The US start-up Guardhat, a company that develops innovative products to improve work conditions for industrial workers, is setting up an office in Vilnius. Here Guardhat will establish an excellence centre that will become the first Guardhat site in the European Union. In 2022, the company plans to hire 30 software specialists.
Guardhat develops a platform and smart wearables designed to protect workers from injuries and improve work conditions and efficiency in remote or hazardous environment. The company’s inventions have been recognized by numerous awards, including Time magazine’s Best Inventions of the year.
In Lithuania, Guardhat will create an excellence centre where the local team will be responsible for software development and ensuring the life cycle of Guardhat products.
Guardhat plans to grow the Lithuanian entity beyond software and product development to become the European headquarters for Guardhat sales and marketing activities in the EU and surrounding regions.
Will strengthen the competencies of the Lithuanian IT community
In 2022, Guardhat intends to hire 30 software specialists in Lithuania to work on the development of its platform that helps create an Industrial Internet of People. This new version of the platform will help users to be able to ensure the health safety of their workers, operate more efficiently, use resources sparingly and increase compliance with regional safety regulations.
„The establishment of this platform and its excellence in Lithuania is an important strategic step for Guardhat that uses and innovates upon cutting edge technologies to propel us to the forefront of a rapidly developing worker safety technology market. We seek to identify opportunities of growth for local talent and to increase expertise within the local Lithuanian IT community,” says Jens Grebner, Head of Guardhat Lithuania.
In order to develop sustainable relations with the Lithuanian IT community, Guardhat intends to establish a talent development program fund and work closely with Vilnius University, Kaunas Technology University and Vilnius Tech University. Guardhat, which has so far attracted in total of $42 million in investment, is also interested in working together with local venture capitalists.
Creating a revolution in worker safety
Guardhat is changing how safety of workers in hazardous workplaces is managed. The company started its activities by developing a smart hardhat with industrial sensors, advanced positioning technology and more.
Following this invention, a highly accurate and reliable positioning system has been developed. From there, Guardhat developed a software platform to improve how data is collected, analysed, and used in industrial workplaces. Currently, Guardhat is expanding its safety solutions ecosystem via software apps and integrations with partner wearables, sensors and software.
The Guardhat’s technologies are used by or invested in by major international industrial companies, including 3M, Caterpillar, Westinghouse and others. Guardhat
has earned international recognition for its innovative employee safety solutions. This year, Guardhat was listed as one of most innovative companies by Fast Company magazine and ranked second in the manufacturing sector.
Elijus Čivilis, General Manager at Invest Lithuania, asserts that he is confident Guardhat will easily integrate into the rapidly growing community of technology companies in the country and that Lithuania will successfully become a strategic division of Guardhat in Europe.
“We are thrilled that yet another technology company has noticed Lithuanian talents and favorable investment climate. The potential of Guardhat in strengthening the Lithuanian technology ecosystem is certainly big: specialized products in the digitization of industry will bring great added value and strengthen the competencies of local talents in the development of Internet of People solutions,” said Mr Čivilis.
