2 6 I N N O VAT O R S W H O A R E T H E F U T U R E T O D AY
Co-founder and CTO
Plymouth AI
STEPHEN ELLIS ST E P H E N E L L I S H AS A PAS S I O N F O R G O O D C O F F E E . H I S J AVA
pedigree includes stints at Pearl Cup and Urban Blend. He also has a passion for R&D in the field of artificial intelligence. As co-founder and chief technology officer at Plymouth Artificial Intelligence, he’s doing more than drinking lattes. Former director of the North Texas Blockchain Alliance, Ellis formed the company with two others in 2016. Until mid-2018 it operated in stealth mode, focusing on the intersection of AI and other emerging technologies such as blockchain, DNA sequencing, and robotics. Now, says Ellis, the startup is ready for prime time. In late 2018, it announced its first product, a lead-to-revenue platform called Johan.ai. “Most of the applications of AI today are focused on helping humans handle more and more data, but it’s time for a new set of platforms aimed at enabling highly accurate actions effortlessly,” Ellis says. Johan.ai aims to reduce the work of qualifying prospects and refining sales channels, helping businesses hone in on the most likely customers, maximize marketing, and optimize revenue.
MICHAEL MILLER CEO
Viziv Technologies
DALE CARMAN
THIERRY HUBERT
Partner and Executive Creative Director
CEO
Groove Jones
Darwin Ecosystem
“The moment I put on a VR headset, I realized that the world was changing,” says Dale Carman, creative director and partner at Groove Jones. Carman is one of four who in 2015 founded the next-generation creative agency, which uses virtual reality and augmented reality to bring imagination to life for clients such as Toyota and the Dallas Mavericks. The advent of blockchain rendering upped the game at the company, Carman says. “We are now part of the OTOY Render Network, which enables us to tap into the largest cloud-based network in the world to deliver unparalleled digital content for our clients.” Next up: volumetric media. “[It’s] going to fundamentally change the world,” he says. Carman sees a near future when it will be available on your personal device—and flat media will become as quaint as black and white photography.
Since relocating Darwin Ecosystem from Boston and Montreal to Dallas in 2017, Thierry Hubert has been busy. His AI company has evolved its EEGbased machine learning system, which helps people with brain injuries or disabilities communicate, to a place where it can be pre-trained by someone close to a disabled person or even a person with a degenerative brain disorder. It has also broken ground with machine learning and AI-based personality analytics that can be used by companies for pre- and post-employment testing and schools that want to identify at-risk students. The Projected Personality Interpreter leverages Darwin Ecosystem’s partnership with IBM Watson’s advanced artificial intelligence psychology algorithm to extract the thinking style, personality, social connections, and emotional state buried naturally in human language.
If you’ve noticed the unique-looking tower off I-35 East just outside Waxahachie and wondered, What the what?, you’re not alone. The structure belongs to Viziv Technologies, which is the culmination of more than four decades of research in the field of electromagnetic surface waves, says CEO Michael Miller. “Our research focuses mainly on methods to propagate the electromagnetic phenomenon known as the Zenneck surface wave,” he says. “Unlike traditional radio waves (i.e., television, Wi-Fi, cellular, etc.), Zenneck surface waves are guided along the earth’s surface. Viziv’s primary engineering focus is development of a means to synthesize this surface wave in real-world conditions.” This would solve several problems, Miller says. One of them: the lack of basic resources in developing nations. According to The World Bank Annual Report, in 2013, 1.06 billion people did not have access to reliable electricity. “Our technology will be a global economic catalyst, especially in developing countries,” he says. “Our clean, safe, reliable, and affordable wireless power systems will bring hot meals, clean drinking water, advanced medical treatment, and greater access to educational resources to the billion plus people around the world without power.” The company is currently deep in experimentation engineering and getting ready to undergo a next phase of large-scale testing.
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