Kasiel Solutions of Saskatoon is working with the Digital Integration Centre of Excellence (DICE) at Sask Polytech to expand the capabilities – and markets – of ORA, their personal safety device. Originally designed for seniors, ORA can be worn as jewelry and programmed to call a customized list of contacts and transmit the senior’s location via their cellphones in the event of an emergency. If their designated contacts don’t respond, the system calls 911.
ORA is also very attractive for lone workers, such as taxi drivers and realtors. In fact, it is already being dopted and endorsed by the Saskatchewan Taxi Cab Association. This new market means expanding ORA’s capabilities to serve organizations with hundreds of employees, where a single supervisor may receive alerts from a dozen or more staff.
“ORA was created as a direct consumer product,” says Kasiel Solutions founder and CEO Serese Selanders. “We needed a way to manage an enterprise solution and we needed help.”
Selanders explains the company had existing links with Sask Polytech through summer student placements and a personal relationship between Dr. Terry Peckham of Sask Polytech’s DICE and ORA’s vice president of Software, Andre Doucette. An NSERC Engage Grant has been received to develop a new interface for Ora’s expansion into the lone worker market.
Selanders explains that Sask Polytech offers affordable access to expertise.
“When you go to a reputable organization like Sask Polytech, you know what you’re getting,” she says. “As a start-up we have limited resources and this was a way to get research and development help without putting out a significant amount of money, although we did spend some of our own internal resources. It’s a huge help.”
For more information on Applied Research at Sask Polytech visit saskpolytech.ca/research.