High-tech Cheltenham company, Novauris Technologies Limited, is making sure its ‘voice’ is being heard across the Atlantic, thanks to US business links fostered by UK Trade & Investment’s (UKTI) Passport to Export scheme.

This small, privately-held UK company in Bishops Cleeve near Cheltenham, develops highly sophisticated and novel automatic speech recognition systems. These systems are focussed, for the most part, on a very specific area of the voice recognition sector — namely, selection from large sets of alternative data using vocal commands.

Thanks in part to the business support and international trade advice the company received, as part of the Passport to Export scheme, from its UKTI International Trade Adviser (ITA), Graham Symonds, it has now secured a major US contract.

“Our technology has been included in a new service called ‘Get It Now Search’,“ explained Joint Managing Director, Melvyn Hunt, “which is offered to US customers of Verizon Wireless who own suitable 3G phones. This will enable them to search for ring tones, games and such in Verizon’s extensive catalogue just by speaking the item they want and then to download it. Verizon Wireless — which is 50 per cent owned by Vodaphone — is probably the largest data network provider in the States.

“As you can imagine, it is very rare for a small and relatively new British company such as ours to be chosen over large American competitors like this and we owe a great deal to Government support. The Passport to Export scheme has been particularly beneficial to us because it provided invaluable information on overseas markets and on key business networks and also an opportunity to meet many potential new clients at exhibitions and during trade missions.”

In fact, the company’s product is so innovative that it has attracted the interest of BBC Radio Four, which will be featuring the system as part of a programme next month (June ‘07) on speech recognition technology, fronted by Rory Bremner.

Summing up the scheme, ITA Graham Symonds added: “Passport to Export is all about putting together a tailor-made package of support and services for a new or fledging exporter. There are so many variables to consider when putting together an effective package, particularly for the overseas markets, so the considerable experience and market knowledge available throughout the UKTI network is — I believe — an invaluable asset to most of our clients. It’s our business to make their business a success.”

UK contact:
 Dr Melvyn Hunt
 Novauris Technologies Ltd
 Millbank
 Stoke Road
 Bishops Cleeve
 Cheltenham
 Gloucestershire
 Tel: +44 1242 678581 Fax: +44 1242 678301
 E-mail: info@novauris.com