Let’s talk about what3words with Clare Jones at Disrupt Berlin

Addresses are ambiguous, imprecise, and in some places don’t even exist. What3words wants to map the entire world and solve three words at a time. That’s why I’m delighted to announce that what3words Chief Business Officer Claire Jones will be joining us at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin.

The startup divides the world into three-meter squares. Each square is assigned three words. In this way, it is easy to read, easy to write, and easy to say. More importantly, it is unique.

Sometimes simple ideas can have incredible power. For example, if you’re driving, it’s much faster to say three words to define an address on a navigation system than to say the full address.

It’s also more precise. If you’re going to a huge building, you want to get to the entrance of the building, not the other side. When it happens, it frustrates me – I nearly miss my train when the GPS navigation system takes me to the wrong side of the track. This is especially useful for ride-hailing apps, for example, since they usually only allow you to enter an address.

There are also countries that never had a good address system. For example, Lonely Planet added what3words to its Mongolia travel guide. It’s much easier to read three words in a book and type them on your phone than to click on GPS coordinates.

It also opens up many new markets for e-commerce companies. In some countries, customers don’t have a good way to indicate where they live. Ecommerce sites can add what3words support to add new delivery locations.

There are many other use cases. Emergency services, government and humanitarian programs can also utilize what3words to improve communication and increase efficiency. I can’t wait to hear Claire Jones describe how people use what3words.

Buy tickets to Disrupt Berlin to hear this discussion — and many others. The conference will be held on December 11-12.

In addition to panel discussions and fireside chats, like this time, new startups will compete in the startup battlegrounds for the coveted battleground cup.

what3words is the world’s first addressing system designed for speech – every 3m x 3m square in the world is assigned an address consisting of only three words from the dictionary. These 3-word addresses can be used to route a car or drone, as an address when ordering online, or simply as a meeting point for a picnic in the park. what3words are used in 170 countries and are used as the official address system by governments around the world. Its investors include Daimler, Intel Capital, Aramex and Deutsche Bahn.

Claire is Chief Commercial Officer for what3words; prior to that her background was in social enterprise development and growth and impact investing. Claire was named to the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Technology list and works with London-based companies on social/environmental challenges. Claire also volunteers with the Streetlink project, doing health outreach for disadvantaged women in south London.