Internet of things: Prospects and development of IoT in Russia

According to expert estimates, by 2020 the value of the global market for the Internet of things will be $ 7.1 trillion, and the number of connected devices will reach 25 billion, and this is excluding tablet computers, smartphones and laptops.

We can already observe the emergence of smart cities, smart cars, smart factories and many other smart objects. Mobile phones and tablets have long been connected to the Web — they were initially equipped with all the necessary chips and modules for this — however, microwaves, refrigerators, and even clothes begin to “go out” on the Internet just now.
')
And what is interesting is that if a sensor system is installed in the usual pair of sneakers, which would determine how sports shoes are used, the information collected will be valuable in itself. After collecting enough data, it will be possible to analyze the behavior of the athlete runner, identify errors, improve the technique of running. Thus, the usual attribute of our life with you - shoes - turns into service.

Not so long ago, the largest exhibition of mobile technologies Mobile World Congress 2016 came to an end in Barcelona, ​​where the main trends, devices and technologies of the coming year were demonstrated. Alexey Basov, a business angel and vice-president of OJSC Rostelecom, noted that at the moment the Internet of things is at the stage of infrastructure development, and the limits of its applicability are gradually expanding.

Now successful solutions have a rather narrow focus, but their presence in all spheres of life - from health and safety to transport and agriculture - demonstrates the imminent transition from quantity to quality
- Alexey Basov

For example, go far away is not necessary. New technologies are able to solve many health problems, offering unique solutions for researching diseases. For example, IBM and Pfizer have teamed up to work on a project whose task is to investigate Parkinson's disease. Sensors installed on the body of the patient and in his house, will determine how the symptoms of the disease affect the activity of the person.

Today, it is quite difficult to track the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, because they change during the day, and doctors observe the patient only for a limited period of time. In this regard, tracking the progress of the disease is a rather difficult test for patients, doctors and researchers.

“Now we have the opportunity to drastically change the way a patient’s condition is monitored by combining Pfizer’s scientific and medical expertise with IBM’s ability to interpret large amounts of data,” said Mikael Dolsten, head of research at Pfizer.

In general, the Western public is very sensitive to health issues. In 2014, the number of regular visitors to gyms in the US reached a record high of 54.1 million people (17% of the country's population), and the income of the American fitness industry exceeded $ 22.4 billion (almost twice the 2000 figure). Therefore, it is not surprising that start-ups such as Naked Labs from San Francisco, which began taking orders for a 3D body scanning system, are emerging.

The company's CEO and co-founder Farhad Farahbakhshian (Farhad Farahbakhshian) says that the company's fitness tracker is designed for people who want to monitor their progress in sports. The device consists of a large mirror that is connected to an ordinary outlet, as well as a wireless rotating pad to ensure uniform scanning. Users can view 3D scans on a smartphone: an exact copy of the human body appears on the screen with comments near each part of the body.

The company has already managed to attract investments from investors such as New Enterprise Associates, Three Leaf Ventures and Monstro Ventures, which should carry the project into a “bright future” (by the way, here and here you can find some useful tips on how to run a startup in IoT -the environment).

IoT - more questions than answers

However, as is the case with innovative technologies, not all projects remain afloat. Sometimes this is due to the imperfection of the product, and sometimes - with its obsolescence. Something similar happened with the Revolv project (bought by Google) - one of the first home automation hubs that allows you to manage multiple gadgets from a single interface.

The company stops supporting its product on May 15 of this year. Moreover, their product becomes completely unworkable. Users who have already managed to get a smart hub, very much grieved. One of Revolv’s clients, Arlo Gilbert, wrote the following words on his blog: “Google intentionally turns my device into a brick.” Moreover, the only way to find out about this is to visit the manufacturer’s website. This is a big spit in the direction of all customers of the company. I am the owner of the Commodore 64, but even it still works. ”

Do we really have to buy “temporary” equipment? Now we can not say for sure, because IoT-products enter the market in such quantities that you do not have time to follow everyone. Almost every day there is a new gadget that overshadows competitors. However, this is the smallest of problems. Trying to quickly release their product to the market, many companies rush things, and it happens that a “raw” gadget suffers from problems with software.

This, in particular, relates to the smart thermostat Nest, who recently made a noise. Nest is an intelligent device that automates the processes associated with maintaining the optimum temperature in the room. However, in January of this year, the company's customers faced one unpleasant bug. Due to an error in the program code, many users woke up in a cold apartment in the morning - the thermostat battery was completely discharged during the night.

But not everything is so bad, the positive note is that such high-profile events bring previously ignored security issues to the fore (even at the federal level). Security companies and smart device manufacturers have teamed up to save the IoT world before the situation gets out of control.

Gemalto plans to use its accumulated experience in protecting mobile payments by offering Secure Element technology. SE is a tamper-resistant component that integrates into gadgets and provides advanced digital protection through encryption and systems that restrict access to sensitive data. Microsoft also entered the battle, promising to add BitLocker encryption and Secure Boot technology in Windows 10 for IoT, which is used on platforms such as Raspberry Pi.

Acceleration of IoT projects: how to develop the Internet of things in Russia

Despite the existing problems, accelerators in the field of IoT are opening up all over the world - the Internet of Things has captured the minds of humanity. In Barcelona, ​​Startupbootcamp has launched a new program that aims to develop IoT projects and startups dealing with big data. Ten selected startups will work in the heart of Barcelona - the innovative quarter 22 @, where several hundred other companies are already operating.

In terms of project development and support for entrepreneurs, Russia is not far behind. In particular, the selection of projects in the field of the Internet of Things begins the Internet Initiatives Development Fund. IIDF is ready to provide investments from 2 million to 320 million rubles (in each company), support in entering new markets and business development, as well as access to strategic customers.

For start-up companies, the Fund also has an industry accelerator. This means that the teams will complete the current acceleration program and, in addition, will receive expert support from industry partners with the prospect of further development of projects. FRII industry partners interested in the work of IoT projects are companies in several directions at once.

Thus, in the direction of “Smart Home / Smart Apartment”, Kortros Group of Companies proposes to integrate the most successful solutions of start-up projects in the construction of Akademichesky microdistrict in Yekaterinburg. In the direction of Smart City projects will be able to apply their decisions within the framework of the implementation of the program of the APK "Safe City".

In the direction of Industrial Internet, GS Venture provides investment projects in the amount of up to 300 million rubles to a specific project that is interested in projects and mass production based on the Technopolis GS enterprises, assistance in bringing finished products to the market, their advertising and promotion, and also effective mutually beneficial partnership with the holding's business.

Such an interest of Russian large business to the subject of the Internet of Things is not surprising: interesting companies are gradually emerging in Russia that are engaged in developments in this field. Take, for example, Eldis - an online dispatching system for heat energy, electricity, gas, hot and cold water metering and weather control systems.

For more than a decade of experience, the team has written over 100 drivers for the most popular devices used in this industry. Currently, IIS Eldis is used by more than 600 organizations from 31 regions of the Russian Federation (by the way, the FRII accelerator helped the project find its consumer segment, reduce the duration of the transaction and increase the number of customers by 3.5 times).

Another worthy project is the startup Lapka, which manufactures sensors for the Internet of Things, which Airbnb rental company recently bought . According to Vadik Marmeladov, the founder of Lapka, in March 2015, the project overcame the mark of 50 thousand measurements made using the company's devices. Each month, sensors record about 4-5 thousand measurements, while about 56% of device users live in Russia, and 34% in the United States.

A no less priority and promising direction for the development of IoT in Russia is Industrial Internet of Things.



In the field of Internet of things in industry, two main trends can be distinguished. The first is the transition of the industry to the economy of services, that is, an economy where the final result is important. Boris Glazkov, director of the Center for Strategic Innovations of Rostelecom PJSC, explains what this means: “Let’s say that you have an airliner and it is critically important for you that it is operational, fly and not stand idle so as not to lose profit. You do not care, due to what he flies, what is his engine. You need flight hours. ”

Now vendors offer airlines “engine as a service” service, guaranteeing the performance of the flight equipment, taking on the obligations of its maintenance. This is where the Internet of Things is needed. It is necessary to regularly collect information about the operating conditions: fuel consumption, temperature, etc., in order to predict the breakdown on the basis of these data and prevent it in a timely manner.

Another development direction of the Industrial Internet of Things [Industrial Internet of Things] is to increase the efficiency of production systems. In this case, IoT-technologies will optimize production processes: ensure accuracy of operations, reduce inventory, minimize personnel errors and time of human intervention. All this will make it possible to significantly increase the production of any product.

Many believe that the Russian IIoT is only a distant prospect, which is realized sometime in the future, however, as Sergei Plugotarenko, director of the Russian Association of Electronic Communications (RAEC), said, speaking with his report , "today we are talking about the present."

“The Internet of Things is probably the most significant of all technological trends that we are seeing,” says Sergey. - It is he who will lead to the greatest changes along with the most significant opportunities in the next five years. Intel understands this and in July 2015 opened the Intel Ignition Labs IIoT laboratory in Moscow. ”

“Anyone who can solve the problem of introducing IIoT in Russia will be able to enter the international market. It's not too late yet. One of the main current tasks is to show the effectiveness of Business Cases of the Industrial Internet and demonstrate that it can give the industry what it will be and how it differs from the Internet to which we are accustomed, ” adds Boris Glazkov.

During his speech, Yevgeny Kovnir from the Agency for Strategic Initiatives stressed that it is necessary to pay special attention to the constitution of our country, since it is about "creating new areas that will be actively developed in the next 10-15 years."

Thus, the main task of the state is to help companies and interact with them. It is extremely important to bring all the processes under the standards of international norms, because in a very short time the domestic market of the Internet of Things plans to “explode”: according to forecasts of Matthew Smith, a top manager of Cisco, in the next 10 years, the benefits of implementing IoT technologies in Russia reach $ 200 billion

And at the end we want to add: the Internet initiatives development fund actively supports Russian companies operating in the field of the Internet of things, therefore we will be happy to see among the residents of the IIDF Accelerator IoT projects in the following areas:

Smart home / Smart apartment :

• “Smart apartment” services connected to the data collection system (SLM - integrated dispatching service), integrated with the IP intercom system at home and the user's personal account;
• safety of the apartment (instant notifications of unauthorized access, fire protection, notifications about the risk of flooding, etc.);
• reduction of resource consumption (individual heat meters, water and electricity, control of lighting in rooms, services for the analysis of resource consumption);
• care for children and elderly relatives (services and mobile applications for the safety of children and elderly relatives who are in an apartment without supervision).

Smart City :

• solutions in the direction of "security": video surveillance and video analysis systems, warning and information systems, quality control systems and licensed product turnover;
• solutions in the direction of "manageability": planning systems for urban planning, electronic document management and control orders, monitoring systems and monitoring utilities;
• “comfort” solutions: traffic modeling and traffic management systems, parking space organization, state (municipal) services, reference services (housing and communal services portals, consumer services, regulatory reference systems).

Agriculture :

• farm management platforms integrating agricultural machinery systems, irrigation systems (local sensors, irrigation units, irrigation applications);
• weather data systems (rain, humidity, temperature, weather reports);
• seed preparation systems (seed database, farm characteristics database, seed preparation systems);
• other solutions for agriculture and livestock.

Industrial Internet :

• production of innovative industrial sensors, controllers and modules;
• sensors, transmitters and receivers, access points and information processing, methods for increasing the battery life of devices.

We are waiting for applications for investment from projects of different stages: from the finished prototype to the first sales and turnover of up to 5 million rubles per month. If you are already doing a project in the field of IoT, you have a great opportunity to work with large industry customers and accelerate the development of your business. Among the partners: “KhMB Otkrytie”, GS Group, Ministry of Emergency Situations (AIC “Safe City”), Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Construction. The application can be submitted until June 23.