Editor’s note: Rachael Meleney is Program Director for RIoT, the regional Internet of Things users group based in Raleigh.
RALEIGH – The current wave of the tech economy, the Internet of Things, is showing strong presence in our region’s entrepreneurship ecosystem. At RIoT, we have the great fortune of supporting emerging and established companies as they dive into new applications of our connected economy.
Through the RIoT Accelerator Program (RAP), we mentor groups of entrepreneurs at once. In aggregate, this provides a view into the health and evolution of IoT entrepreneurship in the region– and also exemplifies the strength of the region, as RAP is attracting applications from startups across to U.S. In our ecosystem today, we are seeing the maturation of IoT applications to real world problems as IoT data becomes more sophisticated.
RIoT
The internet connectivity of physical things first advanced capabilities in monitoring, which led to an ability to control and then the ability to optimize– meaning IoT can drive peak performance of a technological capability, with little ongoing direction or manual intervention from users.
Take utilities metering for example– first we were able to monitor electricity consumption, then with greater sophistication could compare consumption across households, time of day, and season. With that data, utilities providers could move towards optimization of electricity consumption and cost by employing dynamic pricing, or even control the flow of energy in some commercial cases.
Now technology is advancing further to predictive intelligence that allows IoT devices, networks, and systems, to be autonomous. You can think of the Nest thermostat, which optimizes your energy consumption and temperature comfort in your home by learning your habits and automatically adjusting the temperature based on your preferences and your comings and goings.
How Startups are Progressing with IoT
How are startups leveraging IoT? First, we’re seeing startups that don’t necessarily start out in the IoT space begin to realize opportunities for increased bottom line efficiencies and top line revenue from integrating IoT into their solutions.
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For example, Purillume provides consumers with a lighting solution that increases productivity and happiness—a circadian lighting lamp that automatically adjusts to mimic the progression of sunlight throughout the day. By leveraging IoT, Purillume can make these adjustments more automatic, or more tailored to users’ preferences and surroundings.
Companah began as a pet cremation service, and to enhance their business has now vetted an IoT component that will allow them to track pets through the process and give greater trust and visibility for both pet owners and vet clinics. IoT is truly changing every industry.
IoT Startups and Public Safety
In public safety, IoT is enhancing visibility and quick action in emergency situations. Green Stream Technologies provides municipalities with real-time flood monitoring, empowering them to take swift action for the safety of their citizens, a need the Southeast knows all too well.
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Safe Zone, a gunshot detection device by Florida-based AVidea Group, enables private commercial spaces to establish a system that will alert administrators and first responders immediately in active shooter situations—cutting down response times and therefore saving lives. Both solutions show cases were IoT systems more quickly and accurately capture emergencies and prompt necessary human response before consequences become more disastrous.
IoT Startups and Healthcare
And as the economy demands more predictive capability– and personalization– from healthcare, IoT startups are responding swiftly. VitalFlo is leveraging the up-and-coming tech that’s meeting marketing demand for prediction and personalization—using patient spirometry data and air quality data to predict an asthma attack in advance and to help the patient get proper preventative care.
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NIRSleep is revamping the way sleep disorders are diagnosed, making the testing process less cumbersome for clinicians and patients. By administering at-home sleep tests with NIRSleep’s small non-invasive device, doctors can get better sleep data from their patients to aid with diagnosis.
IoT Startups: What’s Next
Last August, RIoT completed the first cycle of RAP and has since seen those startups sign big customers, add employees and raise capital. RIoT shared those startups with the community at a Pitch Night event at Lincoln Theater, with over 400 guests (and a line around the block to get in).
RIoT is now graduating its second cohort; the six companies in RAP II are, on average, further along the growth curve and exemplify the trends towards sophisticated use of the data IoT allows us to tap into.
Join RIoT for the RAP II Pitch Night event on Wednesday April 10th at 6pm at Marbles Kids Museum to see these companies showcase their solutions and celebrate the continued growth of the region’s entrepreneurs.
And as you evaluate IoT startups and innovations from the Southeast and beyond, take note of how these innovators are leveraging IoT data. As RAP startups indicate, we can expect more early-stage solutions using IoT data to not only monitor and control, but to optimize and automate solutions to critical problems.
