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Daikin Applied and Poppy Are Building the Future of Indoor Air Quality

July 7, 2025

Earlier this month, Daikin demonstrated a new, integrated prototype system for advanced indoor air quality at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) “Demo Day.” Hosted at our Daikin Sustainability and Innovation Center in Washington, D.C., located just steps from the White House, the event centered on innovation and collaboration, bringing some of the brightest minds in the industry together to accelerate the future of advanced indoor air quality. 

As an industry, our shared responsibility is to ensure visionary technologies don’t remain in the lab. By coming together for a day of innovation and connection in spaces like this, we are building pathways to scale these breakthroughs. Through strategic collaborations with innovators like Poppy and the ARPA-H BREATHE program, Daikin is integrating the latest technology with world-class HVAC infrastructure. 

This work is part of the Poppy-led SCALE team, a multi-organization effort within the BREATHE program that brings together leading universities, healthcare institutions and industry collaborations to advance indoor air quality solutions at scale.

Photo and video courtesy of Poppy

While innovators like Poppy provide the visionary intelligence, Daikin provides the global scale and engineering to turn these breakthrough technologies into accessible, real-world solutions. We are co-building the future of what a building can do, ensuring that next-generation air quality standards can reach the K-12 schools, hospitals, and workplaces where they are needed most. 

How the Technology Works 
The investment in Poppy aligns seamlessly with Daikin's mission to deliver optimal indoor air quality and comfortable, sustainable spaces. 

In this integrated system, Poppy provides the sensing technology and software, while Daikin provides the advanced hardware. For example, the prototype system featured at Demo Day utilizes a Daikin Controller to interconnect all devices, Daikin Portable Air Cleaners actively managing the air, and AAF (a Daikin company) MERV 15/12A filters in the central HVAC. Bringing together advanced sensing with world-class HVAC infrastructure demonstrates the true power of our collective effort. 

Piloting the Future of Infrastructure 
Poppy’s technology is supported by BREATHE, a program of the ARPA-H Proactive Health Mission Office. The BREATHE program serves as the deployment vehicle to prove this model in real-world settings. To pilot this technology, Poppy is rolling the system out to 40-60 public schools starting in 2027, including an initial pilot school in San Francisco this fall. 

The program is expected to reach tens of thousands of students during the research phase, with the potential to expand significantly as the technology scales. 

Ultimately, hosting the ARPA-H "Demo Day" at the Daikin Sustainability & Innovation Center proved that the next era of building management relies on deep, collaborative integration. The future of building management demands more than anticipation. By combining world-class engineering with innovative technology, Daikin is actively establishing the infrastructure to support it. 

Learn more about the ARPA-H BREATHE program, the SCALE team and participating organizations here: www.breathe2026.org/scale.  

 

 

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