By Juan Pedro Tomás
Smart buildings specialist Johnson Controls announced it has signed a joint development agreement with Phylagen, a biotechnology company in the field of microbiome optimization of indoor environments.
Through this agreement, which includes a strategic investment in Phylagen, the companies said they are developing technology that leverages the science of building microbiomes to advance the future of healthy buildings. Johnson Controls and Phylagen noted that future improvements to indoor health and safety require deep understanding of the unique indoor microbiomes of individual buildings.
“Phylagen’s work provides practical and effective alignment with the Johnson Controls focus on a future committed to healthy people, healthy places and a healthy planet,” said George Oliver, chairman and CEO of Johnson Controls. “Phylagen’s ability to understand the untapped potential of the indoor microbiome is critically important as we not only respond to our new normal for managing indoor environments but prepare to make buildings safer, smarter and more responsive long-term.”
“The pandemic has reaffirmed what indoor microbiologists have long believed – the biology of indoor air is critical to our health and must be better understood and managed,” said CEO and co-founder, Phylagen, Jessica Green. “Our partnership with Johnson Controls will exponentially advance our understanding of the indoor microbiome, reshaping how we design and operate new and existing buildings. We spend 90 per cent of our lives indoors – this work is vital to the future of public health.”
In other smart buildings news, Johnson Controls also announced the addition of body worn cameras and autonomous robots to its physical security portfolio along with the integration of package screening technology powered by RaySecur. The firm said that these new additions will strengthen Johnson Controls building security portfolio and enable customers to extend the power of their systems beyond the capabilities of traditional access control and video surveillance.
“At Johnson Controls we continue to enhance building technologies through digital transformation by leveraging Edge AI devices that power the OpenBluePlatform,” said CTO at Johnson Controls, Vijay Sankaran. “Smart, autonomous buildings that continuously learn, adapt and automatically respond to the needs of occupants and environment are safer, more sustainable and more secure.”
“Leveraging Artificial Intelligence, IoT and robotics in our security solutions enables us to provide our customers with new levels of operational visibility, situational awareness and autonomous operation,” said Osvaldo San Martin, vice president and general manager, Johnson Controls Security Products. “These technologies are among the first to be released from the OpenBlue Innovation Centers to accelerate bringing new technologies to market with our partners.”
These technologies are expected to be available from Johnson Controls by the end of 2021.
