Program Focuses on Wearable Technology for First Responders

Washington, D.C. – This week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) held a demonstration day in San Francisco to showcase a wide range of innovative technologies discovered through its first accelerator program, EMERGE. EMERGE, announced in March, is designed to target entrepreneurs with innovative ideas on wearable technology.

“EMERGE is unique because it brings together – for the first time – innovators, public safety and the investment community to find ingenious ways of solving the complex challenges that, as a nation, we face every day to keep our homeland safe and secure,” said DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology Dr. Reginald Brothers. “The demonstration of technology prototypes at the EMERGE Demo Day will help put creative solutions into the hands of first responders.”

Throughout the day, EMERGE participants demonstrated their technology concepts and prototypes to members of the investor and industry liaison communities. Featured innovative technologies included mouth guards that use bone conduction technology for communication, devices for sensory impaired users that can help first responders locate people in challenging environments, a triage language translator for patients to communicate with first responders, and protective gloves with embedded equipment controls to remotely operate devices.

 Interested in learning more? Read the full S&T Press Release.