Breakthrough Internet of Things Technology Wins 2019 Nokia Open Innovation Challenge

Published Dec-27-19

Breakthrough:
A novel technology for drastically reducing energy consumption for Internet of Things devices.

Company:
HaiLa, Canada

The Story:

Breakthrough Internet of Things Technology Wins 2019 Nokia Open Innovation Challenge The arrival of 5G is ushering in what many people are calling the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The next generation of mobile connectivity promises to be an enormous leap in the world of technology where connectivity will be ubiquitous, download speeds will occur in lightning-fast times and data capacity will be significantly higher. The coming 5G revolution is poised to unleash opportunities across the board and for every industry.

To encourage and promote game-changing innovations, the 2019 edition of the Nokia Open Innovation Challenge sought to find innovations within the industrial automation domain. These could be new or already established but with the potential to “change the world”.

More than 200 start-ups from 70 countries took part, and following several judging stages and a final event at Nokia headquarters, HaiLa was selected as the winner. The Canadian company has developed a technology that enables IoT (Internet of Things) devices to reduce power consumption by hitchhiking on ambient waves.

The software and hardware-based connectivity platform features a reflecting chip that allows sensor data to ride existing signals and reflect them to their destination. The result of this is reduced power consumption for wireless sensors which in turn increases their longevity and minimizes the carbon footprint of IoT devices.

For winning the open innovation contest, HaiLa picked up €100,000 (USD $110,000) in financial resources and will work with researchers and product development teams at Nokia and Nokia Bell Labs.

Among the other finalists were:

Germany-based Wandelbots, which came in second place for a technology that allows industrial robots to be trained by lay people which they can do via smart input devices. This will help to bring down costs for small and large-scale automation projects.

Saudi Arabia-based SaNoor technologies. They developed laser-based visible light communication devices and systems for high-speed, energy-saving secure wireless data communications.

South Korea-based Maxt for an augmented reality (AR) engine that makes it easier for people to author AR contents online. Among its features are a rich media contents library and a drag-and-drop interface.

Open Innovation Benefits

The annual contest is a demonstration of how open innovation can help companies find partners and potentially make an impact globally, as highlighted by Charlotte Savage, Founder of HaiLa.

She said: “Such an honor to be chosen as the winner, thank you to Nokia for this incredible opportunity. However, this was never about the competition. The goal was to establish a real partnership with one of the leaders of the networking industry to enable sustainable wireless communication. We look forward to being at the forefront of carbon emission reduction with Nokia.”

Share on      
Next Story »

What Can we Solve for You?
Nokia1.jpg
Nokia2.jpg