KSI Data Sciences' new product is intended to save lives and to be an “internet of things”
KSI Data Sciences Founder and Chief Architect Jason Barton said today KSI’s new product prototype to be developed and tested in Danville is primarily intended to give police, fire and first responders the tools necessary to share information quickly in order to save lives.
Barton referenced the term “internet of things,” to describe his new product where sensors are embedded in objects and are linked through networks, often using the same internet protocol that connects the internet.
“These networks generate volumes of data for analysis. When objects can both sense the environment and communicate, they become useful tools for understanding complex information quickly,” he said.
Speaking at The Launch Place to around 30 community officials, Barton said these applications can be used during forest fires, earthquakes and tsunamis and during tragic events as in the case with the Boston Marathon bombing where there was a manhunt to find the bombers.
Barton added he wants to take the “hard lessons learned” from previous products he has developed for the U.S. military and bring it down to scale for commercial and everyday use. The applications are endless, he said.
For example, Barton referenced precision agriculture where remote sensor applications with an unmanned aircraft can fly over a farm field to detect fungus, reducing crop damage.
Barton and his development team are relocating to Danville to test and take to market this product. The Launch Place’s first seed fund investment of $250,000 was made to KSI.
KSI will receive $150,000 immediately and $100,000 upon the successful testing of this new product.
KSI CEO Wes McGee said, “We want to be not only The Launch Place’s first investment, but its most successful.”
The Launch Place assists with business development, and job creation and retention region-wide through its business consulting services, while having a dual responsibility to recruit and retain entrepreneurs to the Danville region due to a $10 million grant award over five years by the Danville Region Foundation. A $4 million seed fund was established with this grant to invest in start-ups and serial entrepreneurs.
As a 501 (C) 3 nonprofit organization, The Launch Place strives to energize and diversify Southern Virginia’s regional economy through entrepreneurship development and business consulting services.