I · Childhood
The texture of early childhood has shifted. Its environments, rhythms, and inputs no longer resemble those of even a generation ago.
The Rising Sun Project
Making Early Development Visible
The First Six Years
Shape the Next Sixty.
The earliest years of life lay the foundations for learning, relationships, emotional wellbeing, communication, and lifelong health.
Every parent can see a child growing taller.
Few can see how a child is growing emotionally, socially, cognitively, and adaptively.
Yet it is these quieter forms of growth that often shape the course of a lifetime.
The Rising Sun Project is working to make this development easier to understand, so families and the professionals around them can recognise when a child may need additional support, and respond earlier.
What This Project Is-
The Rising Sun Project is an initiative dedicated to building the scientific frameworks, practical approaches, and technology needed to better understand early human development.
Children grow within a network of parents, teachers, pediatricians, therapists, and caregivers. Better support begins when they share a clearer understanding of a child's development.
Rather than trying to force a single solution, we are creating the foundations that help these different parts of the ecosystem work from the same picture.
The First Six Years-
The period of greatest developmental leverage.
For millenia, we have watched children grow. Only recently have we begun to understand the remarkable processes unfolding beneath the surface.
As insights from neuroscience, developmental science, psychology, and technology advance, a new possibility is emerging, which allows us not merely to witness development, but understand it well enough to support it earlier and more effectively.
Much of what shapes a child's future cannot be seen as easily as height or weight. Making those changes easier to recognise is one of the most important opportunities in early childhood today.
The world has changed-
The context of childhood has shifted faster than the systems designed to support it.
II · Technology
Digital systems now mediate attention, language, and play from the earliest months of life, with consequences we are only beginning to understand.
III · Society
The capabilities that future adults will need are evolving rapidly, while the developmental scaffolding around young children has remained largely unchanged.
This is what is needed-
A small set of deeply interconnected capabilities.
Five interlocking systems, built with care, to answer a single question: what does this child need next?
No single tool can meaningfully improve early childhood development.
Children are supported by families, educators, clinicians, and caregivers, each with a different perspective. Better outcomes require a shared understanding, not just better individual tools.
Our work is focused on building the foundations that make this possible.
I
Developmental Frameworks
Translating decades of scientific research into clear, practical developmental pathways that families and professionals can actually use.
II
Milestone Intelligence
Making developmental progress easier to observe, interpret, and understand in the context of each child's own trajectory.
III
Measurement Systems
Tracking meaningful developmental outcomes over time, with the rigor of science and the sensitivity of human observation.
IV
Decision Support
Helping caregivers and professionals understand what matters next, and why, at each stage of early development.
V
Technology Platform
Making developmental science more accessible at scale, without reducing the child to a dashboard or metric.
Our guiding principles-
Guiding principles
Science First
Grounded in evidence, open to revision.
Outcomes First
Measured by what changes in a child's life.
Child First
The child is the subject, never the product.
Technology as an Enabler
Quiet, useful, and in service of humanity.
Long-Term Thinking
Designed for decades, not quarters.
Where We Are Today-
The Rising Sun Project is currently bringing together research, technology, and practical insights to shape its first generation of developmental tools and frameworks.
Our work draws upon developmental psychology, neuroscience, pediatrics, cognitive science, systems engineering, education, artificial intelligence, and human-computer interaction.
We are also beginning to explore these ideas in real-world settings through early collaborations with preschool partners, helping ensure that what we build is both scientifically grounded and practically useful.
Built Upon Many Disciplines-
This work draws upon developmental psychology, neuroscience, pediatrics, cognitive science, systems engineering, education, ar, and human-computer interaction.
The long-term vision-
Long-term vision
A future where developmental support is proactive rather than reactive.
Where families, educators, pediatricians, and other professionals have the understanding and the tools to recognise what children need, earlier.
Where science-backed guidance is accessible to every child, not just those fortunate enough to find it.
Because the first six years shape the next sixty.
The founders-
Founders
I
Prateek Lal Shah
Co-founder ·
Award winning Product developer and researcher with a background spanning biotechnology, bioinformatics, and innovation. His work focuses on translating complex scientific ideas into practical systems that bridge research, technology, and real-world implementation.
II
Shruti Sharma Shah
Co-founder ·
Product leader with experience building large-scale technology platforms and user-centered digital products. She brings expertise in systems thinking, product strategy, and designing technology that supports meaningful human outcomes.
Who We Hope to Collaborate With
We welcome conversations with researchers, clinicians, educators, technologists, policymakers, investors, and others who believe that every child deserves the opportunity to thrive.
If this work resonates with you, we'd love to hear from you.
Correspondence-
Correspondence
We welcome thoughtful conversations with researchers, clinicians, educators, technologists, and others interested in the future of early human development.