Alumni from the Rady School of Management share how they used their degrees to disrupt their industries to bring innovative ideas, products and programs to the market.
Suman Kanuganti – Helping Others Navigate the World
When Suman Kanuganti (MBA ’14) arrived at the Rady School of Management, he knew he wanted to leave with an idea that would change the world – he just wasn’t sure where to start. A fateful course in entrepreneurship inspired Kanuganti to pull from his experience to address a societal need. The question was posed to the class – How can entrepreneurship inspire positive change in the lives of others? Inspired by a perseverant friend with deteriorating vision, Suman decided to use his engineering skills to help empower visually impaired individuals to achieve their full potential.
Launched in 2014, Aira was created to help visually impaired individuals navigate the world with more freedom and autonomy. By leveraging leading technologies, such as smart glasses and mobile devices, Aira connects users – or Explorers – with a network of trained remote human agents, to provide Explorers with instant access to information and assistance in the physical and digital world, when and where they want it.
“Aira is introducing disruptive technology to solve an age-old and often forgotten problem facing the low vision: how to go beyond the white cane, guide dog and limited assistive devices to help people who are blind gain enhanced mobility independence and quality of life,” Kanuganti said.
Powered by the latest in augmented reality artificial intelligence, Explorers are able to connect to agents who are able to see an Explorer’s location and surroundings, providing a clear, live auditory narrative of the user’s environment in virtually any daily activity.
Since its inception at the Rady School of Management, Aira has received countless awards, accolades, recognition from top publications and numbers of rave reviews from Explorers.
“After coming to the Rady School as an engineer with an interest in the business world, my time at Rady enabled me to gain the innovative and entrepreneurial skills I needed to establish a vision, launch my company and make a real impact on the lives of the visually impaired.”