Almi (Sweden)

How about your next car keeping an eye on you and trigger a warning if you are not paying attention to the road? This is not fiction but something rather probable thanks to innovative companies such as Smart Eye. The cars of tomorrow will detect the driver’s seating position and align the dashboard visuals to the eye. They will also know instantaneously where to direct the headlight beams by closely following the driver’s eye movements at all times.

It is in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city and home to Smart Eye’s headquarters, where Martin Kranz, CEO and his team of around 32 specialists are developing and selling the eye tracking technology. The company’s flagship product is the Smart Eye Pro, a tracker system which parses data about a person’s eyelid opening, iris and pupil size, head position and other variables in real time.

Smart Eye has also developed the AntiSleep, a compact camera system designed to continuously asses the alertness and attention of a driver. Smart Eye’s technology interacts with a system that notifies a sleep-deprived driver if his or her driving pattern is erratic. The device cannot yet keep you from falling asleep, but it can substantially lower the risk.

Smart Eye is continuously investing in one of the most vital parts of its value chain, namely research and development, to ensure its position at the forefront of eye tracking technology. Innovation is paramount to generating successful new eye tracking technology products and allowing the company to pursue its path as one of Sweden’s fastest growing tech companies.

Almi Företagspartner, a financial intermediary owned by the Swedish government and other public owners, granted Smart Eye a loan that was guaranteed by EIF under the InnovFin SME Guarantee Facility. The loan enabled Smart Eye to secure two key contracts with major manufacturers in Germany and to hire additional staff with expertise in delivering its cutting-edge technology to customers.

Today Smart Eye has several hundred clients and its eye tracking technology is used in numerous market segments including the automotive and transport industry, aerospace and defense, IT and consumer electronics, and medical sectors around the world. 

Company: Smart Eye AB (Sweden)

Type of business: Technology, eye tracking 

EU-supported guarantee:  InnovFin SMEG

For further information about EIF intermediaries in Sweden, please refer to:
http://www.eif.org/what_we_do/where/se