Kognition AI Featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA, PA — August 25, 2026 — Kognition AI was featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer in a story spotlighting the company’s AI-powered security platform, its privacy-first “edge” architecture, and its role in Philadelphia’s growing AI startup ecosystem.

The article follows Kognition deployments at 3.0 University Place, the eight-story lab and office complex in University City, and the Bharatiya Temple in Montgomery County — and notes that more than 100 North American properties now run on Kognition, from Scotia Plaza, one of Toronto’s largest office buildings, to Benco Dental locations across several states.

From the article

The people who built 3.0 University Place, an eight-story lab and office complex that covers a landscaped block of West Philly, had a problem: During the biotech slump after their 2023 opening, security costs escalated faster than occupancy.

“We had 80 Siemens cameras in there,” remotely monitored from a suburban surveillance office, and were “paying more than $150,000 a year for guard shifts,” said Anthony Maher, the University Place Associates president. …

They rang an entrepreneur they’d met five years earlier at a Drexel University pitch meeting: Matias Klein, founder of Manayunk-based Kognition AI.

Kognition specializes in what Klein calls “cyber-physical threat detection systems,” which link and analyze digital security video, activate remote locks and sensors, load key data into formulas matching clients’ priorities and requests, sort and share communications to alert the right people and agencies, and update responses based on results.

“You hang the cameras; we network the building systems,” as Klein puts it.

At 3.0 University Place, the results spoke for themselves. “Matias’ system gave us full access to the best 25 cameras, every floor, all times,” Maher told the Inquirer. It worked so well “we told the owners to take the security-guard line-item out of the budget.”

The piece also highlights what sets Kognition apart from mass-surveillance approaches: the platform operates at the “edge” of big networks. “We don’t send customers’ data throughout our network, and we don’t preload that information,” Klein said. “We don’t flow data back to a central monitoring station.” The goal, he explained, is “to give people control over the spaces where they live or work or worship, so they can get into a defensive posture fast, if they ever need to.”

Read the full article at: https://www.inquirer.com/business/kognition-philadelphia-ai-surveillance-security-systems-20260825.html

About Kognition AI

Kognition AI makes buildings smarter. Its software platform works with the cameras and access control systems organizations already own, transforming them into an intelligent security and operations layer — combining AI analytics, smart access management, and privacy-first design. With approximately 100 deployments across North America, Kognition helps schools, healthcare organizations, commercial real estate, and houses of worship move beyond reactive security toward proactive awareness — protecting people, preserving privacy, and strengthening communities. Learn more at www.kognition.ai.