News: Linktagger at Hack4Europe event

Linktagger, a digital development company based in Rotherham, has been selected to help bring the physical and online worlds closer together at Hack4Europe, the leading "hackathon" dedicated to regional startups.

Based in RiDO's Fusion @ Magna business centre, the enterprise was founded by Liam Winder and is using cutting edge technology such as NFC Chips, QR Codes and iBeacon to communicate with the public.

The event pits teams and individuals in five countries – France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and Spain – who will have two months in which to code innovative apps using the latest technologies from the likes of Uber, Paypal, HP and Alcatel.

Joining the big names, Linktagger has been chosen to provide teams with access to its Physical Web platform and will be useful in the "Internet of Things" category, making use of the ever-growing network of physical objects that have internet connectivity. For example, Linktagger Beacons are tiny coin battery size devices that emit radio signals, these signals can be picked up by smartphones, triggering actions and providing information for shoppers or visitors.

Liam Winder, founder of Linktagger, said: "It's fantastic to be chosen to represent UK tech startups in the Hack4Europe event, we're a small startup standing next to giants in the internet industry like Uber, and HP. We're passionate about building the physical web and are excited to see what the teams do with our technology."

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Hack4Europe will host Kick off events across Europe in April, with Linktagger representing the UK at Stack Overflow's offices in London on April 23. The news came to Linktagger as they are going live with a number of innovative mobile projects spanning several key areas of increasing innovation attention from smart cities and ecommerce to fitness and medical.

The system has been used by growing Rotherham health specialist, Vitalife to turn advertising space into shelves full of its products. The concept has been trialled initially in Sheffield, Leeds, and Manchester Piccadilly train stations with "Smart Posters" embedded with NFC Chips and include QR Codes relating to Vitalife's products, with a view to providing an innovative way to increase sales.

Recommended reading: Rotherham Businesses Should Get Ahead by Creating Their Own Apps with AI

HelloCity! - a new form of city guide that brings the latest information to the smartphones of visitors and shoppers - has also been launched in Rotherham town centre to complement the current paper-based Shop Local scheme. QR Codes have been mounted in 50 prominent locations around town, linking to information on shopping, places to eat, visitor attractions, events and real-time travel information.

Linktagger website

Images: Linktagger

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News: Small business success in Rotherham town centre

Organisers of a series of events to celebrate "Small Business Saturday" in Rotherham town centre are hailing there success in encouraging people to support local independent retailers.

Launching in the UK last year, Small Business Saturday is a grassroots, non-political, non-commercial campaign, which highlights small business success and encourages consumers to support small businesses in their communities, both on the Saturday it takes place, and beyond.


The concept is based on the initiative that already exists in America. In the US, Small Business Saturday takes place on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving celebrations, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Conceived and promoted by American Express, Small Business Saturday complements "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" which focus largely on big box and online retailers.

The Mayor of Rotherham, Councillor John Foden, launched the new HelloCity! App for shoppers and visitors to access the latest information on their smartphones. Developed by Rotherham enterprise, Linktagger, the new form of city guide is available this month and uses QR Codes mounted in 50 prominent locations around town, linking to information on shopping, places to eat, visitor attractions, events and real-time travel information.

By simply scanning or tapping the orange pins, users will get news, information and money saving offers direct to their phones - making finding and redeeming local offers even easier than ever. There will also be special "golden ticket" prizes coming soon to lucky winners who scan the app.

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Small Business Saturday also saw the return of the popular free gift wrapping service within the Rother FM Town Centre Tour caravan in Minster Gardens, as well as the Dickensian Christmas event.

Bernadette Rushton, retail investment manager at Rotherham Council (pictured, right), said: "There was a fantastic response from shoppers looking to support Rotherham's independent businesses and do their bit for the local economy and many retailers reported a great days trading. We also received lots of favourable comments from members of the public who had not visited the town centre for some time and were delighted with the unique shopping offer and programme of events."

Cllr Dominic Beck, Cabinet Member for Business Growth and Regeneration, added: "Rotherham has seen some incredible improvements and this coupled with the fantastic individual shops means that it is great for both every day and Christmas shopping. Our town centre shops have really stepped up to the mark by offering really great products and customer service that’s second to none.

"In addition, we now have Sunday shopping, free weekend parking and lots of family-friendly events which provide a lovely shopping experience."

Rotherham town centre website

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News: Spend Small Business Saturday in Rotherham

Shoppers in Rotherham are being encouraged to celebrate "Small Business Saturday" this weekend and shop local.

Launching in the UK last year, Small Business Saturday is a grassroots, non-political, non-commercial campaign, which highlights small business success and encourages consumers to support small businesses in their communities, both on the Saturday and beyond.

The concept is based on the initiative that already exists in America. In the US, Small Business Saturday takes place on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving celebrations, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Conceived and promoted by American Express, Small Business Saturday complements "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" which focus largely on big box and online retailers.

In Rotherham, the shop local message was harnessed in 2010 with the launch of the loyalty card that entitles shoppers to offers and discounts at over 100 businesses in the town centre. Evolving onto mobile and tablet devices, this Saturday sees the launch the new HelloCity! Town Centre App.

Developed by Rotherham enterprise, Linktagger, the new form of city guide uses QR Codes mounted in 50 prominent locations around town, linking to information on shopping, places to eat, visitor attractions, events and real-time travel information. There will also be special "golden ticket" prizes available to lucky winners who scan the app next week.

Participating retailers will also be promoting exclusive offers to their customers on Small Business Saturday in the form of discounts, freebies and special offers. This will be in addition to all the existing Rotherham Shop Local offers and exclusive discounts.

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Small Business Saturday will also see the return of the free gift wrapping service with shoppers are invited to come along and have their gifts wrapped for free and get advice as to where to find that extra special present.

Parking continues to be free in all Council-run off-street car parks and on-street parking bays each Saturday up to and including December 27.

Cllr Dominic Beck, Cabinet Member for Business Growth and Regeneration, said: "Small Business Saturday is a national campaign that is hugely relevant to Rotherham. It is all about encouraging everyone in the UK to support their small businesses, both on the day and beyond to have a lasting impact and support the local economy.

"Shopping locally is good for both your pocket and the local economy. Research has shown that for every £1 spent with local independent retailers, up to 70 pence is retained within the local economy. This compares to only 40 pence in the pound when it is spent with national retailers."

Rotherham Town Centre website

Images: Small Business Saturday

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News: Linktagger brings the physical and online worlds closer together

Linktagger, a digital development company based in Rotherham, is aiming to help retailers across the globe to reach potential customers by converting standard advertising hoardings into virtual stores.

Based in RiDO's Fusion @Magna business centre, the enterprise was founded by Liam Winder and is using cutting edge technology such as NFC Chips, QR Codes and iBeacon to communicate with the public. The first example was featured on Rothbiz last month with growing Rotherham health specialist, Vitalife using Linktagger to turn advertising space into shelves full of its products.

The concept is being trialled initially in Sheffield, Leeds, and Manchester Piccadilly train stations with "Smart Posters" embedded with NFC Chips and include QR Codes relating to Vitalife's products, with a view to providing an innovative way to increase sales.

Liam Winder of Linktagger (pictured, left), said: "The posters are like virtual shopping shelves. You just tap them with your phone or scan the QR code for a product and it takes you through to a "buy now" option. It's a really exciting concept which could lead to huge increases in sales for retailers like Vitalife, in locations that attract large populations, such as city centres and train stations."

Linktagger has been able to access support through RiDO's (Rotherham Investment & Development Office) European-funded Soft Landing Zone project to explore international opportunities with RiDO's Nathan Woodcock supporting Liam in the development of CAD drawings for the Linktagger product range and also with securing international patents for his innovative use of technology.

Nathan Woodcock, business development co-ordinator for RiDO (pictured, right), said: "Linktagger operates in a fast moving industry with huge opportunities and it has been fantastic to help Liam to research opportunities where his business could expand not just in the UK, but internationally. We are looking forward to seeing how his Smart Poster concept develops, but this is just one of a whole series of exciting concepts where Linktagger could secure market opportunities overseas."

Liam added: "It has been fantastic to have the support of RiDO to research the market for my products internationally and also to help with securing worldwide patents. Because what we do uses the latest technology to connect the physical and digital world, it has no boundaries to what applications and countries it could be used in and so we are really excited about the future markets for our products."

A serial entrepreneur, Liam has returned from his time consulting after his experiences of running ISP, RipWire, to establish Betacities, which has the aim of helping to bring the physical and online worlds closer together. One example is HelloCity! - a new form of city guide that brings the latest information to the smartphones of visitors and shoppers. It is set to launch first in Rotherham town centre to complement the current paper-based Shop Local scheme with QR Codes mounted in 50 prominent locations around town, linking to information on shopping, places to eat, visitor attractions, events and real-time travel information.

Linktagger website
RiDO website

Images: RiDO

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