The medical security innovation of Athena Security has been selected for the Fast Company Innovation Design Award. The company states that its mission is to use the best technology to assist #savelives, and it adheres to the philosophy of "simple, intuitive, and life-changing."
Austin, Texas, USA, September 30th / PRNewswire / -- Athena Security, a provider of weapon detection systems and top-tier medical security technology, announced today that its ambulance docking area weapon detection system ( Ambulance Bay Weapons Detection System ) has been selected for the Fast Company 2026 by Design Awards , and was awarded the Established Excellence: 5–14 Years in Business category.
Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards has been held for the 15th year, aiming to recognize design innovations from organizations around the world. In 2026, over 300 projects, products, and services were recognized in various design fields.
For Athena Security, this recognition reflects the design philosophy that the company has adhered to since its establishment:
Technology that can save lives should be designed to be simple, intuitive, and centered around the people who will actually use it.
Athena Security, co-founder and chief technology officer, Chris Ciabarra stated: "Some of the most important technologies in the world are used in highly stressful environments where people only have a few seconds to understand what has happened and what to do next. Our philosophy is to reduce complexity by minimizing the number of clicks required in the interface. Excellent security technology should not require users to become engineers before they can operate it. It should be as intuitive as possible, with minimal interaction, provide useful information quickly, and help people make better decisions. When good design can also help save lives, then design is more than just about appearance."
Rethinking the security of ambulance parking areas
Hospital ambulance parking areas face an unusual security challenge.
Unlike the entrances of traditional hospitals, the ambulance parking area must remain accessible to emergency personnel, patients, stretchers, medical equipment, and vehicles that need to arrive quickly. The emergency department cannot simply set up a traditional checkpoint that would slow down patient care.
Athena has specifically designed a weapon detection system for its ambulance parking areas around the customer workflow, which is abbreviated as AB-WDS.
AB-WDS utilizes radar imaging sensing technology, designed to ignore metals on stretchers while simultaneously helping to identify potential metallic or non-metallic weapons, allowing hospital staff and patients to continue moving about in an environment where both speed and safety are of great importance.
Rather than having the emergency department adjust its work processes around security products, Athena adopted the opposite approach:
Design the security system around the existing operating methods of the emergency department.
This system can be deployed at the entrance of the ambulance parking area, with the aim of supporting the screening of people entering the emergency environment, including in cases where stretchers are used.
This distinction is very important. Hospital security technology must not become an obstacle to patient care while also protecting personnel.
About Athena Security
Athena Security is an entity security software company driven by AI. They are building an intelligent platform designed to detect threats, manage visitors, monitor activities within facilities, automate security workflows, and maintain compliance. Athena integrates AI, software, location intelligence, security data, and hardware to cover areas such as weapon detection, AI X lighting, medical visitor management, ambulance parking area screening, compliance, and security operations. Its AI software-driven approach, which is compatible with hardware, enables Athena to help schools, hospitals, casinos, and other types of businesses keep threats out of their facilities as much as possible.
The mission of Athena is very simple:
Help # SaveLives.
For more information about Athena Security and its AI software security technology platform, please visit Athena-Security.com.
Regarding Fast Company Innovation, by, and Design
Fast Company's Innovation by Design Awards honors 300 designers and enterprises for addressing major issues through design and anticipating future needs. The 2026 competition covers 31 categories.
Media contact: Anna Buck 937-844-0702
