ClearObject Collaboration Acts as ‘Accelerator’

The chief executive officer of Fishers-based ClearObject Corp. says a new partnership with UI Labs’ Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute in Chicago will broaden the Internet of Things-focused company’s global presence. John McDonald says the collaboration will provide access to university and industry talent, expertise and connections. ClearObject is one of over 300 UI Labs partners, including Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) and Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT).

In an interview with Inside INdiana Business Multimedia Journalist Mary-Rachel Redman, McDonald said the collaboration will open the door for multiple opportunities.

"In some ways, I think, UI Lab is something like our IoT Lab here in Indiana — in Fishers — but just a couple years down the road," he said. "They have some things that they’ve figured out how to do like bring together different companies into workshops that can talk about big issues like machine learning and cybersecurity. They’ve figured out a way to get legal agreements between them, so they don’t have to work through those on a project-by-project basis. They’ve figured out a way to bring funding from different sources if you choose to from the federal government and others. These are all things that I think we’ll all evolve to, but they give us a chance to kind of crack into that club a little earlier and maybe also bring the best of what it has to offer back to Indiana, as well."

McDonald says ClearObject’s current network of partners includes IBM and Google and the additional connections at UI Labs help it tap into "a robust collection of collaborators." He says the partnership will also support the company’s need for highly-skilled employees. Joining forces with UI Labs, McDonald adds, will create access to skills, talent and companies, as well as lead to projects with higher visibility that can boost the knowledge base of existing staffers.