FOCUS: President honors Folly Beach woman for innovation

By Barry Waldman  |  Folly Beach resident Krissa Watry is inventing “The Internet of Toys.” President Obama has noticed and soon, your children are going to notice too.

Watry joined President Obama and other emerging entrepreneurs from around the world for a ceremony recognizing young innovators at the White House on May 11. Watry is CEO of James Island-based Dynepic, which is inventing “The Internet of Toys.”

Watry with Mark Cuban

Guest speakers at the event included three renowned entrepreneurs and cast members of television’s Shark Tank – Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran and Daymond John. Cuban and Watry spent time together at the ceremony, during which Cuban offered her some career advice, his email address and referrals to talk with one of his start-ups working on cutting edge communication protocols for smart devices that could be useful in toys.

Founded in 2011, Dynepic is a women-owned, veteran-owned business whose mission is to make toys “smart” and kids even smarter. Most everything is getting wireless-connected except toys, relegating children to the world of the two-dimensional screen. To solve this, Dynepic, a National Science Foundation company, has created a turn-key solution for toy manufacturers to easily make their toys smart.

Once smart, they can connect them to the Internet of Toys cloud platform – a playground for smart toys that will link with secure family profiles and 3rd party content, upgrading the toys’ IQ and allowing them to learn and grow with the child, and provide a 3D entertainment experience. Dynepic is currently recruiting other toy manufacturers, cloud service providers, and game developers to join them in creating the future of play.

Krissa Watry herself has an amazing story. An Air Force Academy and MIT-educated engineer, she spent almost a decade in the aerospace sector as an Air Force officer and as a civilian designing and leading cutting-edge technology development programs for the Department of Defense, NASA, and commercial space.  She even has two boxes that have docked with the International Space Station from her time leading Program Operations at Andrews Space, Inc.

Dynepic’s mission is resonating loudly in the Charleston community too. Dynepic was part of Cohort 1 of the Harbor Entrepreneurship Center (HEC) Accelerator in 2014 and it won Dig South 2014’s Wild Pitch. The company was selected to showcase the Internet of Toys on the USS Yorktown for Steve Case, AOL co-founder, during his recent Rise of the Rest tour stop in Charleston.

This White House event provided a unique opportunity to galvanize global attention on emerging women and young entrepreneurs. Watry was among 69 young innovators being honored.