Schaffhausen – TopKamera, a startup from the Greater Zurich Area, is making security cameras intelligent by means of machine learning. In this way, cameras could count customers in shopping centres anonymously or prevent accidents on the roads.

Entrepreneurs Gaudenz Bösch and Nico Klingler initially sold high-quality security cameras online. This year, they took their startup in a new direction and are now enabling the cameras to learn.

The company has an Internet of Things (IoT) system that allows the cameras to be linked together and evaluate data. “We combine hardware, software and service,” Gaudenz Bösch succinctly said to the Schaffhauser Nachrichten newspaper recently. For example, an intelligent camera can prevent the barriers at a level crossing closing when there is a car on the tracks, while at the same time triggering an alarm that stops the approaching train. Intelligent cameras could also be used to conduct an anonymised people count of customers in a store or shopping centre. This can support companies in personnel planning and marketing strategies.

TopKamera has digitised not just its own products but the company itself. As was reported on the website of the ITS Industry & Technology Hub of Schaffhausen, virtual online advisor Kevin Smart is on-hand to support the startup’s customers. The TopKamera bot could also be used in other companies. “Anywhere that has structured services could conceivably automate using our system,” said Matthias Schädler, Head of Technology and Distribution.

The objective of the ITS Industry & Technology Hub is to enhance the competitiveness of tech companies in the Schaffhausen area.

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