Zak Homuth, the automation guru who founded a world-fi rst collaborative design product for AI and IoT, has a new project: a sustainability tool that enables trade show exhibitors to discover their carbon footprint using only their smartphone.
Homuth has been hired by mission-led creative agency Pie Factory to work on the next generation of TIM, an emissions mapping product already being used by Amazon, Panasonic, Dolby and CBRE.
TIM is currently an expert-led manual tool, but Homuth is transforming it into a highly automated, AI‑driven software innovation that can deliver sustainability at scale.
The new version of TIM will integrate 120 different AI tools/tech elements, all talking to one another, and incorporate a camera‑based impact tool so exhibitors can take photos of their booths and discover the footprint in seconds.
Zak brings a wealth of experience to the project. His career highlights include:
● Founding Upverter, a transformative Cloud-based tool for electrical engineering.
● Serving as VP Innovation at Altium following its acquisition of Upverter in 2017.
● Designing and deploying robotic production lines at Sheertex, and enabling the company – which makes extremely durable tights using materials like Kevlar – to transition from textile knitting to in-house production of ultra-strong polymers.
A long-time friend of Pie factory founder Nick Marks, Zak believes the events and exhibitions industry is “in desperate need” of better sustainability and impact tools. Speaking upon his appointment, he added:
“Trade shows are one of the last industries that build at massive scale with almost no software. Every year, billions of dollars of materials get fabricated, shipped across the world, used for three days, and thrown away.
“No measurement. No optimisation. No accountability. That’s about to change.
“Regulation is coming. Customers are demanding transparency. The companies that measure, optimise, and prove their sustainability will win. The ones that don’t will disappear.
“Pie Factory already has the expertise, the methodology, and the trust of some of the world’s best brands. My job is to turn that into software, and make sustainable trade shows the only option.”
