Startup: three billion dollars for the Internet of Things – The dossier – Il Sole 24 Ore

Startup Technologies Startup: three billion dollars for lInternet of things – The file

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Biagio Simonetta | 15 January 2015

Setting up a wireless network for the urban Internet of Things which allows objects to collect data and send it to a central unit for ‘ processing of information in real time. Open network, free and decentralized. This is the objective of The Things Network, Dutch startup that has raised crowdfunding 295mila euro and now arrives in Milan to make of Milan a smart city authentic, able to use intelligent services for the monitoring of the air, for the ‘lighting, sustainable mobility. The project has already seen the light in Amsterdam, Boston, Zurich and other cities, and is entirely based on models of crowdsourcing, and open to all.

A concept that shakes the world IoT, struggling with the search for new standards to ensure interoperability, and at the same time not harm security. The large variety of devices raises an important problem of compatibility. And if the startup with their innovations, will be able to sit at the table of Big Company is yet to be seen. For now, there has been some major acquisition, with Samsung, Google, Amazon and Huawei who brought home young companies with important projects in terms of IoT. As the opening of the connection systems we are still in their infancy, and the giants of the tech world seem reluctant to design open systems and interoperability.

Meanwhile, startups IoT grow, as a recent report has established the observatory Internet of Things at the Politecnico di Milano that has analyzed more than 350 worldwide, including 39 in Italy. Speaking of our country, so far 14 have been those that have received funding from institutional investors. And they are different areas of operation: the Smart Car to Smart Home, Smart Building from the world of wearable, the Smart Agriculture eHealth, until the Smart City. “By comparing the number of startups IoT Italian with those of other sectors, – tells the Sole 24 Ore Angela Tumino, director of the Observatory – is observed as this particular area is a major trend in which new companies are focusing, in line with what is happening abroad. The interest of the startup (and investors) to the IoT in Italy is in line with that of the world of big data and even higher than that of Mobilie Payment. ” Internationally institutional investors feed a growing interest in the IoT, witnessed by the growth of loans (“+ 233% in 2014, for a total of over three billion dollars invested in the last three years’) and the emergence of new incubators and dedicated accelerators.

In Italy, there is movement, as evidenced by the three-year agreement between Nice and Digital Magics to start a program of investments in the Smart Home & amp; Building. But in general, confirms Tumino “looking at all the 39 Italian startups surveyed during the research remains difficult to have access to significant funding in our country.” A difficulty which often there is another: the hardware component is an element of particular importance in applications IoT involves initial investments and development basically high. “To confirm this – he explains – all Italian startups surveyed during the research received funding of less than 2 million euro, while as many as 63% of startups financed abroad received amounts in excess of this value.” The gap, in short, is remarkable.

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