In Part 1, we looked back on a year that moved fast for Cognitive — from expanding into caregiving to bringing Wi-Fi Sensing into new markets and stepping into conversations we once only hoped to join. With that foundation in place, Part 2 shifts our focus forward. We continue our conversation with CEO, Dr. Taj Manku, to explore what the momentum of 2025 means for 2026, what opportunities are emerging, and where Wi-Fi Sensing is headed next.
Q: As someone who works at the intersection of technology and caregiving, what do you think the industry still gets wrong?
Taj: We still wait too long to act. So much of eldercare is reactive — we respond after a fall, after a hospitalization, after a decline becomes impossible to ignore. And by that point, families, clinicians, and the entire healthcare system are thrown into crisis mode. Proactive insight is a shift in philosophy that’s needed. You prevent stress instead of responding to it. You preserve independence instead of interrupting it. With rising healthcare costs, especially in the U.S., this shift isn’t optional anymore.
Q: How is Wi-Fi Sensing helping redefine “aging with dignity”?
Taj: Dignity is about independence, but it’s also about awareness. Understanding whether someone is sleeping, moving around, eating at normal times, or maintaining daily routines gives caregivers a window into wellbeing without invading someone’s privacy or autonomy. That’s the direction we’re headed. The next generation of the platform will put more emphasis on validating daily activities. These behavioral markers are often early predictors of decline, and catching them earlier gives families more options for support. Aging with dignity means living life — not just avoiding emergencies. Wi-Fi Sensing can help bridge that gap.
Q: What opportunities do you see for Wi-Fi Sensing in 2026?
Taj: Caregiving remains the most immediate and meaningful opportunity. But the ISP market is also entering a new phase. ISPs are realizing that Wi-Fi Sensing can truly be a differentiator that can reduce churn, increase subscriber value, and also increase the subscriber base. There’s mounting pressure for ISPs to move beyond being a simple “dumb pipe” and offer meaningful services that only they can deliver. Our software gives them a way to turn their existing infrastructure into something smarter and more impactful. The real work ahead is refining how we package and deliver these capabilities with partners — pricing, positioning, and how end users experience the technology day to day.
Q: How do you see Cognitive’s role evolving as Wi-Fi Sensing becomes more ubiquitous?
Taj: We’ll increasingly become the intelligence layer. As sensing becomes embedded in more devices — especially as NPUs appear in next-generation chipsets — there will be more raw data. But raw data doesn’t help anyone unless you can interpret it. That’s where Cognitive’s software will continue to lead. We have years of modeling, field experience, and signal-level understanding that other sensing technologies simply don’t yet have. So, while the ecosystem grows, our role will be to unify it, refine it, and make it meaningful.
Q: What excites you most about where Wi-Fi Sensing and Caregiver are headed?
Taj: Acceleration. We finally have the ecosystem alignment, the chipset support, and the market demand to scale features we’ve been dreaming about for years. Our roadmap for caregiving and ISP partners is extensive, and 2026 is when many of those capabilities will start landing in people’s homes. Turning long-standing ideas into actual, everyday tools — that’s what energizes me.
Q: What advice would you give to entrepreneurs building technology meant to improve people’s lives?
Taj: Be prepared for the work to be harder — and more meaningful — than you expect. There are more setbacks than breakthroughs in the early years. You need resilience, a clear sense of purpose, and a willingness to adapt when reality doesn’t match the original plan. The transition from idea to production always reveals challenges you couldn’t have predicted. But if you’re building something you know could genuinely help people, that purpose becomes your anchor. It keeps you steady through the difficult stretches and makes the wins feel incredibly rewarding.
Q: Finally: If we’re sitting here next year reflecting on 2026, what story would you hope to tell?
Taj: That we expanded caregiving deployments exponentially — ideally into 100,000 homes. But more importantly, that those deployments translated into real impact. I hope next year’s story includes families who prevented hospitalizations, caregivers who felt less overwhelmed, and older adults who lived more independently because the right insight arrived at the right time. Numbers matter. But stories matter more. And on the ISP side, I’m excited to see the new services they’ll bring to market with Wi-Fi Sensing in 2026 — offerings that can reduce churn, strengthen subscriber value, and help grow their customer base in meaningful ways.