FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE CORNEA TEAM, LEADERS IN FIRE BEHAVIOR ANALYTICS, SECURES SECOND GRANT FROM USDA TO ACCELERATE DEVELOPMENT OF MACHINE LEARNING-BASED TOOLS FOR THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS

Cornea, working with Hangar, transforms complex fire science through advanced machine learning into actionable insights for governments, businesses, and responders

Cornea and Hangar Now Expanding Work with USDA with Second SBIR Grant to “rapidly develop and commercially produce fire analytics for the public sector and expand into the tech-forward private sector”

In July 2021, the Cornea team secured a Phase I SBIR grant from the USDA to bring together federal government data with an ML-based private sector partner

NEW YORK, NY, December 22, 2022 – The Cornea team, leaders in producing machine-learning-based fire behavior analytics in support of combating the ongoing wildfire crisis and Hangar, announced that they have secured a second grant as part of the Small Business Innovation Research program through the United States Department of Agriculture. In 2021, Cornea initiated its work to develop a novel wildland fire management technology solution that builds upon the latest fire analytics research to support incident responders and decision-makers before, during, and after a wildfire. Now the Phase II grant of nearly $700,000 will go directly to develop and commercially produce fire analytics for the public sector and expand into the tech-forward private sector.

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers competitively awarded grants to qualified small businesses to support high-quality research related to important scientific problems and opportunities in agriculture that could lead to significant public benefits. 

“This grant will be a substantial boost to our efforts to expand our ML-based wildfire solutions for government and private sector customers. Wildfires are at the center of a perpetual and vicious feedback loop as they both contribute to the factors causing climate change and are fueled by climate change itself. USDA Forest Service leaders and wildfire stakeholders need modern technological solutions to minimize risk to responders and the public, ease the impact of chronic resource constraints, and provide leaders with enhanced situational intelligence to inform their strategic and operational decisions. We are grateful for the USDA’s support of our technology development by awarding the SBIR grant and look forward to continuing our work together,” said Josh Mendelsohn of Hangar and Cornea.

Cornea’s machine learning platform fuels its products in service of its mission to operationalize, scale, and build on proven predictive analytics for wildfire spread and control. With the ability to produce custom, near real-time data for prescribed fire planning, emergency operations, and risk assessment, Cornea’s tools represent an important leap forward in the ability to leverage technology to improve incident planning and response.

About Hangar

Hangar is a leader in building companies focused on delivering tech and data-based solutions for public sector customers and then scaling them. Founded in 2015 by Silicon Valley and Washington veterans Josh Mendelsohn and Mike Ference and backed by Mike Bloomberg, Tom Secunda, Ron Conway, and the Kresge Foundation, among others, Hangar and its diverse team with deep experience in tech, business, and policy, is uniquely positioned to spot opportunities where the government is committing resources to invest in tech, leverage political expertise to access them, and then create additional public sector and commercial opportunities. Hangar’s initial projects are focused on providing services to the industries that have been the recipients of this spending — from government services and healthcare, education, and climate change response.

Contact: [email protected]