With longer range, decreased power requirements and lower costs, LPWANs enable a much wider range of IoT applications to support business innovation.
IoTUK Boost aims to address barriers to entry into the IoT marketplace across the country, with the selected partners spanning from Bristol to Yorkshire.
One of six partners selected across the UK, the CW programme will make use of the city wide LoRaWAN network which is currently being deployed by the Smart Cambridge programme as part of its work with the Greater Cambridge City Deal.
CW has formed a core partnership with Everynet, the LoRa Alliance™, Iotic Labs, and Smart Cambridge, which will be supported by the University of Cambridge and a variety of technology businesses as the programme gathers pace.
CW will coordinate a programme providing support for businesses to test LP-WAN technology solutions, that focus on a genuine need or problem area. IoT providers will be selected who are able to demonstrate a potential solution to one of the three core challenges facing the region: air quality monitoring, transport and primary prevention of ill health in older people.
This is challenge to the Tech community to come up with solutions that, for example, better understand real-time air quality across the city, or, manage parking within the city, or help prevent avoidable hospital admissions and develop integrated care models. The solutions are as diverse as the multiple facets of the challenges.
At least 10 companies will be selected to participate in the programme. Successful SMEs will be coached in the development of market-ready products and services, and provided with training and development kits. Winning solutions will be showcased at the CW International Conference in the summer of 2017.
Further announcements will be made about this programme in January. Businesses and innovators interested in how they can test out their IoT innovations, or become mentors for the programme, can register their interest by emailing LPWANboost@cambridgewireless.co.uk
Robert Driver, CEO of CW, said: “CW is delighted be part of this partnership. We are one of only six successful organisations across the whole country who will be delivering this important national programme. A key role of CW is to bring together companies – both large and small – to share knowledge and insights. We are also thrilled to be joining up with the Smart Cambridge so that the developed solutions can have a direct impact on the city. Importantly CW is, of course, as a membership organisation, agnostic about alternative technology solutions. We hope this is just the first step in encouraging all the main LPWAN technologies to test and explore the delivery of real world solutions into Cambridge.”
Noelle Godfrey, Director of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Connecting Cambridgeshire programme, which leads the Smart Cambridge programme, said: “Smart Cambridge welcomes this opportunity to collaborate with CW and other partners. We are keen to harness the brain power and creativity of our tech’ businesses to help address some of the challenges facing our region and help to foster future local business growth in this exciting area of innovation.”
Tracy Hopkins, GM Everynet and Marketing Committee Chair of the LoRa Alliance said: “The LoRaWAN ecosystem is the largest in the LPWA industry and this will encourage innovation and creativity to solve real world city wide issues. We have moved beyond technology in the LPWA space and it is all about solutions that deliver commercially as well as technically. Everynet is excited be a partner in this program and offers all participants the opportunity to become part of the EveryTHINGZ interoperability lab. The LoRa Alliance is very pleased to endorse programs of this type as innovation is key to maximizing the impact of the IoT. We welcome new members from across the ecosystem to contribute to driving the specification and to use the LoRaWAN™ Certification program to ensure compatibility with the networks that are being deployed globally.
Peter Whale, COO at Iotic Labs, said: “Iotic Labs is excited to provide Iotic Space as the enabling environment for IoT Boost participants to develop innovative solutions that address real needs, maximizing the value of sharing and combining data from across the city of Cambridge and beyond. It is always fantastic for us to see the myriad of different ideas people can realise when they have access to data: sometimes completely different solutions generated from the same sources. We were greatly encouraged by the initiative and entrepreneurial spirit show by participants we mentored in a previous IoT Boost programme, and are really looking forward to meeting more people from this innovative and rapidly growing sector to help them to make their ideas happen”.
About CW (Cambridge Wireless Ltd)
CW is the leading international community for companies involved in the research, development and application of wireless and mobile, internet, semiconductor and software technologies. With over 400 members from major network operators and device manufacturers to innovative start-ups and universities, CW stimulates debate and collaboration, harnesses and shares knowledge, and helps to build connections between academia and industry. CW's 19 Special Interest Groups (SIGs) provide its members with a dynamic forum where they can network with their peers, track the latest technology trends and business developments and position their organisations in key market sectors. CW also organises major conferences and start-up competitions along with other high-quality industry networking events and dinners. With headquarters at the heart of Cambridge, UK, CW partners with other international industry clusters and organisations to extend its reach and remain at the forefront of global developments and business opportunities.
Find out more at www.cambridgewireless.co.uk
About Everynet
Everynet is a global leader in IoT connectivity, the first with a complete end to end offering, and the first with an integrated application library, and with a mission to connect a “billion things”. Providing low cost network infrastructure and an IoT Network Platform that offers world leading IP. An Innovative Partner Program that can facilitate participation in a Global Shared Network ensuring that devices are not limited by lack of coverage and a disruptive business model. Everynet believe that the two key barriers to large scale IoT deployment are cost and end device availability and work with partners across the value chain to offer a simple ‘out of the box’ experience, with networks in 10 countries and over 30 cities these barriers are already falling.
About the LoRa Alliance™
The LoRa Alliance™ is an open, non-profit association that has grown to more than 400 members since its inception in March 2015, becoming one of the largest and fastest growing alliances in the technology sector. Its members are closely collaborating and sharing their experience to promote the LoRaWAN™ protocol as the leading open global standard for secure, carrier-grade IoT LPWA connectivity.
With the technical flexibility to address multiple IoT applications, both static and mobile, and a certification program to guarantee interoperability, the LoRaWAN™ is already being deployed globally by major mobile network operators and is anticipated to widely expand in 2016.
About LoRaWAN™
The technology utilized in a LoRaWAN network is designed to connect low-cost, battery-operated sensors over long distances in harsh environments that were previously too challenging or cost prohibitive to connect. With its unique penetration capability, a LoRaWAN gateway deployed on a building or tower can connect to sensors more than 10 miles away or to water meters deployed underground or in basements. The LoRaWAN protocol offers unique and unequalled benefits in terms of bi-directionality, security, mobility and accurate localization that are not addressed by other LPWAN technologies. These benefits will enable the diverse use cases and business models that will enable deployments of large-scale LPWAN IoT networks globally.
About the Smart Cambridge programme
The Smart Cambridge programme is collaborating with academic and business partners to explore how data, innovative technology and better connectivity can be used to address city challenges such as mobility and air quality in and around Cambridge.
Through the Connecting Cambridgeshire programme and Greater Cambridge City Deal, Smart Cambridge is developing a City Management Platform supported by a LoRaWAN network taking real-time and static data from around the city to create Smart City solutions
Work has begun to pull together data the city currently collects via sensors, such as air quality roadside stations and Bluetooth road sensors, into the platform. A mobile travel app will be launched in 2017, and the programme is also exploring integrated ticketing and the feasibility of autonomous vehicles.
Find out more at www.connectingcambridgeshire.co.uk/smartcamb/
About Iotic Labs
Iotic Labs had a big vision: to make the Internet of Things like the Internet, and it is doing just that with Iotic Space. Iotic Space is a place where data from any Things can interact, virtually and innately securely, to share information and to trigger events. It is a wonderful place to explore and play, to find incredible information that you knew must be out there somewhere, and then to do something really useful with it. With homes in Cambridge and London, Iotic Labs is a growing company with big aspirations to empower people to make the world work for them by liberating trapped data and enriching it with new.
Find out more at www.iotic-labs.com
About Digital Catapult
Digital Catapult is here to help grow the UK digital economy by working with SMEs to help them grow and scale faster and helping larger corporates in their digital transformation. It does this through programmes of collaboration and open innovation, by bringing academic leading edge expertise into the mix combined with the organisation’s own business and technological expertise.
Find out more at www.digitalcatapultcentre.org.uk
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