Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A new company based at Mississippi State is filling some "critical gaps" in remote sensing and spatial information technology--increasingly used by policymakers and resource managers as a major tool of economic development.
Spatial Information Solutions Inc., founded and led by researcher Chuck O'Hara of the university's GeoResources Institute, has developed a portfolio of software products that will be marketed to government agencies, private companies and individual clients.
"These products eventually may generate an economic impact totaling in the millions of dollars annually, with significant upside potential from there," said O'Hara.
Located near campus in the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park, SIS utilizes software and technologies developed and tested in the high-performance computer environment of MSU's ERC (Engineering Research Center).
The start-up company will hit the ground running in early 2006, then begin operations with service-oriented projects and have products ready for commercialization next summer.
"SIS has developed a series of highly specialized software tools that fill critical gaps in spatial information technologies and solutions," said O'Hara, who serves as company president and chief technical officer.
Provisional patents have been filed on eight SIS software products developed by O'Hara in collaboration with several other MSU scientists. SIS has exclusive rights to the technology and the university will share in the royalties.
O'Hara said the company "hopes to be self-sufficient within the first year of operation."
The GRI, directed by David Shaw, focuses spatial technology development on agriculture, forestry, wildlife, and invasive species management, water resources, transportation, oceanographic and atmospheric modeling, and homeland security.
Currently, GRI scientists are using high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery to help state highway corridor planners improve traffic flow and access along a busy segment of U.S. Highway 49 between Jackson and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Also, GRI is helping federal homeland security officials develop a comprehensive plan for detecting potential threats of biological terrorism against U.S. agricultural production--in part, through the use of space or aircraft-based remote sensing to assess and quantify crop injury often not visible by ground observation.
"These are examples of how MSU scientists are utilizing their skills and cutting-edge research technologies to reach out and improve the quality of life for Mississippians in a variety of ways," said MSU research vice president Colin Scanes.
O'Hara said the new software developed by SIS will be compatible with traditional Geographic Information System tools, but provide more accurate mapping data for such critical applications as 911 emergency response and disaster planning. End users will be able to mine information from large quantities of imagery taken over time.
"This needed information could provide better abilities to understand such things as urban and land cover change, model predictions of crop growth and productivity estimation, monitor the status of critical natural resources such as forests, and track losses or change trends in natural habitats such as wetlands or coastal ecosystems," he said.
O'Hara said SIS is developing a series of partnerships with data providers, commercial software vendors and other service companies across the geospatial industry in an effort to deliver complete spatial information solutions to a variety of clients.
"This will create jobs that will enrich the local economy and provide a new high-tech presence in geospatial technologies within our region," he said.
Through the Office of Intellectual Property Licensing, headed by Charles Rivenburgh, the university supports a number of start-up companies via incubator facilities at the Cochran Park, which is located just north of the main campus.
MSU holds more than 60 patents ranging from the technology for acoustical test structures such as bridges to a channel catfish vaccine. In Fiscal Year 2003, invention disclosures increased 20 percent from the previous year, patent applications were up 35 percent and royalty income increased by 15 percent.
For more information, contact Dr. O'Hara at (662) 325-2067 or cgohara@gri.msstate.edu; Charles Rivenburgh at 325-3521 or ctr@research.msstate.edu.