Showcasing the future
at CODE_n
To find out more
about the CODE_n
conference program,
visit code-n-ey.com.
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on CeBIT, go to
cebit.com.
The Internet of Things will take center stage at this year’s CODE_n
conference and contest at CeBIT, with pioneering young digital
entrepreneurs, established businesses, investors and leading
thinkers meeting to discuss and showcase their ideas on how
new digital technologies and pervasive networking and analytics
capabilities will transform the way we organize our infrastructure,
how we source, produce, manufacture and sell, and how we as
consumers, patients and citizens are likely to benefit.
From wearable devices and autonomous vehicles
to entire factories and cityscapes, the networking
capabilities of machines, sensors and even
products of all scales are growing at a rapid
pace. This exciting development of cyberspace,
where objects and systems are embedded with
computing power and are able to communicate
with each other, in essence constitutes the
Internet of Things (IoT).
This new world of technological possibilities will
be explored at this year’s CODE_n conference
and contest, part of the CeBIT trade show
taking place in Hanover, Germany, from
16–20 March 2015. “Into the Internet of Things”
is the theme for the CODE_n contest this year,
which is supported by EY. The contest will give
50 finalists, chosen from around 400 young
companies worldwide, the chance to present
their business models and solutions to industry
experts, investors and the international media.
Adding to so much pioneering talent available
on site, EY will convene an extensive conference
program, allowing visitors to raise their
questions and to seek answers in discussion with
leading industry experts and think tanks.
“We pick up where big data left off: with a globally
relevant theme that is massively shifting the
fields of economics and science,” says Ulrich
Dietz, initiator of CODE_n and CEO of the GFT
Group.1 “The Internet of Things is pushing
1. L. Gaede, “CODE_n delves ‘Into the Internet of Things,” CODE_n blog, July 2014, http://blog.code-n.org/2014/07/31/
code_n-delves-into-the-internet-of-things/, accessed February 2015.
Box 1
Things will change
forever
Paul van Kessel,
Global Digital Leader
at EY, explains how the
Internet of Things will
transform all our lives
Dubbed by many as nothing less than
the “third industrial revolution,” the
Internet of Things (IoT) is a digital
game changer.
We believe that, when everyone
and everything is connected within
seamless information networks,
when the resulting data is evaluated
by intelligent and predictive big
data analytics, and with robust
cybersecurity measures in place,
we will see positive changes in the
way we all conduct business; how
we operate our factories, supply
chains and logistics networks; how we
manage our infrastructure; and last
but not least, how we as consumers,
patients and citizens interact with
suppliers, retailers, health care
providers and government agencies.
The changes will be massive and they
will be disruptive. The necessary
transformation of businesses and
infrastructures will last for decades
and will create substantial new
employment opportunities. More
personal, more efficient and more
nimble processes will replace
massive industrial-sized processes
and present growth opportunities
for smaller and medium-sized
businesses. And the efficiency gains
will allow organizations to secure their
long-term growth while ensuring a
more sustainable use of our natural
resources and environment.
2
companies to fundamentally rethink the
way they do business. Groundbreaking
ideas from the highly energetic startup scene are essential to take this vast,
interconnected network to the next level
and unlock possibilities yet unseen.”
Digital themes
The finalists will present ideas based on
four subthemes: Industry 4.0, future
mobility, smart city and digital life. With
recent data suggesting that one in six of
the world’s software developers is already
working on Internet of Things projects, it’s
possible to predict the type of pioneering
solutions likely to be presented to judges at
CODE_n this year.
For Industry 4.0 (or the “smart factory”)
nothing less than the age-old contradiction
between the scale efficiencies of
standardized industrial manufacturing
and the customers’ desire for individual
products finally sees serious challenge.
And with a vast amount of sensors and
highly powered, real-time and predictive
analytics in place, a whole new level of
efficiency gains increasingly opens up, i.e.,
in production and supply chain planning
and in predictive maintenance.
Future proof
Future mobility is also transforming the
way we work and live. Many solutions
are simultaneously autonomous and
connected yet still allow for individual
mobility within an environment that
incorporates larger and seamlessly
integrated urban mobility systems.
Some of the solutions that the CODE_n
applicants are working on include
new applications that tackle major
transportation issues, including optimizing
the use of existing road infrastructure and
addressing the lack of parking space in
major cities.
Other solutions use e-mobility — which
involves using vehicle and communication
technologies and in-vehicle information — to
manage a battery-charging infrastructure
or even to put electric vehicles to use as
distributed energy storage — thus helping
to make alternative energy sources a
more robust and reliable alternative for
energy generation.
CODE_n also will see visionary Frank
Rinderknecht explain and demonstrate
his vision for a future car that not only is
capable of autonomous driving but that
will learn to adapt to the very habits and to
predict the individual transportation needs
of its owner.
The main focus on the smart city topic
lies with technologies that allow the
planning and managing of ever-growing
urban regions while, at the same time,
generating considerably less congestion,
waste, pollution and resource usage.
Looking at our individual homes, sensor
and operating solutions are being
developed for everything from the
measurement of domestic air quality to
controlling the temperature of a home’s
wine cellar. Intelligent energy usage in
the individual home as well as in large
urban infrastructures is sure to feature too
when finalists present smart city-themed
solutions at CODE_n.
Many start-ups are also working on
solutions for connected devices in our
personal lives — integrating, for instance,
electronic toothbrushes and sports
equipment into game apps aimed at raising
motivation for brushing teeth or exercising
for health benefits.
These solutions are likely to be part of the
digital life subtheme, where the maxim
“everything that can be connected will be
connected” very much applies. Solutions
from fintech companies, meanwhile,
demonstrate how personal sensors and
data can be used to further drive the
personalization of insurance contracts
and to provide for behavioral incentives,
ranging from a more healthy lifestyle
to less aggressive driving behaviors.
Encouragingly, a growing number of startups are focusing on cybersecurity and data
privacy to help keep our digital lives as
private as possible (or at least as private as
we elect them to be).
Showcasing the future at CODE_n
Box 2
Springboard for success
Last year’s CODE_n winner and runner-up have been working with strategic partners to
further develop their innovative solutions and grow their businesses.
“How many customers visit my store,
when and for how long? What route do
they take through the store and where do
they stop? Which areas do they frequent
most? How often do they come back?”
These are questions that last year’s
CODE_n Award winner Viewsy is helping
retailers to answer through its intelligent
retail data software.
Sensors that receive the radio signals
from customers’ smartphones are
installed in stores. The Viewsy software
then analyzes these signals and provides
retailers with information on the path
customers take through the store,
where they stop and when they move
on. This enables retailers to determine
whether, for instance, product displays
are effective in enticing customers to buy
products or whether a change in store
layout might lead to more purchases.
Data protection has been taken into
consideration too. Viewsy says the
data its software gathers is secure and
anonymous, and if customers don’t
want their data captured while they’re
shopping, all they have to do is deactivate
their smartphone’s WLAN connection
before they enter the store.
Back to the future
The UK-based start-up is one of a growing
number of companies adopting structures
and methods that already exist online for
use in the offline world.
From Amazon’s e-commerce platform to
Google’s product suite, the rapid growth
of the technology economy has been built
on analytics — an approach now being
applied to the physical world in location
services such as FourSquare, a local
search-and-discovery mobile app.
Odera Ume-Ezeoke, who cofounded
Viewsy, explains: “I got the idea for my
solution from internet stores, which today
are more closely tailored to the personal
likes of customers than conventional
stores. Cookies give e-retailers a better
knowledge of their customers than bricksand-mortar retailers, enabling them to
tailor their web stores to their precise
needs. I wanted to give this advantage
back to traditional retailers.”
Winning the CODE_n competition has
enabled Viewsy to form partnerships with
larger companies to promote and sell its
software. Viewsy has been working with
a large events operator that has already
used the software to increase advertising
revenue by 15%, while the start-up has
also secured a contract to help a global
fashion brand understand the return on
investment from its offline marketing.
Smart solution
CODE_n has also proved the perfect
springboard for business growth for
the runner-up in last year’s contest,
Autogrid. The Autogrid solution, which
collects energy data and analyzes it to
identify opportunities for saving energy,
has attracted US$12m of investment
from E.ON, one of the world’s largest
energy providers.
E.ON, which has around 35 million
customers and access to 12 different
European markets, partners with startups that have a product or a business
model that the energy provider can use
to better serve its customers.
One of the sparks for inventing Autogrid
came from the company’s CEO and
founder Amit Naryan, who led a team
that developed 8 of the 10 chips in the
first iPhone when he was Vice President
of Product Development at Magma
Design Automation.2 Narayan realized
that, under certain conditions, these
mobile communications chips could
be deployed in power grids for smart
analysis of power usage.
The Autogrid solution has seen the
company work with customers including
City of Palo Alto Utilities in California,
managing its energy supply with its
Demand Response Optimization and
Management System (DROMS). Autogrid
has also formed major strategic
partnerships with companies including
Schneider Electric, integrating DROMS
into its Wiser home energy management
system to better manage and control
electricity use.3
It’s another example of how the stars of
CODE_n can make a difference to the way
the world works.
2. D
. Nippes, “Autogrid — Turning big data into power,” Dataconomy, May 2014, dataconomy.com/turning-big-data-powerautogrid/, accessed February 2015.
3. “ AutoGrid, Schneider partner on demand response and analytics services,” Renew Grid, September 2013, www.renew-grid.
com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.10276, accessed February 2015.
Showcasing the future at CODE_n
3
Providing a platform
The main goal of CODE_n is to support
outstanding business talents and provide
them with the platform they need to
develop their digital business models.
For the winners, the contest can provide
a springboard for success (see Box 2).
CODE_n also offers young companies
with great ideas the chance to present
to and gain attention from larger, more
established businesses. This might help
secure not only additional funding for
their ventures but — more importantly for
many — the access to world markets that,
in an industrial and business to business
(B2B) context, still remains the prerogative
of larger and established organizations and
systems integrators.
For bigger businesses, it is an invaluable
opportunity to tap into innovative ideas
quickly, to partner with and to secure the
digital talent they likely are struggling to
identify and attract right now.
EY, which is once again supporting
CODE_n as a global partner, has long
recognized the importance of helping
start-ups realize their ambitions and the
value of connecting a pioneering start-up
culture with the larger capabilities of
established businesses.
“Companies all around the world are
seeking to tap into the new possibilities
presented by digital and IoT. And
many realize that understanding
new technological possibilities — and
disrupting what are, more often than not,
long-established processes and thinking — is
not easily achievable,” says Paul van Kessel,
Global Digital Leader at EY. “Added to this,
digital talent in many organizations, when
put to the test, may prove rather scarce.”
He adds: “At EY, we have been
witnessing the emergence of pioneering
entrepreneurs and start-ups all over the
world, and we believe that innovation
platforms such as CODE_n can help by
making connections: providing established
organizations with access to the digital
talent they desire and young start-up
pioneers with the access to funding,
infrastructure and market access that too
often can be out of reach. For us, CODE_n
again proves an important building block
as we work toward connecting the old and
the new, for innovation, for better business,
for sustainable growth and for a better
working world for all of us.”
Leading event
Widespread digitalization of the physical
world will be reflected across the entire
CeBIT expo, which attracted more
than 300,000 professional visitors last
year. The theme for this year’s show
is d!conomy, reflecting the megatrend
toward digitalization and its impact on the
economy and society as a whole.
Besides supporting CODE_n, CeBIT will
feature an exhibition showcasing the
latest trends in IT, with major companies
participating and exhibiting their latest
developments, as befits a show that has
become the world’s leading event for a
digital industry that is changing the way
we live and work.
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