Senior Vice President, Chief Corporate Strategy and Business Development Officer, Allegion
Search every verified Robert Martens interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Rob Martens, Senior Vice President, Chief Corporate Strategy and Business Development Officer at Allegion, has been involved in Allegion Ventures, the company's corporate venture fund, and has discussed the company's approach to innovation and partnerships. In a July 2025 video, Martens and Allegion Ventures Managing Director Bobby Prostko spoke about their partnership with Ambient.ai, describing the relationship as "foundationally structured in our values" and "not a transactional relationship." Martens said the partnership focuses on shared passions, particularly school security, and that Ambient.ai's "unparalleled Market access" in that vertical is valuable for deploying proactive security. In earlier appearances, Martens has described his role as a "futurist" for Allegion, which he defined as "identifying these trends and then creating a relevant narrative for our business around it that allows us to plan a scenario plan or position ourselves so we don't get surprised by things." He has emphasized three criteria for evaluating connected devices: security, scalability, and simplicity. Martens has also stated that Allegion Ventures aims to "foster and develop new technology" and "invest in founders and their companies to drive progress in our space," and that the company provides access to security experts beyond just funding.
“calling it a smart home you know to me is an excuse uh it it's a way to separate some devices in your home from others and why should we expect less from things that are connected in terms of our user experience how easy they are to use how they use power how secure they are how private they are versus all of the other...”
“we focus on three things when we look at an a connected device an iot device in particular is one um is it secure you know for US security especially with what we do you have to have it but security is on two levels for us it's both mechanical and digital so mechanically security is hey can you easily pick the lock can...”
“My word is competence. We have amongst the most competent workforces whether it be mechanical, technology... incredibly competent workforce that we have that's incredibly dedicated and they take their jobs very seriously. What we also have is a habit of being overly humble in my opinion and I think we really need to co...”
“If we can focus on three things and it doesn't matter whether it's physical mechanical device or a connected device or a digital device, you can focus on these three things you're gonna be successful. One is that it's secure, two is that it's scalable, and three is that it's simple. If your product is secure, scalable,...”
“futuring is identifying these trends and then creating a relevant narrative for our business around it that allows us to plan a scenario plan or position ourselves so we don't get surprised by things.”
“if we can focus on three things and it doesn't matter whether it's physical mechanical device or a connected device or a digital device you can focus on these three things you're gonna be successful one is that it's secure two is that it's scalable and three is that it's simple if your product is secure scalable and si...”
“I think it's important to keep in mind we obviously have some advantages on the non-residential side of businesses and that we have codes and we have some standards that everyone adheres to that you don't see on the residential side of security that's caused a lot of the challenges I think just an incredible number of...”
“I think in particular corporate mentoring is a very interesting place to be you know capital up to this point has not been difficult to find but I think what you want to really get after is finding people that are going to provide some tangible value to you outside of just the financial piece now that's not to say most...”
“Allegion isn't only providing funding to these companies, what we provide is access to a company who has thought about security and safety for a hundred years. This is a company of experts, who daily think about these ideas who are constantly thinking about these same issues of how do you provide a convenient experienc...”
“Well, we're all familiar with a key. Where I think we're going, and I think we all agree on this, at the end of the day, we want the end user, we want the consumer themselves, to be the key. So we're looking for solutions and technologies that make things flow, that make things less intrusive, and that make things more...”
“Well, Allegion has a strong desire to stay on the leading edge of discovery really in the context of how real people live and work so with the fund, we want to do two things: we want to foster and develop new technology but we also want to invest in founders and their companies to drive progress in our space.”
“Well, we're all familiar with a key. Where I think we're going, and I think we all agree on this, at the end of the day, we want the end user, we want the consumer themselves, to be the key. So we're looking for solutions and technologies that make things flow, that make things less intrusive, and that make things more...”
“Here's the danger of biometrics: if the consumer doesn't embrace it, it's going to go away. It will die like Beta. Beta is a superior tape, sir, used in broadcast, right? VHS won today. And I'm worried about that kind of stuff because biometrics are the best chance of us being the most secure, and if the consumer doesn...”
“We're a lock and a security company first, so we default to that. That's table stakes, right? That you have a secure product that's difficult to pick, that's difficult to break, you know, that's going to last. You've got to be a lock first and then add an intelligence layer to it.”
“Here's the danger of biometrics: if the consumer doesn't embrace it, it's going to go away. It will die like Beta... VHS won today and I'm worried about that kind of stuff because biometrics are the best chance of us being the most secure and if the consumer doesn't like it, it's not going to happen.”
Allegion Ventures and Ambient.ai leaders share about the passions and values common to both organizations, as well as the collaborative opportunities to meaningfully improve safety and security where we live, learn, work and connect. Hear more from Ambient.ai CEO Shikhar Shrestha, as well as Allegion Ventures Managing Director Bobby Prostko and President Rob Martens, in this video.
On this episode of HomeTech: We are joined by Rob Martens, Senior Vice President, Chief Innovation & Design Officer at Allegion, PLC. You may not be familiar with the name Allegion, but its footprint is massive, spanning 30+ brands (including Schlage locks) in 130 countries with 11,000 employees. Rob serves as a futurist for the company and is also heavily involved in Allegion Ventures, which invests in various tech companies surrounding the internet of things. Our conversation covers the state of IoT (hint: it’s not all roses), how companies can and must do better by consumers, why you should…
He’s not the first to note this, but he says it well. “We really know how to build things here. Silicon Valley is very focused on connecting things. There’s a gap in the marketplace for taking those big, complex physical things (that we build) and connecting them to the application layer, with that software layer. This is a huge opportunity for us.” Rob Martens is chief innovation and design officer, among other roles, for Allegion. His job involves taking the door and security functions that have been part of the company for more than 100 years and “futuring” their applications. The Allegion…
In the latest Inside Access Control video, we catch up with Rob Martens of Allegion and Allegion Ventures. This is a two part episode as we dig into: Part 1: Innovation in a time of crisis and how the way we partner and collaborate will change. Part 2 (starts at 10:46): Advice to entrepreneurs and start ups looking to partner with Allegion and Allegion Ventures
Allegion Ventures, a $50 million corporate venture fund of Allegion plc, is growing again. President Rob Martens explains more about the companies it has added to its portfolio. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR DAILY E-NEWSLETTERS: http://bit.ly/SubscribeIIB GET STATEWIDE TV & RADIO LISTINGS: http://bit.ly/ListingsIIB CHECK OUT THE IIB PODCASTS: http://bit.ly/IIBPodcasts *FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA* Twitter: / iib Facebook: / insideindianabusiness Instagram: / insideindianabusiness
Meet Rob Martens, Wade Sheek, and Doshia Stewart, the leadership team for Allegion Ventures, as they talk about the new ...
... put your name sir Rob Martin's which name of the company Legion also known as schlage is one of our go-to-market brands oh ...
Andrea Smith sits down with Robert Martens of Schlage.
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