Mapillary Awarded as Technology Pioneer by World Economic Forum


TIANJIN, CHINA--(Marketwired - Jun 27, 2016) - Mapillary, the Sweden-based photomapping startup, was today awarded as one of the World Economic Forum's Technology Pioneers, a selection of the world's most innovative companies. Mapillary creates street-level photomaps of the world by stitching together crowdsourced images with computer vision. The company also employs machine learning capabilities to recognize objects like street signs in photos in order to extract data for urban planning and other uses.

Mapillary was chosen by a professional jury among hundreds of candidates as one of the 30 selected companies. Thanks to its selection, it will have access to an influential and sought-after business and political network worldwide.

"We welcome Mapillary in this group of extraordinary pioneers," said Fulvia Montresor, Head of Technology Pioneers at the World Economic Forum. "Mapillary is among those companies that help shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work and relate to one another. Through the platform of the World Economic Forum, it will be able to scale and share its technology and achieve a larger impact."

"It's great to be recognized as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum," Mapillary CEO Jan Erik Solem said. "This award will help us continue our mission to change the way the world is mapped by giving people everywhere the power to capture their local environments."

The Technology Pioneers were selected from among hundreds of applicants by a selection committee of 68 academics, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and corporate executives. The committee based its decisions on criteria including innovation, potential impact, working prototype, viability and leadership. Past recipients include Google (2001), Wikimedia (2007), Mozilla (2007), Kickstarter (2011) and Airbnb (2013). More information on past winners can be found here.

All information on this year's Technology Pioneers can be found here: http://wef.ch/techpioneers

About Mapillary: Mapillary is a community-based photomapping service that stitches together members' uploaded photos to create a street-level, 3D photo representation of the world. The company also uses computer vision and machine learning to recognize objects like street signs in photos. City governments and other organizations can then use this data for urban planning, among other applications. To date, Mapillary has mapped more than 1.5 million kilometers around the world with over 65 million photos.

About the World Economic Forum: The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. (www.weforum.org).