First response technologyDHS recruits Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to develop first-response technology

It is not unusual for government agencies to engage private sector experts to solve or identify, and sometimes, anticipate, future events.

Case in point, the actions of the Bush administration following the terrorist attack on 9/11.

No one in the government expected the method used by the terrorists to destroy the World Trade Center. The attack was successfully carried out. After the attack, the administration brought in several Hollywood writers to create the scenarios by which another attack might take place, including possible targets and means of attack.

Now, San Francisco has adopted a similar approach. In an effort to make the work of their first-response personnel safer and more effective, the fire department has turned to Silicon Valley for the technology to do just that. They approached these technology entrepreneurs to talk with them about developing products that would provide the benefits that first-responders needed.

The arrangement was certainly a unique one, bringing together end-users, larger companies, and the innovators to develop ideas for accelerating bringing these products to market.

The International Business Times, reports that recently, San Francisco’s fire chief Joanne Hayes-White gathered a room full of entrepreneurs to talk about how first responder technology has the potential to save lives. Anecdotally, Hayes-White, a 25-year veteran firefighter disclosed her first use of a thermal imaging camera, used to find victims in burning buildings.

“First, they were 20 pounds; now they’re handheld,” Hayes-White said. In fact, last month one entrepreneurial technology company unveiled a thermal imaging camera they have miniaturized to an extent that it is light enough to be placed as a monocle on the firefighter’s visor. This advancement in equipment produces a remarkably clear image of what is in the operational environment, even in a area of dense, black smoke.

Hayes-White’s panel was the first such gathering, organized by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which opened an office in Silicon Valley this past April. The event was the result of a year-long startup accelerator program called Emerge, whose stated goal is to identify and commercialize high-tech first responder gear.

In other words, the DHS wants better technology for first responders — police, firefighters, and EMTs — but rather than pushing for innovation from within the massive corporations that already provide technology to government agencies, the DHS has come to Silicon Valley to tap the entrepreneurial ecosystem of northern California.

Giant technology firms have resources of large scale manufacturing and distribution, but there is one crucial difference. Technology startups are much more nimble, and can shift their development much faster than the huge corporations can.

Entrepreneurs, too, said they have been inspired by actually interacting and learning from the first responders about the day-to-day challenges of their jobs — and how their technology can be used to make their lives safer and their more efficient and effective.

Earlier this past summer, TechNexus held a meet-up for the participating companies to actually meet and speak with firefighters. Brian Farrell, the founder and CEO of TKI, said he was stunned by “the sheer amount of equipment he had to carry.”

“For me, that was an eye-opening opportunity,” he said. “Instead of a number of disparate electronic items operating individually, I think there’s a lot of advantages to integrate those items into one architecture.”

Joshua M. Dennis, the district chief of the Chicago Fire Department, who participated in the event earlier this summer, says the state of technology among firefighters was fairly retrograde, to such an extent that a firefighter of a century ago would recognize them.

“We still use water,” he jokes. “It’s a lot of similar tools we used 100 years ago.”

Dennis is particularly excited about the idea of using drones to survey fires before actually sending firefighters into a building.

And the tech ideas keep coming. That idea clicks with Jacob Babcock, the CEO of NuCurrent, a wireless power provider based out of Chicago. “Let’s say you’re a firefighter out in California, and you want to consistently monitor forest fires,” Babcock said. “That’s very conceivably replaced by drones in the near feature.”

With wireless power, Babcock says, firefighters can recharge drones autonomously. “They can land on their landing area, and that recharges them,” he says.

Of course, entrepreneurs and investors alike are motivated by more than just the opportunity to help first responders. In 2009, the market size for first responders and law enforcement robotics was $203 million. One industry report says it will grow to $3.7 billion by 2016.

“Entrepreneurs are motivated by a profit opportunity,” Terry Howerton, CEO of TechNexus, says. “It would be great to make a profit and make firemen safe. Goal number one, though, is you have to make a profit.”

He added, “So how do you get entrepreneurs motivated? It’s simple. You tell them there’s a market.”