Nancy Knowlton, President and CEO of Nureva, knows what it’s like to spend 20 years becoming an overnight success. As the co-founder, with husband David Martin, of Calgary-based SMART® Technologies Inc., Knowlton spent decades of her career building an interactive whiteboard company that transformed the way we communicate and collaborate visually. During their 25-year tenure with SMART Technologies, they placed interactive smartboards in classrooms, meeting rooms and boardrooms around the globe. The SMART Board® became a category killer that no other competing technology or company could touch.

 Today, Knowlton and Martin, who is Chairman of the Board at Nureva as well as the Chief Technology Officer, are at the helm of another disruptive technology that’s revolutionizing audio conferencing. 

HOW IT WORKS

Anyone who has been in a video conference can attest: it’s possible to get work done if you don’t have video, but you can’t have a meeting without sound. And if the sound you do have is sub-par – with dead spots, delays, or echoes – your team’s productivity plummets. Nureva creates exceptional audio capabilities as part of either audio conferencing or in conjunction with video-conferencing infrastructure. 

Nureva’s patented Microphone Mist™ technology changes everything about conference call technology because of the way it uses virtual microphones to amplify a speaker’s voice while dampening ambient noise. Instead of a single omnidirectional microphone, Nureva deploys thousands of virtual microphones depending on room size, to create the very best audio experience for the people in the room and on the other end of the call. 

 Better technology generally requires more technology, firmware, and support. The wonder of the Nureva® audio conferencing system is its ease of use. All that’s needed to get started is the microphone and speaker bar, a screwdriver, and about 30 minutes to complete the installation. Every other aspect of the technology can be managed from anywhere through Nureva Console, a simple and secure cloud-based platform. There are different models of Nureva audio systems based on the room size, so businesses can always have the solution that fits their needs. The Nureva system can be found locally at both the City of Calgary and CANA Construction offices with more to come in the future.  

NUREVA XT FOR EDUCATION

It isn’t just businesses that are interested in the technology.  

The Nureva audio system is also being deployed in classrooms and lecture halls in schools from K - 12 and universities, including major institutions across North America and around the world. Closer to home, both Ambrose University and SAIT are using the Nureva XT audio system. As classrooms become hybrid or remote, sometimes within hours or days, Nureva provides a simple way to make sure that instruction maintains a consistent level of professionalism and that remote students don’t suffer a lower quality education.  

Nureva will showcase Nureva XT, its integrated end-to-end solution combining Nureva audio with a camera and premium services for hybrid classrooms, at Bett in the UK in March and ISE in Barcelona in May. The Nureva XT classroom solution integrates audio, video, device management, and enhanced support services, creating a seamless system for in-class and remote learning. Teachers and lecturers can create a specific zone where they speak at the front of the room and the self-calibrating system automatically edits ambient noise from all other areas of the room. It allows for better communication, collaboration and education, allowing students to be heard throughout the room whatever their location, the direction they’re facing or even the presence of interference noises (like HVAC equipment or family background noise). Students in the classroom can speak easily and naturally with their remote counterparts.  

 One of the best features of the Nureva classroom solution is its ease-of-use; it’s so simple that it’s almost plug-and-play, reducing potential stress and saving time for teachers who are already under pressure. 

THAT CAN-DO ATTITUDE

Many of the same people who made SMART Technologies so successful have been brought in to guide Nureva to success. Otherwise, Knowlton looks for candidates with a solid academic background, which reflects the investment that person made in themselves. It also indicates a willingness to learn, which she believes is foundational to success. The company has brought in many intern students from both the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta, and many have been hired full-time afterward. Knowlton believes that the universities, in conjunction with the energy industry, have created a workforce that is comfortable with working in high-tech environments. 

Knowlton asks herself five vital questions to ensure she is choosing the right person: 

 Are they life-long learners? (Do they look for learning opportunities to rethink ideas?) 
 Are they curious? (Will they challenge the status quo?) 
Do they have the ability to take a calculated risk? (Do they have experience mitigating risk?) 
Are they problem-solvers? (Do they run toward a problem like a firefighter runs toward a fire?)

Are they good people? (Do they have empathy and ethics?)

Knowlton notes the can-do attitude most Calgarians seem to have, and states that Albertans in general have a depth of understanding regarding business-to-business marketing that she’s never seen anywhere else.  

“  There are so many things going for Calgary. We have a well-educated, technologically experienced, and entrepreneurial workforce - but it’s our unique willingness to take on new challenges that makes Calgary different.   ”

— Nancy Knowlton, President & CEO, Nureva 

WHAT’S NEXT?

The team at Nureva is excited about new sales channels opening as their products get into more organizations and companies across North America. Knowlton sees incredible growth in a fast-changing world; remote work and education have now become widely accepted, and even preferred. 

Knowlton will continue to work with Canadian embassies around the world to provide vetting and entrée to companies and organizations globally. “They have been incredibly positive and productive meetings,” says Knowlton. “They’re really our eyes and ears into new markets. We just began to reach out to the embassies via the commercial officers. We found that they wanted to work with companies looking to expand their foreign business and our request fit perfectly in that mandate.” 

In many ways, Knowlton believes that their SMART Technologies experience has given them an enormous leg up on their competition. They have revived many of the same sales and marketing channels that allow their clients a level of confidence in their products and service. Customers know if there is a problem, they can simply pick up the phone to speak with someone to solve it. The team at Nureva also sees the shift to a more digital world being in their favour as many of us now use more technology at work and at home. That’s especially true for the education market. School teachers and university instructors must have easy-to-use and manageable solutions at their fingertips in order to focus on their students and the curriculum, not the technology. 

Speaking of technology, Nureva’s future plans include aggressive growth, becoming more profitable, growing the team substantially through 2022 and 2023 and introducing additional technology, such as a video component, to become a total classroom, meeting room and boardroom solution. 

Will lightning strike twice for Nancy Knowlton and David Martin? It’s only a matter of time until we find out, but with Knowlton at the helm, chances are pretty good it will. 

 Are you ready to make moves in Calgary’s tech scene, working with forward-thinking companies like Nureva? Head to our Live Tech Love Life careers page and see what opportunities might be out there for you. 

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Nureva: Audio conferencing, simplified