Californians turn to a startup to check their air quality

climate change

During the California wildfires, air pollution was a major concern, and a crowd-sourced Utah startup became an unlikely hero. PurpleAir monitors air quality in real-time, thanks to a network of sensors across North America. The sensors sell for $179 to $259 and can be easily set up at a person’s home. They then link to Wi-Fi, and upload data to the cloud. This data is then displayed on the PurpleAir’s map; it’s popularity increased by 100-fold after California’s wildfire season began this year.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses high-tech monitors to measure air quality. However, these monitors are expensive and sparsely spread around the country. They give residents an averaged idea of air pollution, but aren’t specific. And, in the case of the 2019 wildfires, some of the government monitors gave incorrect readings. In comparison, PurpleAir’s network includes thousands of sensors – 3000 in California alone. While they may not be as high-tech, their coverage gives a good indication of pollution in specific areas, and can help people instantly.

How do they work?

PurpleAir’s sensors use a fan to push air past a laser beam. Any particles in the air will reflect light onto a detection plate. This plate measures the reflection like a pulse; large particles make a long pulse, small particles make a quick pulse. Doing this, the sensor can count particles in sizes of 0.3 to 10μm (micrometers). Anything bigger than 10μm will get breathed in and trapped in the throat, while smaller particles will get inhaled and affect the lungs.

After monitoring the particle sizes, PurpleAir’s algorithm calculates the concentration of particle matter in the air. It measures PM10, PM2.5 and PM1.0. In context, PM2.5 is described as fine particles, and about 40 fine particles make up the width of human hair. These fine particles are actually more harmful than the larger, because they’re more likely to go deeper into the lungs.

The big-time hero had to start somewhere

The company started in 2015, when the founder, Adrian Dybwad, set out to measure dust from a gravel pit near his home. “I said to myself, it’s 2015, surely there must be a sensor that can tell me how much dust is in there,” Dybwad said. With a lack of affordable, accurate sensors and his background in computer networking and electronics, Dybwad started making his own. His community donated a few thousand dollars – enough for the area to have 80 sensors. “We didn’t set out to do better than the government’s own monitoring, we set out to satisfy our own curiosity,” he said.

But, more and more people are turning to PurpleAir’s monitors. In November 2018, PurpleAir moved out of Dybwad’s house and into a full-time workshop, where production continues to increase. In July 2019, a PurpleAir sensor was installed at its highest altitude: on the side of a small astronomy dome in California’s White Mountains, at approximately 13,000 feet.

Are you developing technology to improve shared data or help people know about their environment? Did you know your work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’s largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Monumental medical technology: from at-home testing kits to AI software finding patients for clinical trials

telehealth

In the 1600s, it was almost a miracle to celebrate a 30th birthday. Now, our average lifespan is around 71 years. In fact, in 2014, there were 72,197 Americans over the age of 100. This isn’t an accident; we’re living longer, healthier lives because of medical improvements, enhanced by evolving technology. Medicine and technology go hand in hand.

Technology and People

In the 21st century, technology is growing rapidly, and it makes sense that it’s used to help people. Augmented reality is being used help people with retinal degeneration and robot assistants are being implemented in hospitals.

Here’s some more companies whose remarkable tech is improving the medical industry:

Everlywell

Getting blood, urine and saliva tests at a GP can be inconvenient, timely and awkward. Everlywell’s modern-day solution is ingenious: the Austin-based company offers at-home lab testing kits and provides quick, digital results.

Patients can order more than 30 different tests, including food sensitivity, vitamins, STDs and thyroid. The testing kits come with instructions, sterile collection tools and pre-paid shipping. The company uses dried blood spot (DBS) testing so vials of blood are not needed, just a drop. CLIA-certified labs (used by hospitals and physicians across the U.S.) then review the samples, and patients receive secure, accurate results with actionable data and insights.

UnaliWear

UnaliWear creates wearable technology, in the form of watches, that have fall detection, medication reminders, and wandering notifications. The ‘Kanega’ watches are waterproof, voice activated and self-contained, meaning there’s no need to connect to a smartphone or other device. They do, however, have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to connect to other medical devices, like hearing aids. Their artificial intelligence (AI) technology learns the wearer’s lifestyle to provide predictive, pre-emptive support. The company’s goal is to help aging people keep their independence with dignity, and keep their family feeling assured.

Analyzing Medical Data

As well as living longer, there are also more people in the world – roughly 7.7 billion. That means there’s an enormous amount of diverse, confusing, health-related data in the world, which ranges from cell-level to population studies. To make use of this data, it needs to be collated and connected in a dynamic, intuitive way, which is where technology comes in again. We’re already seeing machine learning software being used to find patterns, predict at-risk patients and help find solutions.

Here’s some more companies with impressive data analytics technology:

Galen Data

This Houston company offers a secure, Cloud-based platform that connects to medical devices, including pacemakers and sleep apnea machines. The system can provide diagnostics, and keep clinicians, patients and families informed. This data is then collated and visualized for review. As well as meeting FDA and HIPAA compliance standards, the platform is mobile friendly, allowing for alerts and notifications. It’s also scalable and customizable, so starting small or with unique equipment is no issue.

By collating and analyzing the data, companies can also automatically update patient data and see common problems. The company’s goal is to simplify medical device connectivity easy, so clinicians, patients and their families have one less thing to worry about.

Deep6.ai

Deep6.ai’s software analyzes thousands of medical data points to find patients for clinical trials. The first step is extracting data such as symptoms, diagnoses, test results and socio-economic factors. It then analyzes this data – making connections, finding patterns and building clinical profiles. Researchers, analysts and doctors can use and compare these profiles to see who will benefit most from certain treatments.

By doing this, the best patients are selected for clinical trials. Hospitals and pharmaceutical companies can reduce their risks and gain quicker evidence of treatment-effectiveness. Completing these trials faster means more time for new research and innovation.

NarrativeDX

There’s no doubt that hospitals do fantastic work, but there’s always room for improvement, and negative patient experiences can be costly. Narrative DX makes this a simpler process by collating patient and employee feedback data to provide insights and suggestions. The company goes beyond a survey score, and instead collates survey comments, online reviews, social media posts and comments, and asks why. AI technology then analyses the results and identifies key issues. From this, hospitals can create focused, specific improvements. Because NarrativeDX analyses both patient and staff feedback, results mean happier patients and more engaged, driven employees.

Are you working with innovative medical technology? Did you know your efforts could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Machine learning robots might be the answer to recycling

software4

Here’s something controversial: recycling is exhausting. Yes, it’s infinitely better for the environment than throwing all of our waste into landfill. But, we have to remember to take caps off bottles, or put ‘soft plastics’ in different bins, and it’s tiring.

Up until recently, China made a business out of recycling. In 2016 alone, the U.S. sent 7.3 million metric tons of waste to China, to be sorted and turned into recycled plastic. However, the waste it was receiving was unhygienic and polluting the country. And so, in an effort to clean up its environmental act, the country banned imports on a large number of recyclables. In 2017 and 2018, China stopped accepting 56 types of waste.

So where does America’s waste go now? Sadly, the answer is landfills. In some places, like San Juan Island, Washington, only certain recyclables are collected. Residents can recycle clean and separated cardboard, metal, aluminum cans, and clean wood; everything else is going straight into the garbage. Long term, limiting recycling could be a good thing; it could help us discover how to use less and re-use more. But it’s a slow and grueling process.

AMP Robotics has a solution. The tech startup developed AMPCortex: a high-speed robot that uses artificial intelligence (AI) software to identify, sort and process recyclables. While waste is moved forward on a conveyer belt, the robot effectively has a brain, eyes and hands. It uses machine learning technology with a pattern recognition vision system, which turns millions of images into data. This data then tells the machine’s three arms where to move and grab. The result is high-speed waste separation.

Because of the AI software, the machine learns, improves accuracy, and can adapt. This means it can sort waste from multiple industries: brands and materials of municipal waste, batteries and wires from electronic waste, and various metals, wood and concrete in construction waste. It also links to an online visualization tool, which can keep records of sorted waste and inform users of equipment issues or hazards.

AMP Robotics says its goal is to make recycling more sustainable and affordable. It recently raised $16 million in Series A funding, which it plans to use to scale up operations, and increase its efficiency. The company already has its robot in facilities across the U.S., including California, New York, and Texas, with more planned.

Are you developing robotics technology or an innovative way to clean up garbage? Did you know your efforts could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation to audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

A California startup has just made major leaps towards solving climate change, and it’s not slowing down

microgrid

Environmental tech startup Heliogen has achieved a scientific breakthrough, reaching over 1000°C with concentrated solar energy. At this temperature, it can replace fossil fuels in producing cement, steel and petrochemicals. But, the company says it’s not stopping there. Its next goal is 1500°C; then it can split water and carbondioxide, to create gas used to power factories and fuel cars.

Heliogen’s mission is to reduce greenhouse gases as quickly as possible, in an effort to reverse the effects of climate change. In the last 270 years, more than 392 billion metric tons of carbon have been release into the atmostphere due to fossil fuels. Half of that’s happened in the last 35 years, since the mid 1980s. Industrial processes, like making concrete, are responsible for more than a fifth of all emissions. Using solar energy is a step in the right direction.

How do they do it?

Commercial concentrating solar thermal systems have previously been able to generate power, reaching up to 565°C. But industrial processes are burning through fossil fuels at accelerated rates and the climate crisis calls for bigger action. Heliogen reached the breakthrough temperatures because of its tech. It uses advanced computer software to align a large number of mirrors to reflect sunlight towards a specific target. The mirrors act as one, thanks to a closed-loop control system. The light is targeted towards a tower with a receiver, which converts the sunlight into ultra-high temperature heat.

What if we got rid of fossil fuels today?

Sadly, the world isn’t ready to stop using fossil fuels just yet. But, just for a moment forget the administrative headache of switching to entirely renewable energy sources, and take an optimistic view. Pollution would almost entirely end – both because mining would end, and because there would be no way to make non-biodegradable products without petroleum. Public health would improve because of the drop in pollution, meaning Americans would save US$74.6 billion every year that’s currently spent on coal-related health issues. Most importantly, the halt in carbon emissions would put a halt to climate change.

Are you developing a way to alleviate climate change? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Retinal degeneration is being helped by an augmented reality vision

research universities variable focus lenses

Augmented reality usually makes us see things that aren’t really there. But, for some, this tech is helping them see what is there. California startup Eyedaptic is using augmented reality to improve the vision of those suffering from retinal disorders. The company’s prototype is designed to improve reading and everyday tasks in individuals with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Eyedaptic’s AdaptiVu for AMD: sounds confusing, so what is it?

AMD is the number one cause of vision loss in people over 50; more than 170 million people just in the US suffer from it. It occurs when a small portion of the retina, the macular, is damaged or worn down. Right now there’s no cure, just treatments to delay its progression or improve the vision.

Eyedaptic’s device looks like glorified sunglasses, but it’s so much more than that. The adaptive augmented reality software simulates a person’s natural vision. It creates a whole picture for the user, rather than just magnifying what’s in front of them. The battery-powered tech also has built-in training aids for user-friendly setup and use. AdaptiVu was designed alongside ophthalmology retinal specialists, optometrists and occupational therapists, with the hope that people suffering from retinal diseases like AMD can have almost their full vision back.

Eyedaptic won second place at San Diego’s QuickPitch competition this year, beating almost 300 other startups just to be there and taking home $10,000 in prize money. The competition featured 10 biotech and tech startup executives, each with two minutes to convince the judging panel that their company was a promising business venture. And Eyedaptics is proving just that.

AR is the practical person’s VR

While virtual reality (VR) takes you to a whole other world, augmented reality (AR) uses technology to add pictures or other digital elements to reality. Because of this, it’s taking over from VR as some seriously talked-about tech. AR’s full posibilities aren’t yet known, but games such as Pokemon Go, or medical training without the need for cadavers, are proving that it’s going to be a big part of our future.

Are you working with augmented or virtual reality to make medical technology? Did you know your R&D work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Futuristic smart homes are no longer a future dream.

open lab shop local

Sustainable, 3D printed smart homes seem like something out of a ‘Back to the Future’ film, but they’re very much a reality. Nevada-based company haus.me is creating just that, even marketing their homes as ‘zombie-proof’. Although the zombie-proofing is yet to be tested, haus.me’s homes are ready to be shipped, even internationally, complete with all the bells and whistles of smart home technology.

Smart houses are a growing trend in the US, with their market value reaching US$ 51.9 Billion in 2018. There’s a lot of perks to living in a house with mobile monitoring of all systems. Smart homes give people the ability to regulate various functions and appliances, providing ‘greener’ living with the added benefit of cheaper energy bills. They also come with safety benefits in more ways than one: not only can people check which appliances have been left on, but automation systems can also notify people about intruders and other suspicious activity.

There’s also a social movement for tiny homes. They’re a cheaper, mobile alternative to regular houses, with lesser living costs and impacts on the environment. Some love the simplicity of tiny homes, but they’re certainly not for everybody. American homes are, on average, 2,687 square feet. Tiny homes, according to the International Residential Building Code, are almost seven times smaller – a maximum of 400 square feet.

Thankfully, haus.me’s homes currently come in three models, only one of which is considered a ‘tiny home’. The company’s ‘off-the-grid studio’ is 400 square feet and can be manufactured in four to seven weeks. The other two models include a two-bedroom ‘single family house’ and a ‘luxury family house’ that has two floors, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. All three models are nothing short of impressive; the houses are:

  • Mobile, fully autonomous, self-sustaining and efficient on energy. Water tanks, solar battery storage and autonomous sewage all come with the house, so it’s possible to live even in the strangest places. The houses are also equipped with a cloud-based diagnostic system to diagnose maintenance issues in real-time.
  • Complete and ready. They come assembled with electronics, furniture, decor and even wine glasses. There’s also no need for a foundation or any construction.
  • Fully equipped with smart technology. The company doesn’t hold back either, ‘fully equipped’ in this case includes HEPA air quality controls, Sonos speaker systems, Apple TVs, 100 inch projector screens, high-speed internet connections and even a fingerprint door lock. All systems – even security – are remote-controlled from a phone, tablet or other device.
  • Safe. The 3D composite polymer frame is built to last through hurricanes, earthquake, and apparently zombies.

The 3D printing has limitations: there’s a lack of experts and so far only plastics and concrete can be printed. However, material costs, waste and productions time are all reduced. It’s an innovative process that could not exist 20 years ago, and is now revolutionary.

Are you developing extraordinary buildings or smart technology? Did you know your work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the US’s largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

‘Data science’ is not a scary phrase, it’s imperitive for businesses to stay competitive

The New Program Dedicated to Keeping Mississippi at the Forefront of Technology

“Those who own data own the future, but only if you know what data you’ve got,” said Steve Holyer said during his presentation at Big Data LDN. And he’s right. In 2019, data is being created, stored and shared at an alarming rate, but data is useless unless you can collate it, analyze it and learn from it, which is where data science comes in.

What is data science?

If you see dark clouds, you can probably predict a storm. This is because your brain sees and feels this information, and from your past experience you know it means a storm. You probably move inside, because your prediction led you to a logical solution. Scale the clouds up to include data from almost everything – smart phone locations, CCTV footage, grocery store purchases and online searches. Brains get overwhelmed with this much data, but technology doesn’t.

Data science is a combination of tools, algorithms and machine learning that finds patterns from data. It will use known information and historical evidence combined with machine learning algorithms to make future predictions. Data analytics and data science give context and help form patterns – in the information age, this is cruical.

Why is it important?

Firstly, like getting out of the rain, data science can make predictions, which can be adressed and resolved with logical conclusions. Secondly, when data is being collected and collated, anything that stands out is noticed. This means that posibilities of risk and fraud are seen in minutes, not days or months. Thirdly, organizations can see, at a glance, who’s buying what, where and when. By understanding the target audience, any company can improve its customers’ experiences.

Introducing it into business

In the information age, data scientists play important roles in businesses, but not every company has the capacity for them. This is why companies like data.world were created. This Texas software startup creates a searchable, cloud-based catalog of a business’ data. It then uses specific graphing technology to help visually explain and map that data. Think of Facebook’s newsfeed and profiles mixed with Google’s searchability and library of information. data.world’s catalog is an inventory of metadata. The company uses it to classify and filter data, which is then better rediscovered, shared, understood and used.

Are you developing a new data science tool? Did you know your work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is Texas’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. Click here to learn more about our technical expertise.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative. 

Women in tech are making waves in Texas

Hospital innovation

It needs to be said: 2019 is the year of the woman, especially for women founding tech startups. There’s still a way to go before the male-female ratio is equal, but female-led startups are most definitely on the rise and pushing Texas towards a high-tech ecosystem.

Texas is a great state for females in business, with women making up nearly half of the state’s 12.4 million jobs. It’s also ranked second in the nation in the number of women-owned firms. In Houston specifically, 20 percent of founders are women, ranking 5th among 60 tech ecosystems for its share of female founders. 20 percent is still a small share, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Here’s some female-led companies that are impressively improving the tech industry:

Diligent Robotics 

Andrea Thomaz and Vivian Chu co-founded this company, with the hopes of using robotics to make the lives of healthcare workers easier. With a motto of “enhancing, not replacing, human jobs”, they created Moxi: a hospital robot assistant that performs routine, non-patient facing tasks such as gathering and moving supplies, delivering lab samples, and removing soiled linen bags.

The company’s robotic assistants, like Moxi, operate with ‘social robotics’. This is an AI framework that includes social intelligence (an expressive face), mobile manipulation (a moveable arm and hand, and a mobile base) and human-guided learning (AI technology that learns from human teachers). The company’s hope is that Moxi gives nurses more time to care for and connect with patients.

PATH EX 

This Houston-based biomedical device company, led by CEO and co-founder Sinead Miller, combats sepsis – one of the biggest killers in our hospitals right now. After partnering with Alex Wieseler in 2017, Miller created a device that takes a five-millimeter blood sample and can diagnose bacterial infection from this. It then goes a step further to circulate the blood, remove bacteria – including drug-resistant strains – and cycle the clean blood back into the patient.

Miller’s own experience battling a serious brain injury motivated her to help others in the same situation. Her determination shows; the company won big at this year’s Fire Pitch Competition, taking home a new award that came with a $100,000 investment from the Texas Halo Fund.

Rebellion Photonics 

Allison Lami Sawyer is the co-owner and co-founder of Rebellion Photonics, a company that provides visual monitoring solutions that make the oil and gas industry safer, greener, and more profitable.

The company’s Gas Cloud Imaging (GCI) system uses specific imaging technology, both visible and infrared, to monitor, quantify, and display explosive, harmful gas leaks as they occur. The company’s AI driven software, Spectra, runs and monitors this GCI technology automatically. It can also be set with alarms at certain levels, for real-time results. Rebellion’s PEARL (Physics Enhanced Artificial Intelligence Real-time Logic) analytics uses data science, optical physics and AI to deliver valuable information to customers about their site. The machine learning means that this information will continue to add value as the facility runs and changes.

Any business woman will tell you there’s still a long way to go, but it’s clear to see that female-founded startups are doing incredible work and making waves in Texas.

Are you a woman creating a new business? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is Texas’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

AI technology and medical data might be the next thing to save a life

life sciences

Humans bodies are all the same in theory, but in reality can be so very different. Almost all of us have 206 bones, 650 muscles and approximately 37.2 trillion cells. But there’s also eight main blood groups, and a unique set of DNA for each and every person. Add to this four different strains of influenza, more than 100 types of cancer, and infinite ways of breaking a bone. It’s clear to see that our health is a very confusing thing.

However, improvements to technology are helping both patients and professionals in the healthcare industry. This is where ClosedLoop.ai comes in; this healthtech company uses machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) software to find patterns in medical data, predict at-risk patients and recommend solutions. It’s been named one of Built In Austin’s 50 Startups to Watch in 2019, and it’s clear why. The company aims to tackle heathcare’s most difficult challenges by providing ‘personalized medicine’, something Nicole Martin of Forbes says is the way of the future.

‘Precision medicine’, or ‘personalized medicine’, involves creating personalized treatment, taking into account the patient’s genes, habits, location and environment. AI algorithms increase the accurancy of this personalized medicine and predict the outcomes the patient will have. To take this one step further, AI can process a mass of patient data, see patterns and can draw from this reasons why diseases may occur, who’s most likely to get them, and what to look for even before symptoms show.

ClosedLoop.ai uses predictive analytics to give patients early diagnosis, targeted interventions, and personalized care. It can also see trends and help identify the patients who will benefit most from certain treatments. This means that the best patients are selected for clinical trials, so pharmaceutical companies lessen their risks and gain real-world evidence of drug-effectiveness. Not only are patients getting the best treatments, but theses treatments are also more efficient, more readily-available, and more affordable.

Is your technology helping the medical industry? Did you know your development effort could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is Texas’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

First online check in and now online food ordering; how mobile apps are making airports easier

digital connectivity shop local

Sitting at an airport, about to board your flight to the Bahamas for your three week holiday – exciting. Trying to find the closest burger joint, then waiting in a ridiculous line for your food – not so exciting. One Texas startup is easing the pain of airport meals with their new mobile app. 

Grab is a mobile software company that’s modernized the airport experience. They have developed an app that easily connects travelers to their dining needs. It allows people to: search for the food they’re after, find a map of restaurants in the airport, order remotely, keep track of their favourite meals and hold onto the receipts. Since it started in 2015, the company has expanded to more than 37 airports, including Dallas and Austin. Grab is on track to contiue this rapid expansion. This summery they landed one of Texas’ biggest startup deals – a multimillion dollar deal with London-based Collinson Group. 

Grab founder Mark Bergsrud has worked in the travel industry for more than 20 years, and drew on this experience to design the app. “This feels like how mobile check in felt. There was a problem customers didn’t know they had — check in wasn’t that difficult anyway, but to be able to have that control, people love it,” he said. 

And he’s right – technology is constantly making the airport process easier. Twenty years ago travelers would never dream of boarding a plane without their paper boarding pass. But these days, passes can be accessed via smartphones or even smartwatches. Virtual loyalty cards are helping customers shop, access airline lounges, and collect and redeem miles / points without even touching a computer. It’s even common for travelers to receive preflight, personalized emails offering discounts in airport shops, thanks to the sharing of their personal data. In another 20 or 30 or 100 years, who knows what the future of airport travel might look like.

Are you also developing software to make travel easier? Did you know your R&D experiments could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is Texas’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.