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Founded: September
2001
Products
and Services:
Applied Innovations Research (AIR) is an early stage
startup company whose mission is to deliver innovative
products that enable residential and business users to
effectively monitor and significantly reduce overall energy
consumption while maintaining a comfortable, healthful living
and working environment.
AIR is executing against its mission by developing a
low cost reliable and
user-friendly Handheld (PDA based) Monitoring and Control
Platform.
Adaptable for use in homes, buildings, industrial and
medical applications, initial product development is focused
on a Residential Energy Management Product (PalmTherm) that
would replace a wall-mounted thermostat with a handheld
computer.
Optionally
configured with wireless internet connectivity, this platform
provides energy use feedback, monitoring and control for
consumers and utilities that allow smarter, more efficient
energy use.
Markets:
The total market for
residential and small building energy related products within
the United States is in the Billions of Dollars. AIR is
targeting a significant subset of the total market comprised
of energy conscious consumers (a.k.a. ‘green’ consumers) and
electric utilities looking for more cost effective, higher
fidelity demand response solutions (to shed loads during peak
electrical demand). AIR is also
interested in leveraging its Handheld Monitoring and Control
Platform with OEMs in the industrial and HVAC (Heating
Ventilation and Air Conditioning)
domains.
Customers:
AIR is
targeting customer prospects in three areas: energy conscious
(‘green’) consumers, electric utility or co-op demand response
programs and OEMs interested in reducing
their time to market by leveraging AIR’s software and hardware
infrastructure.
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Competition:
Competition exists from suppliers of residential and
small commercial building controls including Honeywell,
Carrier, Siemens, White-Rodgers and others. AIR believes that it
can best access and penetrate this market by entering into a
non-exclusive recurring licensing agreement with a dominant
provider of energy management solutions. This would enable AIR
to focus its resources on expanding its portfolio of
innovative solutions and on high-value customer funded
projects and hence avoid the expenses associated with
marketing, brand building, and developing distribution
channels. In
addition, poor economic conditions have dramatically reduced
internal R&D budgets for many companies leaving room for
more agile innovators like AIR to establish a presence.
Current
Status:
AIR has
developed a version of their Residential Energy Management
Product (PalmTherm).
This system is a direct wall replacement of a
‘traditional’ residential thermostat and is currently in
limited field-testing.
Additionally, a product development effort with the
Florida Solar Energy Center is currently being
evaluated..
Funding to
Date:
Applied Innovations Research LLC (AIR) is a privately
held Minnesota Company that has been funded through founder
investments and customer funded product
developments.
Funding
Sought:
AIR is soliciting $350,000 in expansion funding for
product completion, field trials and business development
initiatives with potential licensees and major
utilities.
Management:
Peter
Lehman, Founder,
President and CTO—Co-Founder Honeywell Semiconductor Equipment
Control, Founder BGTV, Engineering Manager at Net Perceptions
(NETP) and TestQuest.
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