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Discovery Park District partners on IoT research

The Convergence Center at the Purdue Discovery Park District. (photo courtesy: Purdue)

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — The Discovery Park District at Purdue University has announced a partnership related to Internet of Things technology. The district is teaming up with the university’s SMART Consortium in an effort to advance IoT technology and study how it will be used.

The SMART Consortium is a multi-disciplinary research center in the Birck Nanotechnology Center on the West Lafayette campus. Ali Shakouri, director of the Birck center, says the consortium is a foundry for IoT development.

“A foundry is a shared developmental manufacturing facility, and they were vital to the rapid growth of Silicon Valley,” Shakouri said. “At the district, we envision a foundry dedicated to supporting the fast development of low-cost, high-volume IoT devices and use cases – generating faster product development pilot runs and lower cost per unit – making innovation much more accessible and affordable.”

Internet of Things refers to the technology that connects the internet with a wide variety of devices, such as video-enabled doorbells, internet-connected thermostats and more. It also involves data processing through machine learning and artificial intelligence.

The university says the partnership between the Discovery Park District and the SMART Consortium is a “natural connection” that will fuel IoT innovation and bridge research through applied application.