5 companies win top prizes at Under Fire Technology Showcase

College Station, TX – Five companies were selected as top prize winners during the recent Under Fire Technology Showcase held in College Station, Texas. The winners were Two Six Labs, Select Engineering Services, Hydronalix, FireHud, and Wi-Fiber. They were chosen from a group of 18 innovative public safety technologies after the field was narrowed to just 10 companies following short product “pitches” from each company.  The event was hosted by the Product Development Center of the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX).  

Two Six Labs, of Virginia, has developed the industry’s leading self-contained radiological detection platform, supporting handheld SPRDs (Spectroscopic Personal Radiation Detectors) and large static detectors through a real-time monitoring and collaboration platform. Two Six Labs was the winner of the Esri License, which includes: 1 ArcGIS Annual License for four users.   

Select Engineering Services (SES), of Florida, has developed the Automatic Injury Detection (AID) system, which provides help in seconds when the sensing panel has been pierced by a bullet, knife or shrapnel. SES was the winner of the Defense Equipment Company Prize, which includes a $5,000 in-kind Response Marketing Package to assist with channel development into military DoD applications and markets.   

Hydronalix, of Arizona, has developed the Sonar Emily, a remote-operated, response boat that provides high resolution bottom imagery for locating drowning victims, submerged vehicles and sunken boats. Hydronalix was the winner of the Darley Prize, which includes a feature on Darley websites and in Darley eblasts/social media, consulting phone call with in-house firefighter experts, coordination of demos with first responders, possible inclusion in Darley’s catalog, and more.  

FireHud, of Georgia, has developed a real-time monitoring system that displays biometric and environmental data to firefighters and outside officials. FireHud was the winner of the Skyfire Prize, which includes marketing/design help, trade show placement, and regulatory consulting. (Photo caption: FireHud demonstrates its real-time monitoring system at Disaster City.)  

Wi-Fiber, of Maryland, has developed a lamppost head that contains security cameras, IOT, and municipal WiFi equipment within a slender body. Wi-Fiber was the winner of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Responder Ventures Prize, which includes a guaranteed position in Cohort 3 of the ResponderXLabs/AWS program, $25,000 in AWS credits, a featured showcase presence in up to three regional ResponderXLive events in 2019, and technical, public relations and sales resources from AWS and Responder Corp. Wi-Fiber also won the Interra prize, which includes a 45-minute presentation slot at the California Fire Operations Summit.   

“It was an open forum for a wide variety of technologies,” said Caleb Holt, Manager of the TEEX Product Development Center. “The event focused on technologies that are targeted to provide first responders with a way to complete their tasks faster, more efficiently and/or safer for both the responders and citizens.”  

The next Under Fire event is being planned for March 2020. For more information, contact Casey Richardson via email [email protected] or phone 979.458.2819.   

About Under Fire

Under Fire is a showcase where response technology companies demonstrate developing products to emergency response leaders. This year, 18 participating companies explained, or “pitched,” their products in 15-minute presentations, in hopes of being named one of the final 10 to advance to application demonstrations at the world-famous Disaster City?. 

  Companies Participating in the Technology Showcase

  • Wi-FIber
  • Ladder Light, LLC
  • Two Six Labs
  • Solidbot America
  • Geospiza
  • Live Simulator LLC
  • MobilePD, Inc.
  • Select Enginering Services, LLC
  • Metis Tactical
  • Carver Scientific, Inc.
  • Northern Star Fire
  • FireHUD Inc,
  • Incident Management Technology, Inc.
  • NEC Labs America
  • Hydronalix
  • SMC Tactical Communications LLC

About TEEX-Emergency Services Training Institute

The TEEX Emergency Services Training Institute (TEEX-ESTI) is home to the 300-acre complex of the Brayton Fire Training Field, Disaster City?, and the Emergency Operations Training Center in College Station, Texas, as well as the Center for Marine Training and Safety in Galveston, Texas. The Institute offers emergency response training and instruction in over 130 areas, and trained more than 110,000 people last year from 62 countries around the world. TEEX-ESTI has provided fire training for emergency responders since 1929, when the State Firemen’s and Fire Marshals’ Association of Texas selected Texas A&M University as the site for a permanent firefighter training school. For more information, visit Fire & Emergency Services.

About the TEEX Product Development Center

The Product Development Center, a center within the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, helps manufacturers, product developers, inventors, entrepreneurs, and businesses move products from an idea or concept to the global marketplace.  The Center serves as a gateway to the engineering expertise, experienced market analysts, laboratories, and real-world facilities of The Texas A&M University System to ensure a product or technology stays on the path to commercialization.  Using the proven process of THINK | BUILD | SELL, the PDC helps companies develop methodologies, recruit subject-matter experts, assess partnerships, and test and evaluate their products.  The Center also offers TEEX TESTED™, an unbiased, third-party testing and validation that a technology performs reliably in real-world conditions.  Learn more at teexpdc.com.