Verizon’s 5G First Responder Lab graduated its first cohort

The first class of Verizon 5G Responder Lab companies showed off the public safety use cases they developed or enhanced using Verizon’s 5G tech at their final experience day in New York City on May 20.

In November 2018, Verizon announced that it would be partnering with Responder Corp. to launch the 5G First Responder Lab, an incubator program designed to give startups and other innovators access to 5G technology to develop, test and refine 5G solutions. The five startups who were a part of the first cohort worked out of Alley powered by Verizon in D.C., a coworking space where a new Verizon 5G lab was recently installed in the space.

The first class was selected from a pool of 50 applications based on their ability to enhance the “ready,” “rebuild,” “recover” and “respond” focus areas of an emergency situation.

The Responder Lab’s first cohort of startups included (with descriptions from Verizon):

• Aerial Applications, which creates drone solutions to turn visual data into actionable insights.
• Adcor Magnetic Systems, which develops sensors to detect, identify, track and correlate on a digital 3D environment.
• Kiana Analytics, which curates a cloud-based physical safety and security platform with engagement analytics for real-time location/situational awareness.
• Blueforce Development, which develops situational awareness solutions and sensors to enhance field operations and communication.
• Qwake Technologies, which creates augmented reality products to help firefighters see in smoke-filled, zero-visibility and other hazardous environments.

Aerial Applications was the only D.C.-based startup selected for the program. Though the startups worked out of Verizon’s D.C. 5G Lab, the tech giant also has 5G labs in New York City, Cambridge, Mass., Palo Alto, Calif. and Los Angeles.

“The future of public safety technology will be powered by 5G networks, which will enable critical communications, enhanced situational awareness and innovative technologies that will help the first responder community save lives,” Nick Nilan, director of public sector product development at Verizon said in a statement. “The companies in the 5G First Responder Lab work to understand the needs of first responders and develop technology that helps them protect our communities.”

Verizon and Responder Corp. will host two more cohorts of five startups to go through its incubator program. Applications for the second cohort closed on April 5 for startups to participate in the three-month program.