Rounding out the year, our Innevation Center member highlight for December is Sean Montgomery! Sean is the founder of Connected Future Labs, a New York City based R&D and engineering company specializing in bringing technology out of the lab and into the marketplace. He has led teams to develop products in wearable technology utilizing biometric sensing, machine learning and computer vision. We spoke to Sean about his company and his move from New York to Reno.
Sean received a PhD in neuroscience from Rutgers University. After working at a number of startups, Sean founded Connected Future Labs to help clients connect the dots between circuits that can sense real-world signals and the algorithms that help decipher the sensor data. Instead of being hyper domain-specialized, focusing only on hardware or software, Sean built a multidisciplinary team at Connected Future Labs with deep expertise from electrical engineering to data science and machine learning to help clients solve 21st century problems taking an interdisciplinary approach.
Since finishing his PhD, Sean had a vision for a wearable sensor device that could stream research-grade biometric data and be used to better understand our bodies, minds and behavior. After working with alpha and beta partners across six continents, ranging from researchers at MIT and Apple, to Olympic trainers and Mt. Everest climbers, Sean and his team launched EmotiBit this spring and successfully ranked in the top 2% of all time Kickstarter campaigns. He hopes that EmotiBit will “help unlock the next big scientific discoveries, a new generation of biometric-driven startups, or simply a better understanding of our own bodies and minds.”
Sean and his wife both grew up in the West (Montana and California) and wanted their kids to share their deep connection to the natural wonders that they believe can only be found in the Western U.S. “Reno stood head and shoulders above other places we considered,” explains Sean. “Having a great research university, a vibrant and growing tech community, an outsized and unique culture influenced by the Burning Man art scene, and an insanely large number of outdoor opportunities,” they couldn't be more excited to be here in Reno.
Outside of work, Sean enjoys mountain biking, hiking, camping, road-tripping with his family, and exploring swimming holes and hot springs.
To learn more about Connected Future Labs, visit their website. To learn more about EmotiBit wearable, visit their Kickstarter page.
