Genemation
The Company
Founded in March 2003, Genemation have been developing innovative 'face synthesis' tools and technologies for digital content artists and programmers in the video games, post production, web authoring and other digital content sectors (i.e. Forensics and Cosmetics). We have commercialised patented technology developed over a number of years at the University of Manchester's Imaging Science & Biomedical Engineering dept (ISBE), which is one of the world's leading academic institutions in 'computer vision' technology. Key members of staff from ISBE are shareholders and some have become full time employees.
Management team
John Bickley - CEO
John joined the company in January 2003. Prior to Genemation
he was senior vice president, EMEA for Celoxica, a spin-out
from Oxford University . From 1992 to 2000 John worked
in the video games industry for Psygnosis, a UK based video
games company. He joined when it was privately owned and
worked with the founders to sell the company to SONY in
1993. Psygnosis went on to become Europe 's largest video
games development and publishing company. John was also
involved in running the publishing division for Psygnosis's
sister company, SONY PlayStation Europe. Before joining
the video games industry John was managing director of
CIC Video, a joint venture company owned by Paramount Pictures
and Universal Studios,
Dr Louise Butcher - Programming
Director
A founder of Genemation, Louise began research on the underlying
technology in January 2001 within the ISBE (Image Science
and Bio Medical Engineering) division at the University,
working on facial recognition technology.. Prior to this,
Louise spent three years at Pilkington. Initially she worked
in the R&D Technical Centre, developing new glass products
for the automotive sector. This was followed by a spell as
a Market Analyst in the Group Automotive Marketing and Business
Planning Department. Louise holds a first class honours degree
and PhD in atomic physics from Oxford University .
Dr Gavin Wheeler - Programming
Director
Prior to founding Genemation, Gavin spent three years within
the ISBE (Image Science and Bio Medical Engineering) division,
working on 'U-Face', a face recognition application based
on the same underlying technology. This EU-funded project
involved collaboration with industrial partners. Prior to
this, in parallel with his academic studies, Gavin was Station
Director of Forge FM, a community radio station, run largely
by volunteers in Sheffield . This role included forming and
leading an experienced management team, applying for charity
funding and managing budgets. Gavin holds a first class honours
degree in Control Engineering and a PhD from Sheffield University
.
In addition to the board of directors, the company maintains close links to the University research team and the following act for the company as technical advisors:
Professor Chris Taylor
Chris is the Research Division Leader in the ISBE (Image
Science and Bio Medical Engineering) division at the University,
and has led the research in computer imaging since the
early 1970s. This research field has led to a number of
applications of the technology, including Genemation. Chris
holds a BSc and a PhD in Physics, both from the Victoria
University of Manchester. Chris was awarded the OBE in
2000 for services to healthcare and Foresight 2000 Health
Information Task Force.
Dr Tim Cootes
Tim is a Lecturer in the ISBE (Image Science and Bio Medical
Engineering) division at the University, having joined
the Division in 1991. Tim is engaged in research to develop
algorithms to locate deformable objects (e.g. faces, body
organs, mechanical assemblies etc) in digital images and
has been directly involved in the research that underlies
the Genemation products. Tim holds a BSc in Combined Mathematics
and Physics from the University of Exeter and a PhD from
Sheffield Polytechnic.
For more information please visit: http://www.genemation.com/
