First responders are an obvious, if difficult, market for wearable tech. Technical demands for responders are difficult to fulfill, governments don’t have a lot of money, and purchase cycles are long.
But where government money does flow, products follow. And government money is starting to flow to wearables.
The US Department of Homeland Security has launched EMERGE!, an accelerator project aimed at wearables — specifically, mobile sensors, communications, advanced materials, and visualization technologies. The program will operate through two existing accelerators: Dallas’s TechWildcatters and Chicago’s TechNexus.
Applications are open now. Final selections will be made in May, with two demo days — the latter happening in San Francisco on 9/11, a date which could not have been selected coincidentally.
