React Labs Awarded $100K in Maryland Innovation Initiative Funding

BETHESDA, Md., May 29, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- React Labs, an early stage company commercializing a comprehensive mobile technology platform for real-time polling, has been awarded $100,000 in funding from the Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII), company officials announce today.

Founded by University of Maryland Professor Philip Resnik, who holds joint appointments in the Department of Linguistics and at the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS), React Labs offers a mobile application that allows a very large numbers of participants to register their moment-by-moment reactions to live and televised events, providing a highly engaging user experience and producing rich, detailed data for analysis.

"Funding from the Maryland Innovation Initiative is a welcome validation of our technology and our business model," said Resnik. "The university and the state have created a truly supportive environment for researchers interested in commercializing their ideas."

React Labs will employ the MII funding to accelerate its technology and business development.

The React Labs platform made its first commercial appearance during the 2012 presidential debates through a partnership with ABC7/WJLA-DC, called "ABC7/React Labs Instant Reaction," to provide an engaging real-time experience for viewers in the D.C. area.  WJLA, teaming with NewsChannel8 and Politico, won a 2013 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism and was praised for its use of the new technology.  React Labs also partnered with political science collaborators to gather real-time reactions to the debates from thousands of students nationwide.

In February, React Labs partnered with Frank N. Magid Associates, a leading consumer-media research firm, on its 2013 analysis of Super Bowl advertising effectiveness.  "This real-time engagement gave us a terrific window into consumer engagement with the biggest television event of the year," said Bill Day, executive director at Frank N. Magid Associates.

Created by the General Assembly and administered by the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), the Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII) promotes the commercialization of research conducted at five qualifying Maryland universities. The initiative encourages universities to partner on commercialization proposals, strategies and funding sources. The MII program facilitates technology transfer from university labs to start-up companies, and boosts economic development in Maryland.

About React Labs 
React Labs LLC, based in Bethesda, Maryland, offers the industry's most innovative and flexible technology platform for collecting moment-by-moment reactions on a large scale using mobile devices. Originating in research at the University of Maryland by founder Philip Resnik , Ph.D., the technology was developed in collaboration with user experience and political science experts and has been used in large-scale research, political coverage, and studies of advertising effectiveness. For more information, see reactlabs.org or email [email protected].

SOURCE React Labs