Press Room > 2004 :

Digital pen and paper technology collect data at Innovation Expo

RELEASE DATE: Wednesday, October 20, 2004

For More Information Contact: Jean Jones Manzer, Enterprise Institute, 697-5015

The technology developed at a company in Iroquois, SD will be highlighted during registration at the Innovation Expo scheduled to take place Nov. 3 at the Swiftel Center in Brookings. The event is being co-sponsored by the Entreprise Institute and the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

“During registration, attendees will have the opportunity to use technology developed right here in South Dakota,” said Tina Van Camp, director, Governor’s Office of Economic Development. Registration for the event will be collected using high tech pens embedded with computer processors that write on digital paper. The technology used to process the forms comes from Talario™ Corporation, which is headquartered in Iroquois.

When Tim Aughenbaugh, president of South Dakota-based Talario™ Corporation testified before Congress a few years ago about access to technology in rural areas, he told elected officials that the Internet was a two-way street. “Not only can rural citizens access the broader world through the Internet, but with technology, the world can also access rural America’s talent and strong work ethic. Technology can actually allow people to stay in rural communities, maintain their rural lifestyles and enable their economies to stay vibrant,” he said.

Thirteen years ago, Aughenbaugh started a company called Critereon in rural South Dakota to develop solutions to manage safety and quality control issues for agri-food enterprises. Managed through technology from South Dakota, the company has been able to market and serve the needs of customers worldwide, collecting and processing their information with, among other things, innovative digital paper technology.

Talario™ was born out of Critereon in March 2004 to take its digital paper technology to a broader market. The name Talario™ is derived from “talaria,” the winged sandals of Mercury, Roman mythology’s messenger of the gods, and therefore fits a high tech means to carry important information around the world. “In the last few weeks, we’ve worked on projects from as far away as Chile, the U.K., Australia and Canada,” said Aughenbaugh.

Talario™ streamlines the information process of businesses that use paper forms. It does this by gathering data using a miniature camera inside a digital pen that records handwriting on specially printed paper. “Customers see benefits in reducing the cost of getting paper records into information systems, getting their data more quickly, and having their paper forms electronically filed,” he said.

A chain of hospitals is currently using 50 digital pens and 50,000 Talario™ forms to categorize information from individuals receiving free flu shots. Similar information was collected last year and went unused because the data wasn’t compiled into a digital format. Talario™ designed a form for this year’s vaccinations on digital paper and supplied the technology that will automatically capture the information in a database that can be queried.

That’s the kind of work the company does to design and implement digital paper solutions through its corporate sales and administrative office in Iroquois, SD and its development office in St. Paul, MN.

“Our digital paper technology is an example of something that came out of agriculture to serve other industries,” said Aughenbaugh, an Agricultural Engineering graduate of SDSU whose business further demonstrates that enterprise can develop in South Dakota and reach out to serve the world.

Talario™ digital paper forms will be used for registration at the 2004 Innovation Expo November 3 in Brookings. Statistics collected through the registration process will be downloaded, processed and then displayed during lunch to give information about those attending.

“We are excited to use a live demonstration of the capability of Talario™’s product. The Innovation Expo is a great place to showcase the inventors and entrepreneurs from this region,” said Marcia Hendrickson, Enterprise Institute director.

The Innovation Expo is an annual event that connects government, venture capital and industry experts for a day to test entrepreneurial ideas and information that develop and promote business. Next year’s Innovation Expo, sponsored jointly by the SD Governor’s Office of Economic Development and the Enterprise Institute, will be October 5, 2005.

For more information, contact the Enterprise Institute at 605.697.5015 or check the website at www.sdei.org.