WUI-Go!, a startup that emerged from the Spring 2021 CITRIS Foundry cohort, has been awarded $1.23 million by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through its highly competitive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II program.
The company is a spinoff from the research group of Kenichi Soga, who serves as a scientific advisor for WUI-Go!. In 2022, Professor Soga received a $2.5 million NSF grant supporting wildfire-preparedness research that built on a 2019 CITRIS Seed Award. That research laid the foundation for translating academic advances into deployable tools for communities facing increasing wildfire risk.
WUI-Go! is developing a personalized evacuation platform designed to help communities in the wildland–urban interface (WUI) prepare for and respond to emergencies. The platform integrates digital twin technology, traffic simulations, and artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver customized evacuation guidance for residents while providing emergency managers with adaptive, data-driven planning strategies.
The company’s initial focus is on preparedness, offering features such as virtual evacuation drills, multilingual maps, and offline functionality to ensure usability during power or connectivity disruptions. Pending successful testing with pilot communities, WUI-Go! plans to expand its capabilities to include real-time evacuation support during active emergencies.
The NSF SBIR Phase II award recognizes WUI-Go!’s potential to translate cutting-edge research into scalable solutions that enhance community resilience and public safety in wildfire-prone regions.
To learn more, read the full article and visit the WUI-Go! website at https://www.wui-go.com.
