Category Archives: Technology

Airrived Named Gartner Tech Innovator for the Second Time, Recognized in AI Agent Management Platforms

Serving AI Solutions on Tap: LaunchLemonade Prepares AI Marketplace Launch

LaunchLemonade, the no-code AI platform enabling creators to build and monetise AI agents, has begun beta-testing their marketplace feature, allowing users to buy and sell ready-to-go agentic AI workflows.

LaunchLemonade is continuing to develop its platform in its mission to democratise access to advanced AI tools. With the introduction of the LaunchLemonade store, the platform is aiming to solidify its capabilities in allowing users to buy, sell and deploy ready-to-use intelligent AI solutions, transforming how individuals and businesses access automation and intelligent digital services.

Following a successful oversubscribed pre-seed investment round and a $300,000 grant from Google, LaunchLemonade is accelerating development of its platform, with the marketplace positioned as a core component of its long-term vision. The company plans to roll out an initial version of the marketplace by late summer, with in-house products being made available to buy. Broader capabilities are expected later in the autumn, where users can publish their own agents for sale. This phased rollout will enable iterative improvements based on user feedback while expanding the platform’s capabilities at pace.

Founded in 2024, LaunchLemonade was created by CEO and Founder, Cien Solon, to simplify the process of building, deploying and monetising intelligent AI solutions that automate workflows, generate content and make smarter decisions. Unifying over 300 AI models, LaunchLemonade’s interface formulates specialised agents that complete tasks from content creation to report analysis and research. These agents can be trained from users’ unique data, allowing for highly personalised and context-aware outputs without requiring technical expertise.

With the introduction of the LaunchLemonade store, users will gain access to ready-to-go agentic AI workflows designed for a wide range of use cases, from marketing and operations to finance and research. Each agent listing includes descriptions, capabilities, pricing and user reviews, offering a consumer-friendly experience while delivering significantly more powerful, outcome-driven functionality. Rather than simply installing software, users will be able to deploy goal-orientated AI agents that can actively complete tasks and integrate into existing workflows. 

The marketplace will also create new opportunities for developers and creators to monetise their work. By publishing their AI agents on the platform, developers can generate revenue through subscription or usage-based models, while benefiting from LaunchLemonade’s infrastructure, distribution and user base. For businesses and end users, the marketplace removes the need to build AI solutions from scratch, significantly lowering the barrier to adopting automation and enabling faster, more cost-effective implementation. 

As the wider platform evolves, LaunchLemonade plans to introduce deeper interoperability between agents, allowing users to chain multiple workflows together into more complex automated systems. This vision positions the marketplace not just as a distribution channel, but as an ecosystem of intelligent, collaborative AI agents capable of handling end-to-end processes.

CEO and Founder Cien Solon said: “The launch of our AI marketplace represents a major milestone in making advanced AI even more accessible and usable for everyone. We’re proud to be building an ecosystem where innovation can scale rapidly and where even smaller businesses can access powerful AI capabilities without technical barriers.”

With its initial marketplace launch set for late summer and further capabilities planned later in the autumn, LaunchLemonade is positioning itself at the forefront of the emerging AI agent economy, aiming to redefine how AI solutions are built, shared and deployed at scale. 

Cien concludes by saying: “Big players have dominated the AI economy, which has incidentally held back innovative AI applications from smaller businesses. With our marketplace, we are democratising the AI economy for smaller players, diversifying the talent and solutions on offer, championing those who are solving unique challenges, breaking innovation bottlenecks, and closing the AI literacy gap in businesses.”

To learn more about LaunchLemonade, visit their website on https://launchlemonade.app/

ECLAT Health Achieves HITRUST r2 Certification, Demonstrating Commitment to Cybersecurity and Information Protection

HITRUST Certification validates ECLAT’s evaire platform and healthcare performance solutions are meeting rigorous cybersecurity and data protection standards through independent assessment and assurance

Herndon, Va. (June 11, 2026) — ECLAT Health Solutions, a leading risk adjustment and coding technology partner for Medicare, Medicaid and ACA plans, today announced its AI-powered evaire risk adjustment platform and healthcare performance solutions have earned certified status from HITRUST for cybersecurity and information protection.

The HITRUST r2 Certification demonstrates that ECLAT has met the requirements defined by a leading cybersecurity assurance leader, confirming that strong controls are in place to protect sensitive data and manage risk effectively.

Built on the HITRUST Assurance Program, this achievement reflects independent third-party testing, centralized quality assurance, and certification backed by HITRUST’s Cyber Threat-Adaptive engine. These elements ensure continuous alignment with the latest threat intelligence and evolving standards across NIST, ISO, and OWASP.

“As cybersecurity expectations rise, our stakeholders expect credible, validated assurance,” said Gabe Stein, CEO at ECLAT. “Achieving HITRUST Certification reinforces our ongoing commitment to protecting data, managing risk, and maintaining the trust of those we serve.”

“The HITRUST Assurance Program is rigorous and reliable because of the comprehensiveness of control requirements, depth of review, and consistency of oversight,” said Bimal Sheth, EVP, Standards Development & Assurance Operations at HITRUST. “HITRUST Certification demonstrates ECLAT is taking the most proactive approach to cybersecurity, data protection, and risk management.”

Synack and Wolfpack Information Risk Bring Sara AI Pentesting to Organizations Across South Africa

Established partnership helps companies move from point-in-time testing to continuous security validation with AI + human expertise

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. June 11: —Synack, the AI + human penetration testing platform is expanding its partnership with Wolfpack Information Risk, a South Africa-based specialist cybersecurity firm, to bring Sara AI Pentesting to organizations across South Africa.

Sara AI Pentesting, powered by the Synack Autonomous Red Agent, combines agentic AI with the Synack Red Team (SRT), a globally vetted community of elite ethical hackers. Together, Sara AI Pentesting and the SRT help organizations expand coverage across their attack surface, accelerate testing, and validate real-world exploitability with greater speed and confidence.

Wolfpack Information Risk, established in 2011 and a B-BBEE Level 1-certified company, brings deep expertise in governance, risk and compliance, penetration testing, cybersecurity consulting, and security operations to organizations across the region. Through its partnership with Synack, Wolfpack enables clients to adopt a modern model of continuous security validation, moving beyond periodic testing toward always-on assurance.

The longstanding partnership has already delivered measurable value for customers. Leading organisations across the financial services, mining, and telecommunications sectors have engaged Synack through Wolfpack to address critical challenges in their controls assurance programme, including extended lead times, expansive technology footprints, and the need for continuous testing across rapidly changing codebases. The result has been faster pre-deployment testing, significantly reduced repeat findings, and improved mean time to remediation (MTTR).

As attack surfaces expand and the time between vulnerability discovery and exploitation continues to shrink, organizations need security testing that keeps pace with modern adversaries. Sara AI Pentesting helps accelerate reconnaissance, attack surface mapping, and initial exploit validation at scale, while the SRT validates what is real, exploitable, and relevant to the business.

Synack and Wolfpack will further explore these themes during a joint webinar, “AI + Human: Keeping Pace with the Modern Adversary,” on June 23, 2026. The session will discuss how companies can use continuous security validation to improve attack surface risk management, accelerate remediation, and strengthen resilience against evolving threats.

“Giving organisations access to continuous security validation—not periodic testing—is what drives the way we build our channel,” said Angela Heindl-Schober, Chief Marketing Officer at Synack. “Wolfpack brings deep security expertise and strong relationships, and together we’re ensuring our customers have what they need to stay ahead of threats.”

“Partnering with Synack gives our clients access to a level of continuous security validation that simply was not available to them before,” said Craig Rosewarne, Managing Director of Wolfpack Information Risk. “By combining Sara AI Pentesting, the Synack Red Team, and Wolfpack’s local expertise, organizations across our markets can move toward ongoing assurance and know that findings are real, validated, and actionable.”

300 years of the office: Artificial Intelligence named most significant indicator of modern technological revolution

New Delhi, June 11: Artificial intelligence has been named as the most influential office innovation by global CEOs in a landmark report, “IWG: 300 Years of Office Innovation”, commissioned by International Workplace Group to mark the 300th anniversary of the modern office. AI was followed by laptops, video calling, Wi-Fi and hybrid working, as technology continues to transform the office. 

The findings come at a time when Indian organisations are also moving rapidly towards AI-enabled ways of working. Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trend Indexreleased last year reported that 93% of Indian business leaders intended to use AI agents to extend workforce capabilities within the next 12-18 months, indicating that AI is increasingly being viewed as a fundamental enabler of how work will be organised and delivered.

The report, commissioned by International Workplace Group (IWG) to celebrate 300 years since the world’s first purpose-built office – London’sOld Admiralty Building, which opened in 1726– surveyed business leaders about how the modern workplace has evolved.In India, Kolkata’s Writers’ Building, finished in 1780, is believed to be the first-ever purpose-built office. Meanwhile, Chennai’s Fort St. George, built in the 1640s, began functioning as a secretariat in 1782.

The results show that CEOs view the technological shift workers are going through right now as being as significant as anything the office has gone through in the last 300 years, such as the rise of the typewriter, smartphones or even the internet.

The top five is dominated by modern developments in technology that have transformed working life over the past decade. All are now firmly entrenched across IWG’s global network, the largest in the world.

Top five workplace innovations of the past 300 years for CEOs

1. AI (36%)

2. Laptops and tablets (35%)

3. Video call/conferencing (Teams/Zoom) (31%)

4. Wi-Fi/Bluetooth (29%)

5. Hybrid working (26%)

Hybrid working – selected by a quarter (26%) of CEOs stands out as the defining shift in how, where and why people work amidst developments in hard and software.

This transformation is already embedded in day-to-day working life. Compared to a decade ago, 35% of CEOs say technology has made it easier for employees to work from anywhere, while 30% say meetings are now more likely to be virtual than in person. 

The evolution of the office is already visible in India’s commercial workplace market. According to JLL,flexible workspaces and Global Capability Centres (GCCs) accounted for 21.5% and 37.7%, respectively, of full-year leasing, even as India recorded an all-time high of 83.3 million sq. ft. of gross office leasing in 2025. Flexible workspace operators leased an additional 5.56 million sq. ft. in the first quarter of 2026 across India’s top seven cities. These developments suggest that Indian businesses are increasingly seeking workplaces that are flexible, digitally enabled, and suited to evolving work patterns.

Transformational decades: the 2020s and 1990s

The 2020s are viewed as the most transformational decade to date, driven by the rapid adoption of hybrid models, AI, automation and flexible working practices. 

This marks a significant leap from the 1990s, the second most impactful era, when the internet, email and early computing technologies first connected workplaces on a global scale.

From fax machines to failed fads

But many of these ‘90s innovations are lost on younger workers. When asked if they could describe some of these innovations, only one in five (20%) could do so for fax machines and 16% for floppy disks – despite it being the instantly recognisable “save document” icon.

Despite this generational knowledge gap, there remains a sense of nostalgia. Over two-thirds (68%) of CEOs say they feel nostalgic for workplace tools and technologies of the past.

Much like typewriters and dial-up internet, not all modern technology is expected to survive. Innovations that CEOs expected to transform how we work but turned out to be short-lived include smart glasses (41%), desk treadmills (39%) and interactive whiteboards (35%).

Today’s workplace boosts productivity

More than a third (35%) of business leaders say it’s AI that has had the greatest impact on productivity in their organisation, ahead of laptops and video calling. Overall, 83% of CEOs say recent changes in how we work have been positive, while 81% believe today’s workplace is better designed for collaboration and productivity.

Mark Dixon, CEO and Founder of IWG, commented: “For the past 300 years, the office has continually evolved alongside each major wave of innovation, but AI represents the most significant shift in workplace life since the modern office first emerged. 

It is fundamentally changing how, where and why people work, and is now intrinsically linked with other transformative innovations such as hybrid working and digital connectivity.”

Fortinet launches Singapore NDR cloud PoP to strengthen threat detection across ASEAN

AI Translation and Captioning Emerge as 2026 Graduation Season Trend in Higher Education

LOS ALTOS, CA – June 10, 2026 – This year’s commencement season highlighted the use of AI translation and real-time captioning as one of the fastest-growing trends in higher education event technology. While educators continue to debate how AI should be used in classrooms, Wordly, the pioneer in live AI translation and captioning, has seen rapid adoption of its platform during commencement ceremonies. 

The trend comes as U.S. campuses are becoming more global and institutions look for scalable ways to support multilingual students, families, and guests during major campus events. According to the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors Report, approximately 1.2 million international students during the 2024/2025 academic year, reflecting growing linguistic and cultural diversity that is driving stronger demand for real-time language access at milestone events. 

“Commencement is one of the most meaningful moments in a student’s life,” said Lakshman Rathnam, Founder and CEO of Wordly. “Every family should be able to experience it in real time, in a language they understand What we’re seeing is an increasing number of institutions using AI translation as practical infrastructure for inclusion.” 

Industry data shows demand for AI translation in higher education has doubled over the past year as colleges and universities seek more scalable ways to support increasingly diverse campus communities. Institutions across North America, including SUNY Oswego, Mount Saint Mary’s University, and the University of New Mexico are among the universities that have implemented AI translation and captioning for large-scale campus events, including commencement ceremonies. 

SUNY Oswego first introduced AI-powered translation and captioning at its December 2024 commencement ceremony and has since expanded its use to additional campus events. Attendees access real-time captions and translations through a QR code, providing a new layer of accessibility for families who previously had limited language support options. Usage has steadily increased as awareness has grown, demonstrating demand for more inclusive graduation experiences. 

Beyond commencement, universities are increasingly extending Wordly across orientation programs, student advising sessions, parent and family engagement events, campus-wide town halls, faculty meetings, and virtual gatherings, enabling broader language access without adding logistical complexity or requiring advance interpreter coordination. 

Higher education institutions cite several factors driving adoption, including improved accessibility for multilingual communities, increased participation and engagement, scalability across dozens of languages, operational efficiency compared with coordinating multiple interpreters, and ease of access through attendees’ personal devices without the need for headsets or specialized equipment. 

As institutions continue to welcome growing numbers of international students and serve multilingual families, AI translation and captioning are rapidly becoming a standard feature of major campus events and an example of technology enhancing connection, inclusion, and belonging at one of life’s most important milestones.

Liquibase Introduces Agent Safe Governance for AI-Generated Database Change Share

Liquibase Secure 5.2 brings governed AI-assisted database change to the enterprise, while earning five 2026 TrustRadius Top Rated Awards.

AUSTIN, Texas — Liquibase, the leader in database change governance, today announced Liquibase Secure 5.2, a major release introducing Agent Safe Governance for AI-generated database change. Liquibase Secure 5.2 helps enterprises validate, track, and govern database change before and after production, whether created by humans or AI.

Liquibase also announced that Liquibase Secure earned five 2026 TrustRadius Top Rated Awards across Database DevOps, Build Automation, Release Management, Database Management, and Version Control. TrustRadius Top Rated Awards are based entirely on customer reviews, with no paid placement or analyst opinion, and recognize products that meet criteria for review recency, customer rating, and category relevance.

Companies are moving faster across applications, infrastructure, data products, and AI initiatives. But every application, data product, and AI model still depends on database change. That creates a new pressure point: database changes can now be generated in seconds, while many enterprise controls still rely on tickets, manual reviews, disconnected scripts, and after-the-fact audit trails.

According to Liquibase’s State of Database Change Governance report, 96% of organizations allow AI to interact with production databases. As tools such as Cursor, Claude, GitHub Copilot, and other AI assistants become part of the developer workflow, database changes are no longer created only by humans. But faster creation does not mean those changes are safe to deploy.

Agent Safe Governance is Liquibase’s answer to that shift. AI can help create a database change, but it cannot bypass the checks, approvals, audit trails, schema lineage, drift detection, and recovery controls enterprises require before production.

AI is changing how database changes are created. Liquibase Secure governs how they reach production.

“AI agents are becoming part of how developers work, but they should not have a free pass to change production databases,” said Pete Pickerill, Co-Founder at Liquibase. “Agent Safe Governance means AI can help create a database change, while Liquibase Secure validates it, tracks it, checks it against policy, preserves schema lineage, detects drift, and controls how it moves to production. That is the balance enterprises need: faster development without turning database change into an unmanaged risk surface.”

Liquibase Secure 5.2 uses the Liquibase MCP server to connect AI-assisted workflows to govern database change management. Developers and AI assistants can create Liquibase-formatted changelogs, schema updates, rollback logic, and AI-generated DDL, while Liquibase Secure applies policy checks, governance workflows, drift detection, and audit-ready evidence before changes reach production.

“Agent Safe Governance is not about slowing developers down,” added Pickerill. “It is about giving developers and AI assistants a safe path to move faster. Liquibase Secure lets teams use AI to accelerate database change authoring while giving platform, security, and compliance leaders a complete system of control and evidence around what actually ships.”

Liquibase Secure 5.2 Brings Agent Safe Governance to the Database Layer: Liquibase Secure 5.2 gives enterprises one control plane for every database change, human or AI. The release connects new AI-assisted workflows with the proven governance controls enterprises already rely on to validate, track, and secure database change.

AI-assisted database change authoring through the Liquibase MCP server: The Liquibase MCP server connects AI-assisted workflows to Liquibase Secure, helping developers and AI assistants create structured, reviewable, and governed database changelogs, schema updates, rollback logic, and AI-generated DDL. AI can assist with authoring, but Liquibase Secure governs the path to production.

Change Intelligence and schema lineage for human and AI-generated change: Liquibase Secure gives teams visibility into the full lifecycle of every database change. Change Intelligence helps teams understand what changed, who or what created it, where it ran, whether controls were followed, how the schema changed over time, whether drift exists, and what evidence is available for audit or investigation.

Policy checks and drift detection as the governance foundation: Liquibase Secure applies policy checks before deployment to help teams block risky operations, enforce standards, support separation of duties, and validate compliance requirements. Drift detection helps identify when environments no longer match the approved database state, including manual updates, emergency fixes, shadow changes, or AI-assisted changes that bypass governed workflows.

Expanded enterprise database coverage: Liquibase Secure 5.2 deepens support for complex enterprise database estates with new capabilities for Teradata, MongoDB, and DynamoDB. These enhancements help teams extend governed change across the databases that power mission-critical applications, data products, and AI systems.

Machine-Readable Vulnerability Intelligence with VEX: Liquibase Secure 5.2 adds Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange, or VEX, support to provide machine-readable vulnerability assessments for Liquibase products. Published through the Liquibase VEX repository, included alongside SBOM files inside the Secure distribution, and available as standalone files on the Liquibase download site, VEX helps enterprise security teams understand vulnerability context, integrate with automated scanners, and streamline security response.

One Control Plane. Every Database. Every Change. Human or AI. Liquibase Secure 5.2 extends Liquibase’s role as the enterprise control plane for database change. It helps organizations govern database change across human developers, AI assistants, CI/CD pipelines, and production environments.

For regulated industries, this is already a board-level issue. Financial services, healthcare, insurance, retail, media, and technology organizations must prove that database changes are reviewed, approved, traceable, recoverable, and compliant. AI does not remove that requirement. It raises the stakes.

With Liquibase Secure 5.2, enterprises can move from reactive database control to continuous governance, with one consistent way to manage database change across applications, data products, and AI systems.

Liquibase Secure’s five 2026 TrustRadius Top Rated Awards reinforce the same customer demand driving this release: database change needs to move faster, stay governed, and remain trusted across increasingly complex enterprise environments.

ASHRAE, NEMA and PNNL Release AI Data Center Energy Performance Framework to Guide Next-Generation Design and Operation

ATLANTA (June 10, 2026) – ASHRAE, in collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)  and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), announced the release of a comprehensive AI Data Center Energy Performance Framework. The Framework is hosted on ASHRAE’s website, providing industry-wide access to practical, expert-driven guidance for next-generation data center design and operation.

As demand for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing continues to grow, data centers are placing increasing demands on both facility systems and energy infrastructure. According to Pew Research Center, the United States currently has more than 3,000 operational data centers, with significant growth expected in the coming years. An additional 1,500 data centers are already in various stages of development. 

The new Framework delivers practical, consensus-based guidance to help owners, operators and engineers optimize performance, control operating costs and sustain resilient, high uptime operations through effective thermal management.

The Framework delivers strategies for both new and existing facilities, addressing the full lifecycle of data centers, from planning and design, to commissioning, retrofit and ongoing operation. It addresses key considerations including thermal management, integrated system performance, energy and water use, and facility reliability, with recommendations tailored to varying climates, load densities and operating conditions.

ASHRAE led the development of guidance related to HVAC systems, thermal management and overall facility performance, building on its established body of work, including resources developed through Technical Committee 9.9 (Mission Critical Facilities, Data Centers, Technology Spaces & Electronic Equipment) and Project Committees overseeing Standard 90.4, Energy Standard for Data Centers and Standard 127, Method of Testing for Rating Air-Conditioning Units Serving Data Center (DC) and Other Information Technology Equipment. NEMA contributed expertise in electrical systems, equipment and safety, while PNNL is a federal authority in energy systems research, providing coordination of the working group.

“ASHRAE’s technical leadership in building systems and data center guidance is central to this effort at a pivotal moment for our industry,” said 2025-26 ASHRAE President Bill McQuade, P.E., CDP, Fellow ASHRAE, LEED AP. “As AI continues to drive rapid changes in load density, system design and operational expectations, this Framework brings together the collective expertise of ASHRAE, PNNL and NEMA to deliver practical, integrated solutions. It translates complex technical challenges into clear, actionable strategies that help operators enhance performance, control costs and make more effective use of energy, while strengthening reliability at both the facility and grid level.”

“This guide brings together the most comprehensive industry expertise on data centers in a single resource,” said PNNL Director of Buildings and Industrial Programs Bing Liu, who launched this industry-lab partnership a year ago. “Rather than being frozen in time, it’s a dynamic online resource that can be updated, remain relevant and stay accessible to anyone involved in developing a data center.”

“Data centers require seamless integration between electrical and mechanical systems. Power distribution infrastructure must be coordinated with cooling and thermal management to maximize safety, reliability, and efficiency outcomes,” said NEMA President and CEO Debra Phillips. “By partnering on this Framework, NEMA, ASHRAE, and PNNL are giving data center developers a unified approach to system design, enabling them to deploy integrated solutions that optimize both power delivery and thermal efficiency while minimizing risk of equipment failure – and operational disruptions.”

To further support industry collaboration and knowledge sharing, ASHRAE will host the 2027 Data Center and AI Integration Conference, March 3-5, 2027 in Dallas, Texas. The conference will bring together global experts to explore the intersection of artificial intelligence, infrastructure performance and system integration.

For additional guidance, including access to the ASHRAE TC 9.9 Datacom Encyclopedia, please visit the ASHRAE Data Center Resource Page at ashrae.org/datacenter.

KONE spins out VAELLA, an AI operator for buildings to help the world’s busiest public spaces run more safely and efficiently in real time

As cities face increasing pressure on critical infrastructure due to rising footfall and shrinking resources, VAELLA supports building operators and facility managers by serving as an extended, AI-powered operational brain for their expert teams. The privacy-first platform delivers the real-time situational awareness and predictive intelligence needed to create safer, more efficient, and more people-friendly experiences in the most complex and crowded spaces.

ESPOO, Finland | June 10: VAELLA, a new technology company developing an AI operator for buildings and public infrastructure, has launched as an independent spinout from KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry. The newly founded company VAELLA is focused on helping operators of densely populated, high-footfall environments, including transport hubs, airports, stadiums, and large commercial buildings, anticipate and manage disruption, maintain flow, and strengthen resilience. The platform acts as an AI operator that can help teams shift from reactive monitoring toward real-time situational awareness and predictive operational response.

Originally created within the technology and innovation unit at KONE, VAELLA addresses a growing challenge facing cities and infrastructure operators: public environments are becoming more interconnected, more dynamic, and more vulnerable to disruption, while the systems used to manage them remain fragmented and reactive. At the same time, safety and security threats continue to rise, and facility operators are being asked to do more with fewer on-site personnel, as public sector resources remain constrained.

“The world’s busiest public environments are becoming exponentially more complex, but most operational systems are still designed to react after problems emerge,” says Fabien Fédy, CEO and co-founder of VAELLA. “VAELLA was created around a simple idea: if operators can understand what is happening now, and what is likely to happen next, they can make faster, better-informed decisions that keep facilities running smoothly and absorb pressure before it becomes a crisis. This enables operators to keep people safe, and make even the most crowded public spaces easier to navigate for millions every day.”

Today’s control rooms often rely on disconnected inputs from cameras, sensors, access systems, equipment monitoring, and building infrastructure. Although operators have access to more data than ever, they frequently lack a unified operational picture that helps teams understand where pressure is building, how disruption may propagate, and what decisions are needed in real time.

Rather than functioning as another standalone software tool, VAELLA is designed to operate more like an extended, AI-powered operational team working alongside existing staff, across all functions of the facility. The platform combines sensor data, operational systems, and predictive intelligence into a unified real-time operational view designed to support faster decision-making, improve continuity of operations, and help teams manage increasingly complex environments under pressure. Unlike many conventional systems, which rely on invasive, camera-centric monitoring, VAELLA is designed as a privacy-first operational platform that connects the existing infrastructure rather than replacing it.

“Facility operators are not short of data. The challenge is that it’s scattered across too many systems and still requires people to interpret what matters in real time,” says Ulla Tikkanen, CCO and co-founder at VAELLA. “VAELLA isn’t replacing these people; it’s levelling up every aspect of the existing operational team’s capabilities by turning fragmented information into intelligence. Consider it like having an additional equivalent of your best facility manager, your most experienced security supervisor, your smartest energy analyst, and your most reliable accessibility coordinator, and having all of them working together, in real time, around the clock, on every floor and in every corridor of your facility at once.”

Initial pilots and validation work have already been conducted in real operational environments, including Helsinki and Brussels, where VAELLA has tested how real-time situational awareness and predictive operational insights could improve the management of complex public transport hubs. Tested applications included crowd build-up detection, passenger incident response, accessibility disruption management, demand-aware station operations, and adaptive energy management. Additionally, the technology has identified ways to save energy at the station and reduce unnecessary visits by security teams by using real-time data.

“Transport hubs and metro stations, for example, can experience sudden surges in passenger volumes following concerts, sporting events, or service disruptions, creating safety risks in busy transit areas,” Fédy explains. “According to one pilot customer, overcrowding contributes to nearly 30 percent of operational incidents. By identifying congestion patterns in real time, operators can respond earlier, increase train frequency, redirect passenger flows, or adjust escalator directions before situations worsen. Real-time occupancy insights can also help optimise lighting, ventilation, and other building systems dynamically, with some pilot environments identifying potential energy savings of up to 20 percent.”

For KONE, the decision to back VAELLA as a spinout is a deliberate initiative to give the venture the independence and autonomy to move quickly while connecting it to KONE’s global expertise in urban mobility and extensive worldwide customer relationships.

“KONE has spent decades understanding how people move through buildings and cities. The natural extension of that is understanding how equipment and the spaces around it behave as living systems: observing patterns, seeing where pressure accumulates, and anticipating and responding in the moments before something goes wrong,” says Amy Chen, Chief Innovation Officer at KONE. “VAELLA, our first ever spinout, is addressing that challenge with a completely new approach designed for the operational realities of crowded public environments. The way VAELLA has been designed to work reinforces KONE’s purpose to shape the future of cities, and by giving this innovation its own structure, we can solve our customers’ most pressing challenges directly, with breakthrough solutions.”

Urban infrastructure investment cycles are often measured in decades, yet the pressure on existing public environments is already intensifying right now. Cities and operators cannot expand transport networks, airports, and other critical infrastructure quickly enough to keep pace with rising demand, increasing passenger volumes, and growing operational complexity. As a result, attention is increasingly shifting toward how existing environments can be operated more intelligently, efficiently, and adaptively in real time. This is the operational challenge VAELLA was created to address.

Applicable anywhere people move fast and with scale, like airports, stadiums, shopping centres, university campuses, and civic spaces, which all face growing expectations for safer, smoother, and more resilient operations, creating a clear market for AI-assisted systems to support better real-time decisions.