China Unicom, THTI, the Tsinghua University innovation platform, and Telefónica Open Future_, Telefónica’s global entrepreneurship and investment network, have selected eight innovative Internet of Things (IoT) projects as the winners of the global joint call for project submissions.
The global call was launched in March during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The Spanish start-ups Ubikwa and Zolertia, Chilean firm WiseConn and the Chinese enterprises Yaoyao, Mugeda, Vigo, Amé Santé and LoveLive were announced as the winners. This was out of 1,000 startups projects from 16 different countries focusing on all types of economic sectors.
The winning projects will have a specific plan tailored to them to accelerate their venture. The programme includes office space, developing pilot plans in the R&D units of the three companies, privileged access to sources of investment and considerable commercial and networking opportunities arising out of the extensive commercial base of the three companies.
They will also be able to access the incubator and accelerator network of the three companies in 17 countries, as well as the crowd-working space reserved especially for this competition in Madrid, Beijing and Shanghai.
According to Cristobal Rivas, CEO of WiseConn, “This call for project submissions has enabled us to see the interest of Telefónica and its partners in developing joint solutions, as well as being able to discuss the Internet of Things with high-level professionals, something which always contributes a great deal of value to us”.
Jaume Gelada, CEO of Ubikwa Systems, said, “To have been selected in this call for submissions has been really satisfying. We decided to submit an entry because it seemed an interesting challenge which would allow us to measure ourselves against the most innovative projects in the area of the Internet of Things. It is an excellent opportunity for us to open a commercial relationship with Telefónica Open Future_, China Unicom and THTI, accessing the markets where these great companies are present and accessing the necessary funding to accelerate our business project”.
In the words of Ana Segurado, director of Telefónica Open Future_, “The Internet of Things is one of the fields of technological endeavour with the greatest development potential due to its multiple applications, the innovations it will bring to our lives and the efficiency it contributes to existing processes. The alliance between Telefónica Open Future_, China Unicom and THTI comprises a powerful global platform for global development and growth of innovative projects in this field.”
Know more about the winning start-ups:
- Smart Silo is described as a ‘pioneering low-cost/no-maintenance solution’ developed by Ubikwa Systems for the remote control of farm silos. The solution uses a 3D scanner to measure volume and stocks with precision, thereby making it easier to gain a better understanding of consumption of feed, re-stocking needs and improved general management of the stock. In addition, it connects farms with feed distributors by facilitating and optimising supply and logistics. Installing this system reduces CO2 emissions by 25%.
- WiseConn has created a platform that is designed to integrate hardware and software to manage water and energy efficiently, with low monitoring costs and a central data platform. Its capacity for monitoring weather and soil conditions and for controlling water levels in reservoirs, wells and canals allow watering requirements to be adapted completely and efficiently.
- Zolertia aims to resolve the problems of collecting, connecting and transmitting data remotely while requiring hardly any energy consumption. Zolertia’s new hardware, Re-Mote, is user-friendly and allows the user to connect projects and products more quickly and efficiently, while managing to do this with an energy requirement that is 60 times lower than usual.
- Yaoyao has developed a tool for car insurance agents in a market such as China where 40% of car insurance policies are taken out through agents who have close relationships with their customers. Yaoyao allows agents to integrate all relevant information for them, helping them to manage their customer portfolio and their ongoing customer relations, increasing loyalty and reinforcing their strategic positioning.
- Mugeda reportedly ‘enriches emotional communication in social networks’ by creating and distributing micro-cards with personalised interactive animations in a natural evolution, through mobile telephones, from traditional greetings cards, thank-you cards and so on. These micro-cards have a greater emotional connection than videos, voice messages or written messages. Mugeda is compatible with all social media and has been functioning for nearly two years on WeChat. During this time it has distributed around 500 million cards to some 140 million users.
- Vigo is a whole digital ecosystem specialising in the transport sector which detects workplace fatigue. It conducts a complete analysis of drivers to detect cases of fatigue and sends an alert in the case of danger, thus minimising the risk of accidents. Vigo’s solution boasts an innovative intelligent wire-free earpiece, an app and a cloud-based monitoring system; it incorporates tools to manage transport, such as the capacity to speak with the driver, optimised route management, working hour monitoring and management of merchandise delivery information, delivery note signing, barcode scanning and receipt of merchandise.
- Amé Santé connects medical technology and internet technology through mobiles, apps and wearables in order to monitor and analyse the state of health and wellbeing of pregnant women and patients with chronic conditions. Amé Santé also offers nutritional and medical recommendations and alerts, as well as remote access to medical professionals, pharmacists and nutritionists.
- LoveLive enables complete interactive participation in live events, covering the event’s entire lifecycle and facilitating close-range social interactivity with an app and a wrist-worn wearable. LoveLive provides an active community and a real-time platform to interact directly with hosts, musicians and the audience, transforming each live event into a complete experience for everyone involved, including organisers, performers and the audience.
