Our Vision
Make today’s buildings tomorrow-ready.
Cognian’s vision is to make every building – new or established
– a smart building.
To commercial building owners who want sustainable reporting and higher rental returns for their buildings, Cognian has ensured that the latest smart building technology is affordable and can be installed in all commercial buildings.
With its patented Syncromesh technology, Cognian has created the only scalable and open wireless platform designed for the built environment.
Syncromesh has unlocked the smart building retrofits market while also remaining a highly attractive option for new builds. The Syncromesh platform lowers installation costs and provide wireless tracking, people counting and mobile device control for new and existing buildings.
The Cognian Story
Launched in 2016, Cognian Technology rolled out a pilot of its wireless technology in Cisco’s Innovation Lab in Sydney Australia, where the patented Syncromesh wireless was tested for security and robustness.
Cognian was awarded an accelerating Commercialisation Australia grant from the Australian Government on the strength of their wireless technology.
Cognian was able to commercialise its wireless technology and run further pilots in the University of Western Sydney and Paramatta schools.
Cognian became a Schneider Clipsal Enabled Partner and was invited to present on the Clipsal roadshow as the wireless solution for enabling the smart building retrofit market.
Cognian continues to win landmark commercial building projects in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane and is working to establish its footprint in Europe, Asia and the USA.
Our Team
Spiro Pappas
Chairman
Spiro is an international business leader with over 33 years of experience and is the current Chair of Atlas Iron and Open Learning (ASX listed). He is also a NED of DataMesh Group and Football Australia. Prior to his current board portfolio focus, Spiro was a senior executive at NAB for almost 10 years and served in various senior roles including Global Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking, CEO Asia and CEO International. Prior to this Spiro worked at ABN AMRO Bank in London and was global Co-Head of Capital Markets and prior to this Deutsche Bank (Sydney, London and New York).
Mark Blum
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Over 30 years’ international leadership experience in the IT&T, Managed Services and Innovation sectors.
Mark was previously GM, IoT Innovation Centres at Cisco. He was a founding executive at AAPT, responsible for development, engineering and operations. Mark was also Senior VP Ops and Engineering at Reliance Globalcom.
Mark holds B.Sc and B.E (Hons) degrees from Sydney University, an M.Eng degree from University of Technology, Sydney and an MBA from Deakin University.
Slav Zinger
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
Inventor and developer of connectivity and mesh technologies including Syncromesh.
Over 20 years’ experience in electronic and software design, engineering and management, including nine years experience in design and management of secure, wireless battlefield communications.
Slav holds BSc, MSc and MBA degrees.
David Riesel
Head of Engineering
David is a senior computer engineering manager and developer who has led teams developing products for local and international markets for over 30 years. David has an extensive background in both software and hardware development and is in charge of Cognian’s engineering team to innovate and deploy the technology. David has been a significant leader in the technology industry, as well as having co-founded startups and he has been in management roles in both large multinational and small companies.
David holds a Bachelor of Engineering and an MBA from the University of NSW.
Tom O’Reilly
SVP Global Partnerships & President America’s
At the helm of Cognian’s Americas operations and Global Partnerships is Tom O’Reilly, a seasoned professional with 25+ years in the IT industry. Specializing in IoT, Data & AI, and Hyperscaler Cloud providers, Tom has held leadership roles at tech giants including Microsoft, AWS, Lenovo, and Dell. His global journey has taken him through Australia, China, Singapore, and the USA, where he has honed his skills in scaling technology businesses through impactful partnerships and rigorous execution. Tom’s commitment to fostering meaningful, trusted relationships is evident in his approach. He is a proud graduate of Macquarie University with a business degree.
Partner with us
If you have a smart building product technology, Cognian is interested in working with you. Cognian is looking for product partners who provide quality products in the built environment, such as lighting, sensing, security, or control products.
Investors
Cognian Technology’s state-of-the-art Syncromesh solution is enabling Every Building to become a Smart Building on a global scale. If you would like to be part of this new and exciting opportunity then email us to receive our Investor Presentation.