#iot farming

1) Hi Orlando, thank you for your time! We’d like to ask you what is your opinion about the Internet of Things (IoT) industry and market. What is its current situation?

The IoT market is currently on the verge of crossing the chasm. We see more and more SMEs starting to recognize the value of their assets and looking for help to integrate them into their IT Systems. Sensefinity is helping them to achieve this.

2) We can assume that this strong interest within the IoT domain, will disrupt markets and will make them pivot. What are the business domains that IoT (or IoE) will impact most?

We can only start to imagine the huge impact that IoT will bring. Precision Farming is the most important innovation to help feeding the world. Smart-Cities will help to build more enjoyable cities, mHealth will help us keep better track of our Health and many more improvements are just starting to occur. We live in exciting times!

3) What are the most positive consequences of this revolution? What about privacy?

We are now giving every company the possibility to leverage the power of knowledge on their assets. This was up to now reserved for big companies, so IoT is now leveling the playing-field. This will allow every company, every farmer, every project to become more productive. This is the dawn of a new time! IoT is the big technology which is already helping farmers to feed the ever growing world population. It will be the cornerstone for increasing the quality of life for the world population.

But of course we must be careful to follow good engineering principles in order to avoid creating new problems with IoT. Privacy should be just one of the big concerns that IoT implementers should take great care of.

4) Considering your expertise in the field, what do you think final consumers actually look for? What about bigger companies?

Consumers are looking for solutions to improve their lives and support their lifestyle. A lot of great products are already being marketed to fill this need. Companies are now starting to get noticed by IoT solution makers. Out-of-the-box solutions like Sensefinity are the key for companies to become very productive and quickly accomplish their projects.

5) Please give us 5 fields where IoT is going to show us the biggest tech revolution.

1.       There is enormous potential in Agriculture. Small and medium-sized farmers will now have the power to understand the processes in real-time and act respectively. I believe this is one of the most important evolutions to occur as it will be key to help sustain world-population’s growth.

2.       If we need to feed more people, it would also be necessary to help reduce waste. Today for example 40% of the fresh produce in India is wasted due to hygiene and lack of cold chain. Projects like Sensefinity’s Perfect Cool are a solution to help decrease waste and increase the usage of the world’s limited resources.

3.       Health will become universal. mHealth is a key for reducing the climbing costs of health and it will help reduce the costs to support health systems in developed countries and are the key to create sustainable health systems in the developing world.

4.       Cities will become really smart. interconnected systems and AI connected to it,  Atooma being a personal AI, will help the city to work for the people instead of creating barriers.

5.       Logistic chains will become real-time. IoT provides the real-time visibility that will enable real-time logistic chains. We are already working on several transformation-projects which leverage the real-time visibility provided by the IoT.

6) What is your opinion about all the corporate accelerators that try to enhance disruptive IoT solutions?

Corporate Accelerators provide for startups easy market-entry and they provide the corporations with early technology access. They are a win-win for all parties.

7) What are the most common risks that a startup must face in the IoT while adopting a B2B business model?

The biggest problem for a startup acting in the B2B market is the timeframe for decisions of their corporate customers. As a rule of thumb, the bigger the customer, the longer their decision cycle. This means that a lean, fast-acting startup needs to be very patient when working with a large corporation.

8) Which are your top 3 emerging IoT technologies and why?

- Bluetooth low energy (BLE) as a connection technology due to its ubiquity - Automation Engines like Atooma. They will be crucial for implementing Intelligence in the IoT. - Big Data will leverage and unhide knowledge which otherwise would not be visible.

9) Why should we trust in IoT?

IoT is the real computing revolution, as it now really connects the real-world with the IT systems we have been creating for the past 30 Years.

As with the introduction of the computer, people are still fearful of its potential harms. It is up to the industry, by following good engineering practices, to provide safe and helpful products so that the public can become more comfortable with it.