Founded in 1987, Smart Technology Inc., one of the top ten brands of electronic whiteboards, is the world's largest and most advanced manufacturer of interactive whiteboards, and its interactive whiteboard series has become the most widely used interactive whiteboard today with its versatility and ease of use
SMART Technologies was founded in 1987 and is located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The company's founders, Mr. David Martin and Ms. Nancy Knowlton, were the only two employees when the company was founded. The company was originally an agent engaged in the distribution of projectors, but Nancy, who has an educational background, and David, who is a high-tech professional, are full of love for education and a firm belief that "technology is power" and resolutely decide to invest all of the company's revenue in the development of an interactive touch product that can provide teamwork and instant information sharing. From the initial concept to the launch of the product, there were various difficulties in terms of technology, ease of use, material selection, and touch accuracy calculations. After repeated testing and refinement, in 1991 David Martin finally invented the world's first new touch-based product based on the concept of interactivity, and the interactive whiteboard was born.
In 1992, SMART formed a strategic alliance with the American computer giant Intel Corporation to jointly develop the project. The development of this project has promoted the effective application of SMART products and laid a solid foundation for the development of SMART company. Over the next 20 years, SMART has developed a series of popular interactive products and has the most complete interactive product line. The company has grown rapidly from two to more than 1,200 employees, with manufacturing facilities in Ottawa and Calgary, Canada, and sales offices in Bonn, Germany, Tokyo, Japan, New York and Washington, D.C., and Shanghai, China. The company has obtained ISO and WQC World Teaching Aids Federation quality charter certification and EU HOS environmental protection authority system certification, and has a number of technical patents in various countries. SMART's rapid growth was 26% in the first 5 years and 41% in the 10 years thereafter. The SMART Interactive Whiteboard Series is the most widely used interactive whiteboard today due to its unmatched product quality, versatility and ease of use, making the SMART Board synonymous with interactive whiteboards in countries around the world.
In 2007, in the face of increasing demand for products, the original factory could no longer meet the demand. In October of the same year, SMART expanded its 24,155-square-meter (260,000-square-foot) facility in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, to include an assembly facility in Suzhou, China. By the end of 2008, a 185,000-square-foot SMART interactive and collaborative office building will be built in Calgary, Canada. On August 12, 2008, SMART reached an important milestone in the company's history with the arrival of the millionth SMART Board interactive whiteboard from its Ottawa production line, and the dawn of the global interactive whiteboard era. The company's success is the result of relentless innovation and hard work, and the first half of 2008 data for the interactive whiteboard product category shows that SMART's global market share in this category has increased from 45.5% in 2007 to 53.3%.
