Wechsler: The ‘State of IoT’ is Growing in Indiana

The founder and chief executive officer of the Indiana IoT Lab in Fishers says the expansion of the tech ecosystem in central Indiana is creating new opportunities for the state and will lead to more companies emerging. The lab is celebrated its second anniversary last month with the release of the 2020 State of IoT Report. John Wechsler says entrepreneurship and innovation can and should be a statewide focus.

In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Wechsler said the lab is living up to expectations after two years.

“We shifted our focus really into this design, connect and deploy model where we engage with the entrepreneurs, the innovators, the customers, the corporate innovators and quite frankly, we’ve looked internally for startup opportunities as well,” said Wechsler. “When you talk about 4,000 people coming through our doors in the last year, that is a dramatic increase, almost 30-35% increase over the last year, and so we are finding new ways to connect with our community and to meet the needs of the industry using this ever-continuing to grow model of Internet of Things.”

The Indiana IoT Lab features larger companies such as Roche Diagnostics and Indesign, as well as smaller entrepreneurial companies including Qumulex and Flexware Innovation. 

Wechsler, who is also the founder of the Launch Fishers co-working space, says growing the Internet of Things space is a statewide opportunity.

“I think entrepreneurship and innovation in particular, and IoT as a niche within that opportunity set, really provides the opportunity for entrepreneurs to innovate where they are. From the beginning from this Launch Fishers and IoT adventure, we’ve always talked about the two kids from Loogootee, Indiana that are going to change the world or a couple of kids in a garage from Kokomo. I think the more that we can invest in this environment to make entrepreneurship and innovation flourish, we give that next generation an opportunity to innovate in place.”

Wechsler says by leveraging Indiana’s expertise in manufacturing, distribution and agriculture and combining it with the new opportunities created by IoT technology, the state has an opportunity to create products that could change the world.

You can connect to the 2020 State of IoT Report by clicking here.