Admitted to NATO DIANA’s U.S. Market Access Programme, we are meeting American utilities operators and defence stakeholders in Washington D.C. from 11 to 18 October. Andreas Haugen, CEO, and Magnus Haugen, CMO, will represent Avju Solutions in Washington.
Observer is in production with pilot customers in Norway. Now we are taking it to the United States as part of the NATO DIANA U.S. Market Access Programme. From 11 to 18 October we will be in Washington D.C., where the programme’s activities this month centre on the AUSA Annual Meeting & Exposition. We are there to find American utilities that want to test Observer on their own network.
The next step after the DIANA accelerator
In June we completed the NATO DIANA Accelerator with Demo Day, after six months of work on technology, market and capital. Admission to the U.S. Market Access Programme builds directly on that work. The timing fits where the Avju Solutions is. Observer is in production, the Norwegian pilots are running, and the programme gives us a structured way into the American market.
«We have Observers in production and many Norwegian pilot customers testing the product for us. At the same time, we’re building strong commercial momentum in Europe. Now Avju Solutions is ready to test the US market.»
– Andreas Haugen, CEO of Avju Solutions.
The AUSA (Association of the United States Army) Annual Meeting & Exposition takes place 12 – 14 October at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Military and civilian leaders and defence industry representatives gather for demonstrations, panel discussions and presentations. According to the organiser, last year’s event drew over 44,000 attendees, more than 750 exhibitors and representatives from 92 countries. Our work at AUSA is tied to the programme.
The trip coincides with NADIC AUSA Week, when Norwegian defence and security industry gathers in Washington. NADIC, the Norwegian-American Defense Industry Council, is a membership-based trade organisation that works to strengthen Norwegian companies’ position in the American market, together with the Norwegian Embassy, the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) and Innovation Norway, among others. We will also join Team Norway events, embassy visits and networking meetings during the week.
Observer is our main product. It draws power directly from the power line and runs sensors and cameras that monitor the grid continuously. The data is read in Gridvju, our analytics platform. Using artificial intelligence, the system detects vegetation threatening the lines, gives early warning of fire risk and shows the grid operator condition and transmission capacity in real time.
That moves the work from repair after the fact to preventive maintenance, and makes it possible to get more out of existing lines rather than build new ones. Observer has been tested under arctic conditions in Northern Norway, where cold, ice and wind put the hardware to the test. That is the experience we bring across the Atlantic.
The power grid is critical infrastructure. Military bases, hospitals and the communities around them depend on the same lines, and knowing what happens along them at all times demands more than periodic inspection was built for. That is why we are part of NATO DIANA, and why we are bringing Observer to a defence and security audience in Washington.
Earlier visits to the U.S. gave us meetings we have kept building on. American counterparts share our view of the technology that is needed, and utility companies as holders of critical infrastructure from a national security perspective. Through the programme, we now meet them with a product in production and a clear goal for the week.
«We want to offer our product to interested parties who recognize the need for technology tied to measurement, preventive operational measures, and security. We’d really like to add an American utility company to our customer list.»
– Magnus Haugen, CMO of Avju Solutions.
We land in Washington on 11 October and stay for the rest of the week. When we are back, we will write about who we met through the programme and what came of those meetings. Are you a grid company that wants to see what continuous monitoring can do for your network? Get in touch at hello@avju.com.