Policetech Accelerator Launches Helium Network Pilot Project

One of the current Pilot projects starting up this month was developed by The Mapping Network, a Prince Edward County-based decentralized network infrastructure and IoT device company that recently held a Helium Network information workshop for area businesses in the Innovation Commons at Venture13. The event included greetings from Helium Foundation in San Francisco, California. The Mapping Network was previously backed with matching seed funding from FedDev Ontario’s Jobs and Growth Fund (JGF), through NCFDC’s thriveFORWARD initiative.

The pilot will help build the Helium Network in Cobourg so that it can be utilized for community safety and urban development applications. In terms of policing use cases, this may include theft detection, auto and bike theft recovery, as well as powering the Tracker Hack project for parents to be able to maintain situational awareness of their children’s location while enjoying a day at the beach at Victoria Park. Tracker Hack was the winning project proposed by local youth at the last Pitch to the Chief competition at Venture13 in November, 2022. The V13 Policetech Accelerator is committed to supporting young people in their creative citizen science and engineering projects to help contribute to a safe and vibrant community.

Image: Unboxing Helium Network equipment as part of the Pilot stream of projects at the V13 Policetech Accelerator in Cobourg.