Quantum Inventions goes real

Fast Facts

Quantum Inventions

CEO

Saurav Bhattacharyya

Year founded

2005

Headquarters

Singapore

Web site

www.qi.sg

Employees

7

Technology innovation

An intelligent transportation system that provides real-time information to help motorists and fleet owners determine optimal travel routes and in turn, reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Efficient transportation can be described as the lifeblood of any economy, where governments, enterprises and consumers alike consider the ability to commute from one place to another, in the quickest and cheapest way possible, as key.

Singapore-based Quantum Inventions (QI) offers an intelligent transportation system (ITS) that answers the needs of these three segments.

Traffic data provided by the company's flagship Traffic Information Platform (TRIP) and Dynamic Navigation System help motorists and fleet owners determine optimal travel routes and in turn, reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Information is provided real-time, and consumers and enterprise customers can choose various means to receive it, including as Web-based applications, or on personal navigation and mobile devices.

QI is a spin-off from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). The intellectual property (IP) used in QI's high-speed dynamic navigation system had been developed at NTU's Centre for High Performance Embedded Systems (CHiPES) over seven years of postgraduate research.

CEO Saurav Bhattacharyya, who is also the company's co-founder, said QI comes from a background of core research and development (R&D) where "the initial technology transfer has given it an edge over existing and very capable large competitors".

"QI will continue to spend on R&D to ensure that this leadership position is held strong," Saurav said in an e-mail interview. The company spends over 30 percent of annual revenue on technology innovation and applied R&D.

"QI differentiates itself from its very capable and large competitors on the basis of its ability to create solutions, solve problems and develop applications at a much more efficient level. We do this through algorithms that achieve a higher level of quality, or through algorithms that reduce the manual load," he explained.

Such development work is especially important in the realm of geographic information systems (GIS) as most data is imprecise, very voluminous and based on approximation, he said. "The computing systems, however, demand determinism--and hence, the R&D comes into play to provide systems, techniques and algorithms to ensure this," he added.

According to QI, although many competing GIS, fleet management and navigation systems currently exist in the market, "none of them provide…seamless dynamic data integration to achieve higher productivity, efficient routes, or efficiency in the route computations".

Dane Anderson, CEO and executive vice president of research at Springboard Research, said QI's breakthrough of providing dynamic ITS information is a key success.

"The applications are far-reaching in the consumer, government and enterprise markets around the world," said Anderson, who is a Top Tech 50 advisor.

"I believe the environmental benefits of this solution are also worth noting, especially in the times in which we live--if citizens and enterprises are more aware of bottlenecks and gridlock, they can seek alternative transportation options that are 'greener'," he said.

Moving around traffic
Meanwhile, ITS is fast becoming an important feature of urban planning in both developed and developing nations. Increasingly, countries are adopting GPS-based tracking in ITS programs as core technology to mitigate major traffic and related environmental problems.

Saurav said upcoming changes to the landscape include the launch of satellite positioning systems by European and Asian nations, and the increasing number of telcos that now provide both positioning and traffic information.

"Adapting to, and working with, these new systems and targeting emerging markets in Asia such as Vietnam, China and India, requires an understanding of not only the underlying technologies that drive our business, but also the human factors, linguistic difficulties and cultural differences across borders," Saurav said.

"Being of Asian descent, QI recognizes that success in these economies will not be a result of imposing a Western model, or even a pan-Asian model, on them. Instead, it is recognizing the unique needs of these countries and reacting suitably.

"Therefore, QI feels that significant R&D effort is required in maintaining relevance in the face of new challenges," he said.