I’m guessing you are also feeling that 2021 is moving along rapidly. The last week has seen the clocks go back, Easter is over and the autumn season is setting in. I hope your plans made during the summer holiday are well underway!
Spark have been busy and have opened their 5G Innovation Lab in Auckland and it’s possible for you to book a visit for those developing tech products. It’s excellent to see the continued commitment by Spark to the development of leading applications.
Next week IoT Alliance and Agritech NZ are hosting a joint event at Fonterra on the topic of progress in rural connectivity. It will be interesting to hear the discussion, as I suspect there is a lot more going on than we have been aware of. The Rural Connectivity Group receives government funding to provide more of New Zealand with wireless service. Also keep an eye on what is happening with satellite systems as there are almost weekly rocket launches of more satellites for broadband and IoT services. Whether you are after video streaming or farm sensing it will soon be possible to achieve a connection at any location. If you aren’t able to make the date, keep an eye out for our report in the next newsletter
Connectivity like this enables some of our big environmental challenges to be tackled. An example that is receiving research funding of $13 million from MBIE is TAIAO (Time-Evolving Data Science / Artificial Intelligence for Advanced Open Environmental Science), bringing together huge data sets, collected in real time from New Zealand’s environment, and making them available on one platform that researchers and scientists can use. This is a collaboration between University of Waikato, the University of Auckland, the University of Canterbury, MetService and Beca.
A further example of Kiwi innovation taking on the world is Exeloo. Recently in the news after receiving an award for the best public bathroom in the USA!
Exeloo uses a connected system designed by a number of local developers working together to provide a system so the Exeloo can be monitored and managed at any location.
Looking further ahead, US company IoTeX is applying blockchain to IoT. Awareness of the value of IoT data is increasing in NZ as we start to realise commercial outcomes post initial deployments. However, the source integrity and robustness of this data is still being tested and blockchain models lend well to verifiable data and verifiable services that users within industry sectors and the Government can trust. The podcast interview with CEO Larry Pang explains blockchain’s impact on the IoT industry. Larry shares what the industry might look like as the market continues to become more educated.
A different take on IoT Security is provided by Security expert Haydn Povey, CEO of Secure Thingz. The interview with Haydn discusses developments of IoT security standards and how these apply to hardware.
The 2021 Hi-Tech Award Finalists have been announced, and companies that stand out for having IoT interests are Bluelab with connected environment sensors; Rocos for their robot operating system; AsBuilt Digital and their digital twin platform for the built environment; Parkable with parking sensors; Halter and the connected cow; also Levno for their agritech applications; and Imagr with the smart shopping basket. There is certainly a myriad of IoT interests to keep you occupied in many business sectors.
Ngā mihi,
The team at the NZ IoT Alliance
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