R & D today for the products of tomorrow
Warwick Warp was started in 2006 as a spin-off company from the University of Warwick. The three founding members, Professor Roland Wilson, Dr Li Wang and Dr Abhir Bhalerao, belong to the Signal and Image Processing Research Group in the Department of Computer Science. Begun by Professor Wilson in the 1980s, this research group is widely known as one of the best of its kind in the UK and has also earned international recognition.
Warwick Warp was born out of an interest in three dimensional distortion or "warping" of fingerprints. Distortion can occur when a print is collected either intentionally, such as at a port of entry, or forensically from the scene of a crime. This problem and others such as low image contrast, scars and cuts can make fingerprint matching a very difficult process. By taking a new, inventive approach, the three researchers have created a mathematical modelling technology that can neutralise these effects and substantially improve the success rate of fingerprint matching. This approach can be applied to a range of biometric techniques including facial recognition.
The company was formed with support from private and government investment to develop and commercialise their innovation. The global biometrics market is expected to reach $6 billion by 2010 and Warwick Warp is poised to make a significant technological contribution to the industry with its unique, innovative products and intellectual property for licence. The company has released its first commercial product for the automated fingerprint identification market and has a development roadmap that will deliver new solutions to support the performance requirements of the rapidly growing biometrics market.
Management Team
Mr Andrew Waterfall - Chief Executive Officer
Andrew is a Genetics graduate who spent several years in sales and managerial roles within the biological software industry before becoming a founding partner and CEO of Improvision Ltd in 1990. Under his leadership, Improvision developed proprietary life science imaging products and by a process of innovation, market focus and identifying future opportunities, Andrew implemented plans that established Improvision as a world leader in the international bio-imaging market. In 2007 Improvision was sold to the PerkinElmer group, a $1.5bn turnover company. A successful entrepreneur and business manager, Andrew brings a strong commercial background to Warwick Warp together with extensive knowledge of the European and US software markets, making him a valuable addition to the team.
Dr Li Wang - Chief Technology Officer
Dr Li Wang holds a PhD in image processing from the University of Warwick. He also has previous experience in the start-up of several new companies, including Meadoweb (remote PC support for network management and fault diagnosis), in addition to several years of software and project management at MedicSight, a leading medical imaging firm, and Arithmatica, the world's largest dedicated semiconductor programming company. Previously, Dr Wang was a production manager at Motorola.
Professor Roland Wilson - Chief Scientific Officer
Professor Roland Wilson is one of the world's foremost experts in image processing and leads one of the UK's largest image processing groups, at the University of Warwick. He has conducted image processing research at an international level for more than 30 years, publishing over 130 papers, and supervising 20 PhD students to completion. He has been at Warwick for 20 years and directs a group of 20 staff. Previously, he held a lectureship at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Birmingham. He was jointly awarded the 1985 Pattern Recognition Society medal for best paper in the journal Pattern Recognition. He is a Chartered Engineer, a Chartered Mathematician, and a fellow of the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications.
Dr Abhir Bhalerao - Research Director
Dr Abhir Bhalerao has been a world-class leader in image processing research for over 15 years. His current research interests are image analysis, medical imaging and data visualization. He has held a faculty position at the University of Warwick since 1998. Between 1996-1997 he was a Research Fellow with the Surgical Planning Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He also possesses 4 years of prior industrial experience with EDS and Crosfield Electronics.
Careers
Open Positions - Software Engineer
We are looking for an experienced software Engineer to join our award winning biometrics team. The position will focus on the development of applications and tools based on our biometric technology. Responsibilities will involve day-to-day development and customer support.
The ideal candidate should have a university degree in computer science, or in a scientific discipline with mathematical content.
The applicant must be fluent in C++, comfortable working across multiple platforms(Windows and Linux) and able to interpret code written in other languages.
Experience of GUI development, multi-threaded programming and image processing is desirable. The ability to work as part of a team is important, as the applicant will be working with others on the same projects. As such, good English and communication skills are required. Individual initiative will also be required to identify problems and explore potential solutions without explicit direction. A passion for excellence in all aspects of the work is essential.
To apply, please send your CV with contact details to careers@warwickwarp.com
