“I’m kind of an oddball as a 28-year-old, non-traditional student,” said Joe House, a Department of Forestry and Natural Resources undergrad. House founded Digital Silva, an NDAA-compliant natural resources company using cutting-edge drone technology, during his return to the classroom. “I got this idea from Purdue and the Society of American Foresters, went down the rabbit hole, and never looked back.”
Digital Silva is an NDAA-compliant drone technology startup that empowers land managers, natural resource professionals, and those who maintain critical infrastructure to make informed data-driven decisions and cultivate more sustainable ecosystems.
The company generates detailed reports by deploying advanced drones outfitted with RGB cameras, radiometric, LiDAR, and multispectral sensors. The data is so detailed, the information gathered far exceeds traditional aerial forestry work.
Digital Silva came from a mixture of self-taught coding House learned while deployed in Kosovo and the insights gathered from work in the Forest Advanced Computing and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (FACAI).
But it wasn’t until another lightbulb moment came during a Society of American Foresters gathering (“my wife does not like them for giving me this idea,” House joked) that he was ready to take the idea more seriously.
He turned to another invaluable Boilermaker resource: Purdue Innovates Incubator, a supportive entrepreneurial system for Purdue-connected companies.
To validate his idea, he started by participating in the New Venture Challenge. He quickly found the drone tech startup was more viable than what he had initially anticipated. “I went to the Incubator with this idea and that’s really where Digital Silva was born thanks to extensive customer discovery.”
From there, House officially founded his LLC in August of 2024.
With the newly formed company, he competed in the Incubator’s Moonshot Pitch Competition where Digital Silva won the Orbit category (and a $1,500 cash prize) for ideas primarily focused on business-to-business solutions.
Beyond the entrepreneurial opportunities offered by Purdue Innovates, he’s connected with other Purdue-connected companies like GRYFN, a company offering advanced multi-modal sensing solutions for research markets. GRYFN CEO Matt Bechdol offered House valuable insight along with an opportunity for a test flight — and a vision for what Purdue-connected companies can become.
Proof positive the idea born and developed within Purdue’s innovative ecosystem is viable? House already has a dozen letters of intent in hand for a vibrant post-graduation business.
To connect with Joe House or learn more about Digital Silva, visit the company’s website or follow on LinkedIn.
Media contact: Polly Barks, phbarks@prf.org
