Boston Augmented Reality Startup PAR Works Gets Two Big SXSW Honors

Par Works, Augmented Reality, Boston startup,sxsw13,sxsw acceleratorAugmented reality has been a hot space for startups for the last three years. Now in 2013 it’s starting to expand outside of just cool games. One Boston startup, PAR Works, has done some amazing things with augmented reality and for that they’ve received two pre-show honors from SXSW.

First off the company was selected as a finalist for the mobile technology category at the 5th annual SXSW accelerator competition. The competition is one of the biggest events as part of SXSW Interactive’s Startup Village.  Startups showcase some of the most impressive new innovations to a panel of handpicked judges and a live audience. More than 500 companies submitted to present at SXSW Accelerator, where PAR Works was selected out of 56 finalists in seven different categories.

The company’s MARS mobile application, which will be unveiled for public beta for the first time at the SXSW Trade Show, also was named a finalist in the SXSW Interactive Awards. This competition uncovers the best new digital work while celebrating those who are building the interactive trends of the future. The ceremonies for both awards will take place at the SXSW 2013 conference in Austin next month.

MARS is the first technology to offer instant 3-D recognition for products and places, allowing companies to offer content to consumers the instant they take a simple photograph. Available to operate on either Android (version 2.3 or above) or iOS (version 5.0 or above), MARS quickly and precisely delivers on-demand branded content to users, a technology that has become increasingly important as more consumers and businesses adopt, and become dependent on, mobile devices. The speed and millimeter-level accuracy of the image detection and content overlay in MARS is unparalleled.

“Businesses and consumers will be able to experience for the first time at SXSW the power of our MARS technology, which will allow brands to find even more ways to engage with their customers through any mobile device, anywhere,” said Dr. Jules White, co-founder and Chief Scientist for PAR Works. “We would like to thank SXSW for the unique honor of being nominated for both awards this year.”

The three-day Accelerator competition will be held Monday, March 11th – Wednesday, March 13th. As a key event of SXSW Festival’s Startup Village, the Accelerator competition will take place on the 4th floor of the Downtown Austin Hilton and will feature finalists across categories including Innovative Web Technologies; Social Technologies; Entertainment and Gaming Technologies; Mobile Technologies; Health Technologies; News Technologies; and Music Technologies. On March 12th, judges will announce a selected winner in each of the categories presented except Music Technologies, which will be revealed on March 13th

“Some truly ground-breaking and disruptive companies once stood where this year’s 56 SXSW Accelerator finalists will pitch to venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and press,” said SXSW Accelerator Event Producer, Chris Valentine. “I am confident that this year’s SXSW Accelerator finalists will bring equally exceptional and unique products and services to the table, with high potential to impact their respective industries.”

See more of our team coverage of SXSW 2013 here

 

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