This year’s Sci-Tech Film Challenge runs September 20–22. Registration is open until September 6.

What does a global cloud infrastructure provider have in common with science fiction filmmakers? The uninspired may say, “nothing.” But those with an eye toward creative marketing, unique brand-building and innovative partnerships will understand right away that companies seeking new ways of reaching customers are willing to try different approaches. That’s why tech industry leader OVHcloud has partnered with Atlanta Sci-Fi Film Festival to sponsor its 48-Hour Sci-Tech Film Challenge.

Billed as “the free-style rap battle of filmmaking,” this competition is one of the most unique 48-hour film challenges in the world, according to Amanda Ray, founder and CEO of the Multicultural Sci-fi Organization (MCSFO) and organizer of the festival.

Press materials for the contest explain that participants have 48 hours to create a sci-fi short film from start to finish, incorporating cutting-edge technology into creative storytelling.

Tech company partnerships

The festival plans to partner with different tech companies for each year’s challenge in order to support evolving technologies. For two years in a row, OVHcloud has fulfilled that role. Similar to the way innovative tech has been introduced in shows like “Star Trek” over the years, the 48-Hour Sci-Tech Film Challenge enables festival partners to see how their products or services might be integrated into a narrative. This collaboration gives filmmakers experience working with brands in a legal, responsible and respectful manner while still being creative, according to the news release.

Registration is open through September 6 at filmfreeway.com. The competition begins at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, September 20 and filmmakers have until 7 p.m. on Sunday, September 22 to write, shoot, edit and upload their completed film. Films will be judged according to categories such as: Adherence and Best Use of Required Element, Artistic Merit and Technical Achievement according to the release.

There will be a live screening of the finalists’ films during the sci-fi festival, held October 4 to October 6 in Peachtree Corners, with winners announced at the awards ceremony.

From Wu-Tang to AOL to OVHcloud

Sherin Baday, senior director of marketing for OVHcloud, has an extensive history of working with a diverse roster of companies.

“I worked in New York in the music industry for 10 years in marketing, management, promotions, all types of duties around the spectrum, working with a couple of record companies. Then from there, I moved to America Online,” she said.

One of her most noteworthy clients was rap/hip-hop pioneers Wu-Tang Clan.

“That was the hardest transition I think anyone can have culturally. And then from there, it was a string of SaaS companies,” she said. “It wasn’t as sexy as the music industry. … My first job after Wu-Tang I worked at a fixed asset software company.”

Even though it didn’t present the same excitement as working with performers such as Ghostface Killah, Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Method Man, Baday applied some of the same principles of branding she learned back in the late 90s.

“Regardless of the product, it needs a face. It needs that human element, a recording artist, a musician, a film — that’s all a product,” she said.

Unique brand building

In the same way that artists must connect to fans, a fixed asset company needs a way for potential customers to identify with it.

“How do I bring a personality into this product and let people relate to it or find it endearing, or be able to say, ‘Oh, I remember them because of this video that they did about this little mascot that caught my eye,’” she said. “I was always trying to think of ways to humanize it and that’s what I’ve been doing across all these SaaS companies.”

Baday came to OVHcloud when it opened its U.S. office nearly seven years ago.

“We’re in a field where the hyper scalers are huge,” she said. “We have AWS in our backyard here in Herndon. Google is here, so we’re not trying to really compete with them on paper — we know our space. We’re trying to build a name for ourselves, build some awareness and find our own group of customers.”

But building a brand isn’t an overnight thing, she admitted.

“I think working with people like Amanda [Ray of Atlanta Sci-Fi Film Festival] and programs like this help with the memory recall,” she said. “Because you remember programs like this instead of an ad or a website or an email that you get from a company you don’t know or that you’ve never heard of.”

So Baday is looking for different ways to build awareness.

“Whether it’s supporting a Formula One team or an English soccer club, how can we stick out and really get people to know who OVHcloud is and that we are a human company?” she said.

Measuring success

Baday didn’t seek out the partnership with the film festival. She and Ray met at an OVHcloud event.

“I met Amanda, heard about her program, what she was doing, what her plans were, what her vision was for the next five, 10, 15 years and I thought, ‘This is exciting!’” she said. “This is a group of innovators trying to break into the film industry and create these sci-fi films.”

Baday thought about the OVHcloud motto, “innovation for freedom” and realized that building new technology to help its customers fit perfectly with the vision of new technology that could be presented in science fiction films.

“A lot of these tech companies just try to target other tech companies right now, but everyone needs technology — the music industry, the arts industry, literature — they all need to put their films somewhere. They all need to back up their music,” she said. “So, when I spoke with Amanda, I realized … [the short film competition] could give us a face to show that we’re all about technology and improving people’s lives with it.”

OVHcloud is donating technology for the challenge and at the same time it’s building awareness about who the company is. The filmmakers get a demo of sorts of the technology that will keep their creative works safe.

Last year’s winner went beyond simple product placement to show how a service like OVHcloud fits with future tech. We won’t give away the plot, but those who are curious can check out the three-minute video online.

Beyond the traditional RoI model

At this early stage in the partnership, OVHcloud isn’t looking for a dollar-for-dollar return. It’s much more subtle than that.

“You don’t really realize the impact of a partnership or sponsorship like this until someone from a newspaper reaches out saying, ‘I want to do an interview because I think this is amazing,’” she said.

Of course, her bosses are looking to add to the bottom line.

“They’re like, ‘Well, what do we get from this? Did we get any sales? How many people came up and said they’re going to buy a server from us?’” she said. “To me, it’s not about that. It’s about building the awareness and partnering with this film community and growing our name as a supporter of the arts. And that’s a whole different level of return I can’t show, but I think it’s important when we do get interview requests or as the media grows around it.”

Right now, she’s asking her superiors to be patient. “I would say it’s going to all be worth it in the end.”

The Atlanta Sci-Fi Film Festival takes place October 4-6 and is FREE with advance registration. Visit atlantascififilmfestival.com for more information.

Smart lighting solutions create a safer, cleaner and more connected environment across Curiosity Lab and Peachtree Corners Town Center

Peachtree Corners recently partnered with Juganu, a leading provider of “smart lighting” to deploy a fully digitized and connected lighting system throughout Town Center and in other locations around the city. This marks Juganu’s first full smart city lighting deployment in the United States.

The innovative lighting solution eliminates the need for multiple devices on one light pole. Instead, multiple systems are unified in a single fixture. Each smart city fixture includes energy-efficient and high-quality LED lighting, environmental sensors to monitor air quality and an IoT (Internet of Things) framework that can be used for additional applications as needed. It also leverages a security camera that features AI and edge computing for enhanced capabilities. In addition, each light fixture includes a wireless access point to provide free public Wi-Fi.

“Juganu’s smart lighting solution adds to our city’s goals of improving safety and quality of life for our residents while providing the efficiency of multiple smart city solutions in one sleek unit,” said Peachtree Corners city manager Brian Johnson. “This adds another element of security and safety to our Town Center, with bright lighting and security cameras that can be accessed if an incident occurs.”

Johnson added that the city is also excited that the new system allows them to offer free public Wi-Fi across Town Center, providing greater connectivity for PTC residents and guests.

“Juganu’s solutions bring our city one step closer to being fully connected,” he said, “and we are thrilled to be the company’s first full deployment in the U.S.”

Expanding the project

There are currently 16 Juganu lighting units in use across Town Center’s playgrounds, four at the dog park and six at the Curiosity Lab Innovation Center. As the project expands, these high-tech lighting solutions will be used throughout Town Center’s parking lots, storefronts and parking deck, as well as in the parking lot at Curiosity Lab. In total, 80 units will be in use across the city.

“Peachtree Corners — and Curiosity Lab — was the perfect choice for Juganu to have our first full-scale deployment,” said Shayne Rose, Juganu VP North America, Smart Cities. “Between their bustling Town Center and, of course, the real-world smart city testing environment at Curiosity Lab, these are two unique locations that allow us to showcase and demonstrate how our smart city lighting solution brings additional elements of connectivity, safety and environmental monitoring to our customers.”

Rose shared that Curiosity Lab has been extremely supportive throughout the process, including leading the efforts with Georgia Power, to ensure all communities across the state have access to Juganu’s systems, even if they lease their lighting infrastructure. They’re excited to see how their smart lighting solution improves residents’ lives as the full project is deployed.

To learn more about Juganu’s smart city lighting solutions, visit juganu.com.

Peachtree Corners has announced that enterprise video software company Network Optix has partnered with Curiosity Lab. The partnership will integrate Network Optix’s award-winning Nx Go solution, tailored for traffic infrastructure, into the city’s “IoT Control Room.” This marks the first time that the company’s technology has been deployed as a full solution in the U.S.

“Our IoT Control room has been a model for how other smart cities across the world can aggregate massive amounts of data from sensors across connected infrastructure into the future – so it was only fitting that we partner with Network Optix to process and display traffic sensor data,” said Curiosity Lab Executive Director Brandon Branham.

“From fixed LiDAR to traffic camera feeds delivered over the 5G network, this data is critical to city operations that ensure roadway safety for autonomous vehicles, regular drivers and pedestrians,” he added.

Nx Go software takes a wide array of devices into a single, cohesive network to simplify management and amplify data-generation capacity of infrastructure.

At Peachtree Corners, cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) powered roadways feature sensors and devices installed across light and traffic signal fixtures, crosswalks, buildings and more, to communicate with connected vehicles, autonomous vehicles and pedestrians.

The management and viewing of information are critical components to managing the smart city. The transportation solution, poised to expand across the country, also helps generate critical data such as intersection analytics, car counts, lane usage and more to enhance operational efficiency and data utilization.

“This is the only location with the full Nx Go technologies available, allowing us to fully showcase the extent of sensors, LiDAR and more the city has deployed across their smart city ecosystem,” said – Network Optix Director of Mobility Platform Business Development Marc Faubert.

“Having Nx Go as the visual to display such technology gives Peachtree Corners a single pane of glass to be proactive and monitor, evaluate and implement various strategies to improve the city. With Peachtree Corners government’s leadership always innovating, there was no better place to integrate our solution first than in the heart of what’s becoming known as ‘Silicon Orchard’ by technology developers globally,” he explained.

For more information, contact Peachtree@goDRIVEN360.com.

Read more news from Curiosity Lab here.