"Technological innovation is the lifeblood of today's economy. Through these grants, we are investing in potentially life-saving technologies and elevating our state's emerging technology sector to make Texas a strong competitor in the global marketplace," Perry said. "Continued investment in emerging technology creates more jobs and generates substantial capital investments, diversifying and enriching our economy."
SecureOrigins Inc. of El Paso is receiving $2 million for further development of its Intelligent Software Agents (ISA). ISA are software modules that automate specific tasks, provide round-the-clock decision support and collaborate with each other without human intervention to determine best response action.
ISA will be used for such functions as:
- Assisting first responders in continuous real time protection of the border, and emergency preparedness and response involving high volumes of information and fast changing variables. For example, in a disaster situation, the ISA will synthesize complex information from a myriad of sensors and sources to provide simplified options for decision making by first responders.
- Assisting cross-border industry in real time visibility of their end-to-end supply chain logistics. For example, sensor devices compatible with ISA would be placed on a delivery truck, moving goods from one country to another to ensure compliance with authorized routes and timing benchmarks. The ISA could detect any interruption of travel or tampering with the vehicle, which would then alert the appropriate authorities of the unexpected activity.
The 2008-2009 state budget recently passed by the legislature and signed by the governor includes $75 million in new general revenue for the TETF. In addition to previous TETF balances and interest, more than $165 million will be available for the 2008-09 biennium.
For more information on the TETF, visit www.emergingtechfund.com
