr, who said 'the grant is an important recognition of Whispir's track record of innovation and delivery of groundbreaking communications technologies.'

Commercialisation Australia is a merit based, competitive assistance program delivered by the Australian Government, and Whispir CEO, Jeromy Wells, said '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.'

'We have always believed in the Whispir Platform, its capabilities and industry-leading reputation in Asia-Pacific. It is now an important time for Whispir - funding from Commercialisation Australia will enable us to complete development and commercialisation of OpenWhispir, and allow us to expand into European and US markets,' Wells said.

According to Wells, OpenWhispir combines crowd-sourcing, media, social media and enterprise systems with collaboration and communication technologies, to facilitate 'valuable interaction between stakeholders across the event lifecycle.'  'Visual dashboards and analytics underpin these new forms of real-time engagement and deliver enhanced situational awareness across enterprises and their communities.'