Real time, mobile collaboration solution Woobius Eye finds success

Woobius Eye takes third place in final of Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2009 winning £23,000 and is best UK entrant
Woobius Eye, a real-time mobile collaboration solution designed for architects and other designers, took third place in the final of the Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2009 competition in Amsterdam on Friday 25 September. Developed to support the Woobius file-sharing and collaboration system, Woobius Eye beat two other UK finalists to win €25,000 (around £23,000).

Vodafone Mobile Click is an international contest intended to help foster innovation and to identify the best mobile internet startup. The 2009 competition involved around 100 entrants and three different jury rounds in the UK and the Netherlands.

The Woobius Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform was formally launched in the UK in June 2009, allowing documents and drawings to accessed from any internet-connected computer with a Flash-enabled browser. Complementing the core system, Woobius Eye is a downloadable application that enables users of mobile devices to interact remotely with information and to discuss project progress in real time.

For example, a construction manager on site can take a photograph on site and use the mobile interface to share the image with an architect in his design office, complete with mark-ups and comments. Uniquely, the architect can then talk to the construction manager about the issue shown in the shared image in real time, using on-screen pointer icons to support his spoken comments.

Woobius CEO and practising architect Bob Leung says: "We made two demanding presentations to jury panels to reach the Vodafone Mobile Clicks final – becoming the first construction application and the first business solution to do so. Throughout, we’ve been challenged to demonstrate originality, creativity and innovation, and to show technical and managerial acumen. We will be using the prize money to invest further in the Woobius Eye prototype to turn it into a commercially viable product."

London-based Woobius Ltd was founded in 2007 by Bob Leung (formerly of Fosters + Partners, now at Make Architects), technologist Daniel Tenner, architect James Goodfellow and others with background in architecture, software and marketing. A Beta version of Woobius was first used on live projects in mid 2008. By June 2009, the user community had expanded - almost exclusively through word-of-mouth recommendation - to over 3000 people, drawn from over 200 companies, working on over 100 projects in some 32 countries.