TechNexus EMERGE Accelerator Program Announces Final Round of Collaborators

USA - English

• USA - English

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) August 10, 2015 -- Following a three-month selection process that sourced ventures from more than 220 ecosystem partners in 154 cities, TechNexus today announces the final 13 participants of the EMERGE Accelerator Program under its partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science & Technology Directorate and the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT).

The program is designed to accelerate commercial and market viability for wearable tech for first responders, and interacts with DHS in much the same collaborative model that has proven successful for TechNexus corporate partnerships.

“We’ve enjoyed a unique opportunity to treat DHS much the same as the Fortune 1000 corporate partners where we are engaged, aligning earlier stage ventures and innovation around harder problems to solve,” explains TechNexus CEO Terry Howerton. “Their power to convene and focus entrepreneurial energy on new markets creates a good venture opportunity for us, as well.”

The EMERGE Accelerator Program with DHS created a specific, important and timely challenge for entrepreneurs to focus on wearable technology for firemen, police and the first responder community. “These technologies are ultimately designed to keep the public and first responders safe,” explains David Ihrie, Chief Technology Officer for CIT. “But it’s also a great opportunity to open a very large and traditionally hard to reach market for entrepreneurs.”

Finalists selected include ventures of various early stages, some are finished products relevant to the market, and others are key enabling technologies behind wearables. The cohort of companies is now collaborating with each other and with industry leading corporate partners that mentor, provide testbeds for proof-of-concepts, and could become potential channel partners, investors or customers.

Exelon, the nation’s leading competitive energy provider, is among the TechNexus corporate partners involved in the program. Exelon utility employees often collaborate with first responders on the scene of disasters, accidents and other emergency situations in which electrical equipment and infrastructure may be involved. Consequently, the company has a great deal of insight into the needs of first responders.

“Our team will get a close look at these ventures, mentoring them in ways that will make them stronger and help them identify new and different ways technology can be deployed in the field,” said Brian Hoff, Exelon’s director of Technology Innovation.. “As a company, we’re always looking for emerging technology that can enhance service for our customers and improve the performance and safety of our employees.”

“We sought technology ventures with commercial appeal, relevant to Homeland Security and first responders, but with broader market validation,” said Howerton. TechNexus welcomes the following ventures to the next round of the EMERGE program:

• BearTek: Provides patented wearable technology built into any task specific gloves to wirelessly control any device imaginable with the click of your fingers.
• Energy Bionics: Develops, manufactures and markets portable and wearable energy products that harvest ambient energy and power mobile devices, sensors and networks.
• Human Systems Integration: Based in Walpole, MA, a cutting edge Wearables Technology company focused on the development and delivery of advanced situational awareness solutions for a number of markets including military, first responder, medical and industrial safety.
• International Thermodyne: A Charlotte, NC based company in the emerging energy harvesting industry that is heading the development and commercialization of PowerFelt™
• Juxtopia: An innovative biomedical and information technology company that delivers measurable, effective products & services for improving human performance®.
• Kofman Technologies: Aims to reduce lethality in peacekeeping and law enforcement through technological innovation.
• Neumitra: Develops embedded technologies to address the costs of too much stress and too little sleep on human health, performance, and happiness.
• Nucurrent: Is changing the way people interact with electronic devices by enabling wireless re-charging with the world's most efficient, thinnest and fastest antennas and electronics.
• Pivothead Wearable Imaging: Creates innovative 'smart' eyewear cameras that empower bionic-like capabilities with simplicity, style, and intuitive use.
• Rithmio: Has developed a gesture recognition platform to create accurate and personalized gesture-based products such as wearables, smartwatches or connected sporting equipment.
• Select Engineering Services: Automatic Injury Detection- Incapacitated by an attack AID Sensors detect a penetration event: shot, stabbed or hit by shrapnel it automatically sends your: ID / Location / Injuries.
• Telesense: An IoT company providing cost-effective, scalable, and highly configurable environmental monitoring and control solutions with the goal of increasing efficiency and public safety.
• TRX: Delivers location and mapping indoors, where GPS does not work, without relying on networked beacons or infrastructure.

For more information visit: http://technexus.com/emerge/

About TechNexus:
TechNexus is redefining venture development and investing. We’re a venture collaborative that finds, funds and develops ventures in alignment with large, Fortune 1000 corporate partners, because incumbent companies and industry leaders are facing challenges like never before. TechNexus develops, mentors, market validates, and invests in enterprise focused growth-stage startups that are willing to work with these partners. The focus of TechNexus’ venture activity is commercial viability with a heavy emphasis on proof of concept engagement to get there. For more information visit http://www.technexus.com

About EMERGE:
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has created EMERGE, an accelerator program focused on wearable tech for First Responders to speed the delivery of the latest innovative wearable technologies. EMERGE is part of a larger DHS S&T initiative to engage entrepreneurs in finding innovative ideas that address the unique needs of the Homeland Security community. As a new way of fostering innovation and effort to broaden the industrial base, EMERGE is designed to engage commercially viable wearable technology that could be adapted for first responder operations.

About the Center for Innovative Technology
Since 1985, CIT, a nonprofit corporation, has been Virginia’s primary driver of innovation and entrepreneurship. CIT accelerates the next generation of technology and technology companies through commercialization, capital formation, market development and revenue generation services. To facilitate national innovation leadership and accelerate the rate of technology adoption, CIT creates partnerships between innovative technology start-up companies and advanced technology consumers. To learn more, please visit http://www.cit.org.

Brendan Karp, TechNexus, http://www.technexus.com, +1 (312) 924-1026, [email protected]