Jan 8-12, 2017 was the inaugural launch of autoMOBILI-D at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. With a focus on autonomous driving, connected vehicles and mobility, autoMOBILI-D will likely grow in its position within this industry and culture.
CORA Cyber Security (CORAcsi) was one of 5 Canadian companies to participate within the Ontario-Canada pavilion at this inaugural event. We were proud to accept this invitation as a Windsor based startup; our two border cities have been intimately involved in the auto show for decades.
CORAcsi is committed to ‘unbreakable security’ for all things global, including autonomous, connected vehicles. Our mandate is to secure the Global Community. How interesting that CORA, a step beyond encryption that is unbreakable, was brought to this ‘international auto show” by means of a joint endeavor with the Ontario and Federal government. Our borders continue to shrink as a global community emerges, one that needs “unbreakable” amidst such a flurry of hacks, breaches and cybercrime.
Gerry Simpson, VP of business development, is an incredible networking machine. As an experienced business person, he contained his excitement at being invited to this event more readily than myself. As Saturday, Jan 7th arrived, Gerry and I arrived at the COBO Centre and met Anne Cascadden from the Consulate General’s office in Detroit. We promptly setup our exhibit and obtained the necessary credentials and passes. Having a corner display location was an added bonus – thank you Anne!
Sunday, Jan 8th arrived. Our display, thumb drives and brochures where setup as we entered day 1 of autoMOBILI-D. This first day was filled with networking amongst the participants and hosts.
This journey towards such an exciting moment began with Ross McKenzie, the Managing Director of WatCAR at the University of Waterloo. Ross forwarded our name to Ray Tanguay, who then initiated the invitation to the Canada-Ontario pavilion through Dacian Petrescu from the Ontario Investment Office with the Ministry of Economic Development and Growth. Anne Cascadden and Genevieve Dionne with the Canadian Consulate General in Detroit orchestrated this pavilion at autoMOBILI-D.
I had the honour to meet and speak with the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and the Honourable Brad Duguid, Ontario Minister of Economic Growth and Development. The story of “unbreakable data security” strikes most people with a sense of curiosity about such a bold claim, and yet, it doesn’t take long for ‘the math’ to lend its support.
I have always had a love of learning and creating – which is the driving force behind CORA. That said, I tend toward functionality over appearance. The size and opulence of this event was unmistakable, and yet, I am happy to say that it was as valuable in functionality as it was in grandeur.
Gerry was generous with his time, opening our exhibit each day, and often staying past his shift to help me with the second shift. We forged many connections and Gerry is following up with numerous leads, including 3 contacts with the US army, Tesla Motors, the Jeep Hackers, and numerous tier one suppliers and consultants. Bottom line – in a connect world, with connected vehicles, who doesn’t need “unbreakable”?
Acceleration is part of my background in Physics. CORAcsi has benefited from many individuals and groups who have accelerated us towards our goal of providing “unbreakable data security” to the global community. These include WEtech, WECAN, SAE, the Consul General’s office in Detroit, Windsor Essex Economic Development Corporation, and both the Federal and Provincial governments. Happily, each new page in CORA’s book of cyber security is more exciting than the previous.
Joseph Latouf is the President & Solutions Architect of CORAcsi, a cyber security company specializing in “unbreakable” data security.
