nous™ is made by Thought-Wired. Thought-Wired is an award-winning Auckland-based hi-tech social enterprise that's aiming to make the world accessible to everyone - starting with communication.

We are a multidisciplinary team who have been developing novel assistive technologies for the past 6 years. Our idea was inspired by the CEO, Dmitry Selitskiy, who has a cousin with severe cerebral palsy. No existing form of assistive technology works for his cousin, but from his interactions, they know that he has a sound mind- he just lacks the physical ability to communicate his thoughts. Dmitry came across a TED talk that discussed how biosensors can be used as assistive technology, which inspired him to try a create something useful for people who may be in a similar situation to his cousin.

From here, his father Konstantin Selitskiy joined him to provide a business and strategic angle to the idea. Soon after, Sarvnaz Taherian and James Pau came on board to help develop and test the proof of concept. Both have backgrounds in academia at the University of Auckland, and approached the development through psychological and technical approach. This means that from the inception, we have been working with the disability community to understand the needs of all the people who would be using and interacting with the technology.

We have now expanded our team to further innovate and understand our customers. Read about us below. 

Team

Dmitry Selitskiy, CEO, Founder 

Dmitry founded Thought-Wired with the vision of making the world accessible to everybody. He brings over 9 years of experience in the IT industry including business and systems analysis, systems architecture and implementation, and project management. Apart from running Thought-Wired, Dmitry also dabbles in software development, to assist our engineers.

 

Dr. James Pau, Tech and Product lead, Co-founder

James was previously a Research Fellow in the Mechatronics Engineering department at the University of Auckland. His research interests are mainly focused towards human and robot/machine interaction, with an emphasis on electrical signals that originate from the human nervous system. James’ is the main brain behind the underlying technology in which our products are built upon.

 

Dr. Sarvnaz Taherian, User Research, Co-founder 

Sarvnaz comes from a psychological research background. Her PhD research focused on systems training and usability, as well as conceptual modelling of assistive technology adoption and adherence, with a specific focus on brain-computer interface technology. She runs our design research for product development to ensure what we’re building meets the needs of people who will be using the technology. 
 

 

Konstantin Selitskiy, Non-Executive Director, Co-founder 

Konstantin is passionate about the translation of new technology into commercial products. His background is in science and technology and he brings 25+ years of experience in entrepreneurship and management. He oversees governance and strategy at Thought-Wired.

Stefan Rochfort, Software Developer & Special Projects

Stefan brings 18 years of experience in the IT industry as a software developer, analyst, DBA, project manager, digital media creative, and head of department.  He advises on many aspects of the business, engages his generous network of industry professionals, and keeps his hands dirty with digital media production and software engineering. 

 

Dr. Stuart McGill, Scientific Research Lead 

Stuart is a cognitive neuroscientist who specialises in understanding the neural basis of thoughts and behaviours. For his PhD, he looked at the brain processes involved in the reinforcement of human behaviour. Stuart has years of experience working as a Teacher Aide, which has enabled him to understand the immense potential for the technology we’re developing. Stuart leads our scientific experiments and user testing. 

 

Awards