Fishers to create state's first Internet of Things lab

With the city already positioned as an emerging high-tech hub, officials in Fishers said Tuesday they were taking the next leap forward by opening the state’s first workplace to develop smart technology for everyday devices.

Mayor Scott Fadness said a 24,000-square-foot “Internet of Things” lab will let entrepreneurs work on embedded technology for equipment or products as diverse as self-driving cars, washing machines and coffee makers.

“This is simply the application of the internet to everyday things we’ve all become accustomed to,” Fadness said at a news conference at Launch Fishers, where he was joined by Gov. Eric Holcomb.

John Wechsler, founder of Launch Fishers, said the technology is used in everything from Fitbits to GoPro cameras, essentially anything with an on/off button. It allows the machines to communicate with cellphones and each other and will soon be ubiquitous.

“The questions will be, ‘What won’t be considered IoT technology?’" he said, using the shorthand for Internet of Things.

The lab will operate much like Launch Fishers, where startups rent shared office space and benefit from working in close proximity. But while Launch Fishers is heavy on developing phone apps and has spawned some successful startups in its first four years, the new lab will apply computer smarts to real items.

Holcomb said the lab will be the first in the state.

“This will be where all these things come together,” he said. “It will be a key component of our economic future.”

The lab will move into a building on the 9000 block of Technology Drive in an area of the Nickel Plate District that is home to other high-tech companies such as Flexware Solutions, Matrix Integration and Pinnacle Mapping Technologies Solutions. Bates Technology, the current occupant of the site, is moving to Noblesville.

Clear Object, of Fishers, an IT firm formerly known as Cloud One, plans to open a technology and service center in the lab. CEO John McDonald said the company plans to increase its workforce of 45 by 15 percent in 2017.

He said it was essential to have large space where the technology can be tested.

“This is more than whiteboards and computers,” McDonald said. “We need a space to work on these things.”

Indiana University is a co-founder of the lab and will place people there. The yearly membership fees will start at $1,000, and the lab should open in September.

The lab announcement came just days after Launch Fishers said it was expanding to Downtown Indianapolis. Launch Indy will move into the shared startup space, Union 525, at 525 S. Meridian St., and manage events and programs for both.

Launch Fishers provides office space for a yearly fee. The 52,000-square-foot building has offices, conference rooms, couches and a coffee shop, and is home to about 300 businesses.

Launch Indy will have 10,000 square feet of co-working space at Union 525.

“To maintain our position as a leader in the new economy, IoT must be part of our strategy fro the next generation of Hoosiers,” Holcomb said.

Launch Fishers moving into Indy

Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at 317 444-6418. Follow him on Twitter: @john_tuohy.