Calm Tech Institute launches Calm Tech Certified Partner Program for service integrators at Denver's CEDIA Expo 2026

Amber Case
2 days ago
4 min read

A design-first training program focused on creating seamless experiences

for those who live, work, and stay in the spaces we build.

August 17th 2026, Denver, CO — Calm Tech Institute announces the Calm Tech Certified® Partner program at CEDIA Expo 2026, the first training program that teaches integrators how to sell experiences, and not just technology solutions, to real clients.

The Calm Tech Certified® Partner Program is designed for integrators that want to move beyond selling features and start selling experiences. The program provides a structured methodology for evaluating lighting, sound, attention, and material choices against measurable human-centered criteria. Partners learn to use the Calm Tech Institute's 81-point framework to specify systems that reduce client complaints, shorten revision cycles, and produce the kind of long-term satisfaction that generates referrals.

To learn more about the Calm Tech Certified Partner Program, please register and attend the Calm Technology® Principles in Practice workshop (1.5 CEU credits) to learn more. Alternatively, join our waitlist to be the first to join the Program.

“The most important outcome of our work is how it affects the people inside the space, not just on day one, but even years later. No certification does more to educate integrators on designing technology around real, human needs. The Calm Tech Partner Program fundamentally changed the way I work with clients, and what I believe our work as integrators is for.”

—Jimmy Powers, Owner of Blend Technology (CEDIA Member)

Bringing Calm into the connected home

Client satisfaction surveys consistently show a gap between what people imagine a smart home will feel like and what they actually experience after install. The issue is rarely the technology, but the experience of the architecture surrounding it.

Calm Technology delivers the right information through the right channel at the right time, using the periphery of attention rather than the center, so that the finished space feels as comfortable five years after installation as it did on the day the client moved in.

The connected home has never had more capability or more frustration, and clients are increasingly vocal about systems that demand more attention than they save. The Calm Tech Certified Partner program trains integrators to design connected spaces around human experience using CTI's 81-point evaluation framework, turning comfort and attention into measurable design criteria. Partners learn to identify the most common sources of occupant discomfort and resolve them during the design phase rather than in callbacks.

Why join Calm Tech Certified Partner Program?

Access to CTI's 81-point product evaluation framework and scoring tools for client proposals
Listing in the Certified Partner directory, visible to architects, designers, and homeowners
The right to use the Calm Tech Certified® Partner mark on proposals, websites, and marketing materials
Early access to new Calm Tech Certified® product announcements for use in specifications
Continuing education content as the framework evolves.
Peer network of integrators committed to experience-first design, with shared case studies.

The program includes self-paced coursework, hands-on product evaluation exercises, a listing in the Certified Partner directory, and the right to use the Calm Tech Certified® Partner mark in marketing and bids.

Pricing & Availability

The Calm Tech Certified® Partner program opens for enrollment at CEDIA Expo 2026, with founding partner pricing for integrators who enroll during the launch period. Please attend the Calm Technology Principles in Practice workshop to learn more, or apply as a Partner here.

Why Calm Matters

Most of the technology people live with every day was designed to capture attention rather than support it. The cumulative effect is environments that feel noisy, interruptive, and tiring, even when every individual device is working as intended. Screens glow when no one is looking, notifications arrive for events that do not matter, and controls that could be a single button are buried behind apps and menus.

Calm Technology starts from a different premise: the best technology is the technology you stop noticing. A calm device uses physical controls you can operate without looking, produces light that feels like daylight rather than a screen, and stays in the periphery until the moment you actually need it. The result is spaces and objects that support the way people naturally pay attention, move through rooms, and rest, making daily life feel less effortful rather than more.

About Calm Tech Institute

Calm Tech Institute is a design standards organization founded by Amber Case, author of Calm Technology (O'Reilly, 2015) and a researcher affiliated with MIT Media Lab and Harvard's Berkman Klein Center. CTI evaluates products and spaces against an 81-point certification framework covering six categories: attention, periphery, durability, light, sound, and materials.

The Institute's work builds on the calm computing research of Mark Weiser and John Seely Brown at Xerox PARC, extending their foundational principles into a practical evaluation methodology for physical products and built environments. CTI also operates a 104-criterion Spaces certification for hospitality, residential, and commercial interiors. Certified products and partners span North America, Europe, and Japan.

Learn more at

https://www.calmtech.institute/membership