A Ripple Effect
Both Kim and Rob were fantastic to work with and eager to learn about any applications their product could improve. They have the skills needed to run a successful business. I believe that they can modernize the passive acoustic world by bringing real-time data at an affordable price. I look forward to working with them in the future and would recommend their services to anyone looking to expand their passive acoustic capabilities.
I am excited to be working with BlueiQ to see how their technology can benefit our animal care at Mississippi Aquarium. They are responsive, interested in helping, and eager to use their technology to benefit humans, animals, and the environment.
It was a pleasure to work with the Blue IQ team as part of the Blue Institute 2024 BX4 Excelerator program and am confident we will see them grow and succeed in their important mission.
HSWRI is collaborating with BLUEiQ to track bottlenose dolphins living in the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), Florida, now at risk due to human-generated pollutants. BLUEiQ’s cutting-edge OpenEar software-defined recording system is the best solution available to help us. BLUEiQ is pushing the boundaries of low power and AI technology within the field of passive acoustic monitoring (PAM). As a team, we are planning a PAM-based observatory to track dolphins using their vocalizations as they move up and down the IRL. We may be able to monitor behaviors and identify individuals, assisted by BLUEiQ’s AI. BLUEiQ’s go-the-extra-mile participation and innovation has led to significant advancements in multi-use applications of OpenEar. Not only is it ideal for PAM, its low-power real-time sensing capabilities, enhanced by AI, make it a valuable tool for environmental monitoring and port/harbor security.
BlueIQ is a company to watch! They are making real contributions to advancing innovation within the blue economy.
I had the pleasure of mentoring BLUEIQ (Kim Gavin and Rob McGurrin) during the Blue Excelerator Program. I was very impressed with their vision for passive acoustics and drive to provide an ultra-low power solution with classification capabilities. Working with underwater vehicles for many years, the need for such a product is critical for long term monitoring solutions. I see immediate applications, especially for identifying right whales that may need protection in shipping lanes. I look forward to continuing our relationship and finding common interests.
The success of a startup is most determined by the capabilities and qualities of the Founders. Kim and Rob rank at the top of all the Founders I have had the pleasure of mentoring over many years. Let me articulate their strengths: 1. Strategic vision and building an adaptive strategy and tactics based upon circumstances and facts. 2. Excellent understanding of market requirements by segment(s) and associated value propositions. 3. Building a broad and deep (where required) network of investors, business partners, and customers, plus the ability to connect the "dots" between them. This leads to market and customer understanding and insights. 4. Personal qualities - smart and hard workers, maturity, poise, dedication, professional, business acumen, technical. 5. Timely and thorough completion of CTO program modules and assignments. Excellent work. In summary, highly recommended.
As the Director of Research, Development, Test & Evaluation, and Training at the University of Southern Mississippi's Roger F. Wicker Center for Ocean Enterprise, I am pleased to provide this recommendation for BlueIQ and their innovative Open Ear product. Our collaboration with BlueIQ has proven to be instrumental in advancing maritime domain awareness, particularly in vessel detection through the integration of their cutting-edge technology with our oceanographic buoys. During our partnership, BlueIQ's software defined hydrophone was rigorously tested on our buoys, demonstrating exceptional performance in real-world maritime environments. The product consistently delivered high-quality acoustic data which was crucial for our research and partner's operational needs. Currently, BlueIQ’s team is working closely with us to co-develop and test machine learning models tailored for vessel detection and classification. We are proud to be working alongside Kim and Rob.
As someone who spent the first decade of their technical career in underwater acoustics, I’m excited for the future given the work of BLUEiQ. The world’s oceans remain true mysteries in many ways. By contrast, think of how we treat the skies. Not an object above us can fly or float without being detected in some way. However, the same situation does NOT exist for our oceans. The technical challenges of gaining understanding have been immense. Sound and energy propagation underwater is far more complex than in the atmosphere. BLUEiQ has brought forth a solution that can be leveraged by anyone seeking capabilities to sense and react to underwater phenomenon. I’ve had the privilege in the past of working with both Kim and Rob. They are the core of a capable team that allows BLUEiQ to meet a wide variety of customer needs in the underwater acoustics marketplace. I would not hesitate to call on BLUEiQ to meet any sensing and information processing needs in the underwater realm.
BLUEiQ was one of six companies selected for the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Blue Navigator Cohort - 1, out of over 260 potential applicants. Applicants went through a rigorous selection process to be accepted into the program. BLUEiQ was selected based on the company’s strong leadership, technical expertise, and novelty of their innovative OpenEar AI acoustic sensor technology. From USM’s Center for Ocean Enterprise efforts in working with BLUEiQ on testing and demonstration projects for validating and enhancing BLUEiQ’s OpenEar acoustic AI technology, BLUEiQ has demonstrated superior technical capabilities and expertise. Their technology represents a significant innovation in the field of marine sensing technology. Based on this experience working with BLUEiQ I can highly recommend them without any reservation.
Their unique acoustic technology has broad applications and they showed an amazing ability to pivot to different customer needs in a variety of domains avoiding the mentality of "when you have a hammer every problem is a nail" that so often is a challenge with startups.
I am the program manager for the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Blue Navigator Business Accelerator and the Unmanned Coast US Small Business Administration Regional Innovation Cluster. I was on the selection committee that chose BLUEiQ for one of 6 spots from a nationwide pool of over 200 blue economy startups for our intensive, results-focused accelerator. During the 4-month program, BLUEiQ developed local projects for port security, national defense, marine mammal protection, and aquaculture. Their unique acoustic technology has broad applications and they showed an amazing ability to pivot to different customer needs in a variety of domains avoiding the mentality of "when you have a hammer every problem is a nail" that so often is a challenge with startups. I can emphatically recommend BLUEiQ when you need results and the environment is challenging. Even though their OpenEar product is housed in a ruggedized case, their thinking and solutions are way outside of the box.
It’s an honor to give my highest recommendations to BLUEiQ based on two decisive reasons from my ongoing experience working with Team BLUEiQ as a member of the BLUE Incubator at Blue Innovation Labs, and as a BX4 Cohort graduate from the BLUE Excelerator program at the Blue Institute: 1) Team - this team is seasoned, knowledgeable, amiable, and persistent - they are passionate about their tech and utilize professional follow-through like no others. 2) Tech - this is not your Grandfather’s Hydrophone - it is so much more. The long term impact trajectory for BLUEiQ vs. their competitors is clear for ocean species survival, offshore wind development, port and marine transport security, and national security applications. ps. If you don’t take the time to understand the tech and it’s impact for the ocean and other underwater environments then you haven’t read through their Executive Summary pages which covers that - in detail. Team + Tech = BLUEiQ Winner
I worked with Kim and Blue IQ as a mentor in the Blue Institute Excelerator in 2024. Kim is smart, thoughtful, diligent, driven and eager to exploring options to apply her technology. I plan to continue working with Kim to advance the company. This is a team that will succeed.
I mentored the BlueIQ team for several months as part of the Blue Excelerator program. Their advanced hydrophone is positioned to disrupt the stagnant hydrophone market by combining edge computing with low-power performance. Kim Gavin and Rob McGurrin are intelligent, focused, and committed to delivering a state-of-the-art acoustic solution that will expand ocean surveillance for multiple markets.
BLUEiQ participated in Gulf of Maine Research Institute's BlueTech Boost Incubator, a 10-week program tailored to support early-stage BlueTech companies in the Northeast Atlantic region. The program provided mentorship, grant funding, and GMRI research staff as technical advisors. During their participation, BLUEiQ focused on developing their v1 prototype, crafting a plan for in-water testing, and honing their product-market fit. The team demonstrated professionalism, eagerness, and ambition. Kim and Rob, who have a longstanding collaborative track record, showcased a robust partnership. While still early in their journey, they have made significant strides, securing strong traction through early pilots and refining their business model. We admire their mission, which aligns closely with our research focus at GMRI. They established a positive rapport with our science team, suggesting potential for future research collaborations. We enthusiastically support their progress!
Kim and Rob are a great team. They know each other and know their space, as they have a long history of working together on innovative applications for passive listening technology. Super diligent and hard working, super collaborative and appreciative of mentor inputs, and their product has huge potential for environmental protection applications (which I care about a lot). I'm excited to see them succeed in building BLUEiQ!
I became acquainted with and later supported Kim Gavin via Clean Tech Open NE mentor program. I am quite impressed with her entrepreneurship and "emotional intelligence" as a startup founder. BlueIQ has potential and Kim is the type of founder that one could bet on.
Participation in the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Newport, RI demonstration highlighted BLUEiQ as a premier innovator in real-time actionable intelligence with OpenEar, our software-defined hydrophone solution for persistent, autonomous, ubiquitous marine sensing and monitoring.
