Smart Tech Challenges Foundation

The Smart Tech Challenges Foundation has launched its Race to Reliability Challenge, featuring the following innovators competing for a $2,000 cash prize:

Jonathan Mossberg of iGun Technology Corp, Tom Lynch of Safe Gun Technology, Kai Kloepfer of Ægen Technologies, Will Murphy & Rob Harvey of GunGuardian, and Omer Kyani of Sentinl. Each innovator team is developing a smart gun or smart gun accessory in the hopes of bringing to market technologies that can promote firearms safety and prevent accidental shootings, suicides, gun thefts, and misuse of firearms.

From RFID technology, which secures a firearm by using wireless radio frequency, to fingerprint access, which means the firearm recognizes your unique fingerprints, our innovators are bringing the future to you. But they need input from people who are interested in the benefits of reliable smart firearms safety technology. The winning innovator will win a $2,000 cash prize that will go towards funding the further refinement of their prototype.

Vote in the Race to Reliability Challenge here: http://smarttechfoundation.org/reliability-challenge.

A new video featuring Smart Tech Challenges Foundation grantee Kai Kloepfer, part of Webby-nominated series Luminaries, has  gone VIRAL this week after being promoted by UPROXX and Guns.com. It's attracted nearly 11,000,000 views and 100,000 Facebook likes -- all in less than 48 hours.

Kai is using the $50,000 grant he received from the Smart Tech Challenges Foundation to integrate a biometric fingerprint sensor onto a live firearm. This gun would prevent unauthorized users from firing the weapon, reducing accidental injury and death, and keeping homes across America safer.

The conversation around gun violence and firearms safety in America may seem gridlocked, but Kai is working on a solution that can make a difference as soon as consumers start using it. We're proud to help Kai and others like him make these smarter technologies a reality.