IoTUK INDUSTRY INSIGHTS UK ENTERPRISE & THE …...Get in touch: IoTUK.org.uk [email protected] @IoTUKNews UK Enterprise & the IoT IoTUK Industry Insights 2 IoTUK is building a database

Get in touch: IoTUK.org.uk @[email protected] UK Enterprise & the IoT IoTUK Industry Insights

IoTUK INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

UK ENTERPRISE & THE IOT

AUGUST 2016

1UK Enterprise & the IoT IoTUK Industry InsightsGet in touch: IoTUK.org.uk @[email protected]

Whilst much of the financial value is expected to come from efficiency savings, the excitement really starts when we start to look at what this means when it comes to business innovation and technological opportunities. What does the current Internet of Things ( IoT) landscape look like for UK enterprise, and how ready is the country to make the most of its potential?

Digital Catapult and IoTUK are supporting the IoT industry here in the UK with support for companies that are innovating – helping them to come up with new ways to transform industries from healthcare through to transportation using IoT technologies to improve people’s lives and to boost the economy through producing technology that companies and individuals want.

ACCORDING TO A FEBRUARY 2016 REPORT FROM SAS AND THE CENTRE FOR ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS RESEARCH, THE INTERNET OF THINGS ( IOT) WILL ENLIVEN THE ECONOMY TO THE TUNE OF £81BILLION AND BRING 67,000 JOBS TO THE UK BY 20201.

1 http://www.sas.com/en_gb/news/press-releases/2016/february/bi-data-internet-of-things-economy.html

SUMMARY


IoTUK is building a database of these companies (167 are profiled to date)2 so we can track the activity in the supply side of the UK’s IoT industry to demonstrate both breadth and scale, to highlight some of the interesting and significant commercial products being developed, and to analyse how IoT-focused suppliers are distributed by type, size, application area and location.

The paper looks at both business-orientated IoT providers and those aimed at the consumer, government or charity markets.

It does not include companies that are deploying IoT solutions to change what they do internally – that would be a much larger piece of work. Included are not-for-profit companies, social enterprises and charities, such as the Raspberry Pi Foundation, where their activity is commercial.

The statistical analysis includes UK-based companies that are owned by overseas corporations, but the case studies and examples focus on UK-headquartered companies. These might not be the big names in the industry or their sector, but they have been selected because they are doing interesting things. These are the voices in the sector – not just the big players but the ones that will excite and agitate the markets.

2 Since December 2015, Digital Catapult has been working to map the breadth of current activities so that we can start to build a picture of IoT in the UK. Our work has included desk-research, face-to-face and telephone interviews, case-study investigation, and gathering a financial evidence base of publically announced investments. We are compiling our work into the IoTNation database, providing an evidence-base to help evaluate the UK as a world-leading IoT Nation.

INTRODUCTION

THE UK IS HOME TO A RAPIDLY GROWING COMMUNITY OF COMPANIES DEVELOPING AND COMMERCIALISING IOT COMPONENT TECHNOLOGIES, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES WHICH ARE ALREADY HAVING AN IMPACT ON BUSINESSES, IN HOMES AND IN INDIVIDUALS’ LIVES – IMPROVING THINGS FOR THE BETTER.


The power of the IoT stretches across sectors. The chart demonstrates how the companies in the IoTNation database are broken down into markets into which they sell their products and services. Some businesses sell to a range of sectors and have been counted accordingly.

Based on the count of IoT companies active in these different markets, the most significant sectors are health and social care, power, and transport.

WHAT INDUSTRIES ARE BEING TRANSFORMED WITH IOT?

BUSINESS ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Count of businesses

0 10 20 30 40 50

Health and Social Care

Power

Transport

Public Admin

Manufacturing

Communications and media

Water & Waste

Retail

Agriculture

Business Services

Construction

Real estate

Arts and Culture

Extractive

Accommodation and food

Defence

Education

Police/emergency

Finance

Non-sector specific

60 70 80 90


HOME MONITORING TO CARE FOR THE ELDERLY

Canary Care, based in Oxford has received two rounds of funding from Mercia Fund Management totalling £600,000 to help it develop a home monitoring system and subscription-based service for elderly people. The company is made up of seven people. Company growth is good, with double the revenues of last year and this is expected to increase in the coming years.

The system uses heat, light and motion sensors, and a card-based access system for visitors. Families can unobtrusively monitor elderly relatives in their own homes: alerts are sent if unusual activity patterns are detected.

Funding is enabling Canary to also develop relationships with business customers such as care homes and local authorities.

Stuart Sheehy, MD at Canary Care said: ‘The IoT and the related technology provides a significant opportunity to improve the care of the elderly in the UK and relieve some of the pressure placed on local authorities, the NHS and carers in caring for our growing elderly population. The technology supports carers in delivering better outcomes for the people they care for; can reduce hospital admissions and delay admission to full time care, all saving substantial costs and resources.’

‘However, we need to match the pace of change with the pace of adoption of technology otherwise the pressure and challenges increase and more people suffer as a result. We have been selected as part of the NHS Test Bed programme, which has huge potential to benefit many patients with new, easy to use technologies, often to help them self manage their condition (also relieving some of the pressure on the system). I hope this programme can deliver that much needed change.’

‘In general, Government support for new technologies is good, but I would like to see these programmes following through to deliver the impacts on the population they were designed to achieve, otherwise the money is largely wasted.’

With a rapidly aging population, cost pressures on the NHS and the local government social care budgets, there is a growing requirement for technology which can help fill the gaps left by rising demand, reduced availability of resources, and structural reform.

The IoT is being used effectively by a number of businesses in the health and social care sector, including companies developing smart medical diagnostic and treatment devices, platforms and services, and those with more of a focus on the care of elderly, frail or vulnerable people. In the former category are companies such as Sensium Healthcare4, who make an ultra-low-power, wearable wireless system for monitoring patients’ vital signs in a hospital. Care specialists include Canary Care5 (see box) and eFridgeMagnet6 who produce a simple device that can alert concerned family and friends via SMS when an elderly or vulnerable person first opens their fridge in the morning. Some companies address both parts of this sector.

3 http://pr.euractiv.com/pr/possible-shortage-two-million-health-care-workers-2020-eu-taking-action-prevent-impending-crisis

4 http://www.sensium-healthcare.com/

5 https://www.canarycare.co.uk/

6 http://efridgemagnet.com/

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE IOT

THE HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SECTOR IS FACING UNPRECEDENTED LEVEL OF NEED. BETWEEN 2012 AND 2022, IT IS EXPECTED THAT THERE WILL BE A NEED FOR OVER TWO MILLION NEW WORKERS IN THIS INDUSTRY ACROSS THE EU3


TUNSTALL HEALTHCARE: TELEHEALTH AND TELECARE SOLUTIONS

Headquartered in Yorkshire with activities throughout in the UK and around the world, Tunstall Healthcare employs around 2,000 people worldwide (over 600 in the UK). Last year they reported profits of £44.3m, an increase of 10.3%.

The company develops solutions to help people stay out of hospital or residential care by uing IoT technologies in people’s homes, and providing communication and monitoring services. It works with local authorities, NHS commissioners, housing associations and charities including Essex County, North Yorkshire County, Walsall Borough, Birmingham City, and Halton & St Helens Councils, and with the NHS in Gloucestershire, North Yorkshire and Calderdale. Tunstall participated in the ‘Whole Systems Demonstrator’ trial of telecare that was completed in 2011.

Tunstall builds solutions to meet specific telecare and telehealth requirements. It draws on a portfolio of connected devices, communications/application gateways/hubs, apps and networks to build these solutions.

Among the medical connected devices offered are blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters, thermometers, weighing scales, peak flow monitors, ECG machines, blood glucose and coagulation meters and bed-based epilepsy sensors. Care-related devices include sensors for carbon monoxide, gas, flooding, and bed occupancy. Panic buttons, nurse call devices and door access control systems are among other devices that can be connected.

These connected devices are linked within the user’s own home and then to monitoring centres or via the NHS N3 Network to healthcare professionals.

While many companies are working in the telecare and telehealth fields using IoT principles, Tunstall’s breadth of scope, and the completeness of its end-to-end offer (from devices, through data integration and analysis to monitoring services), makes it a significant player.

Axivity7 produce sensors and a cloud-based analytics platform used for scientific research into human movement for healthcare and fitness applications. Another is Tunstall Healthcare8 (see box).

7 http://axivity.com

8 http://www.tunstall.co.uk


THE POWER INDUSTRY IS FACING WHAT THEY’RE CALLING THE ‘ENERGY TRILEMMA’9 – THAT IS TRYING TO BALANCE RISING COSTS AND SUPPLY SECURITY AT THE SAME TIME AS MITIGATING ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE. ENERGY HAS TO BE AFFORDABLE, SECURE AND SUSTAINABLE. INNOVATION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY IS HELPING TO ENSURE THIS AND THE IOT IS AT THE VERY HEART OF MEETING THIS CHALLENGE.

9 http://worldenergy.org/work-programme/strategic-insight/assessment-of-energy-climate-change-policy

10 http://vptl.co.uk

11 https://www.purrmetrix.com/

IOT AND THE POWER INDUSTRY

The power sector includes smart home energy management products and services, industrial and commercial energy management and building automation. Among the companies providing products and services are Vantage Point Technologies10, which has developed a web-based platform for real-time, remote performance monitoring and analysis of sensors and switches for energy, facilities and building automation sectors, PurrMetrix11 offering a system of connected temperature sensors and gateways that can map the impact of commercial heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems down to the individual desk or server rack and enModus12 (see box).

ENMODUS: SMART BUILDINGS WITH POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS

Chepstow-based enModus is a startup company that has developed a powerline carrier-based (PLC) building control solution targeting smart lighting control applications. They have 17 members in their team. They have been awarded grants from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Technology Strategy Board as well as raising funding via seed investment via VCs at almost £3m.

enModus’s proprietary Wattwave Technology is a full-duplex PLC protocol, designed specifically for smart building use, and delivering <500-metre range in any building. enModus’ solution supports 255 nodes per hub (nodes can be flexibly grouped). The company says

that deployment costs are kept low, and deployment time minimised, as existing wiring is used.

As well as delivering on-off and dimmer control, the nodes transmit real-time data on energy usage of the lighting equipment connected to them, with additional data depending on the type of luminaires or lighting drivers used. Hubs can be cascaded to create very large systems; they are available in single-phase and three-phase versions and provide Ethernet and 3G/4G network interfaces. The enModus Control Platform is hosted in the cloud and provides centralised management, monitoring and data storage functions; it can be integrated into existing building and energy management systems through an open API. enModus’ solution is suitable for commercial retail, industrial and emergency lighting applications.


With more people in the UK working in ways which increase their need to travel and wider urban areas to cover, trying to transport everyone alongside the goods that we use across the UK is becoming increasing more complex. Intelligent mobility is the answer, and businesses are using the IoT to deliver exciting results.

The transport sector is significant in the smart city initiatives for which many UK companies are developing products and services. These companies include Masternaut13 (see box) and FUELlink Systems14, a service that collects detailed data on fuel levels, purchases and consumption and analyses the data to help drivers and fleet owners improve fuel efficiency. The company is planning to connect its fuel-management platform to a roadside telemetry system.

13 https://www.masternaut.co.uk/UkWebSite/

14 http://www.fuellinksystems.com/

MASTERNAUT: VEHICLE TELEMATICS AND LOGISTICS

Masternaut is a multi-national provider of logistics and vehicle telematics services; its European headquarters is in Leeds. Their annual turnover was £61,6m last year.

The Masternaut Connect is a cloud-based fleet-management solution that uses GPS positioning and cellular (GPRS) connectivity on each vehicle to locate the position of every vehicle, every 20 seconds. Masternaut analyses the data to deliver a number of different services targeted at different user groups, from small- and medium-sized businesses to large corporate enterprises, and is suited to different types of commercial activity. Modules can be added to the basic Masternaut Connect service, including real-time vehicle tracking (integrating with Google Maps and Street View, and allowing geo-based alarms and notifications to be programmed), assessment of driving behaviour, costs and fuel consumption (using data on vehicle movements and on electronic control units within the vehicle), navigation, data archiving, various business intelligence analytics and dashboard data visualisation services, and feedback to drivers via smartphone apps.

The company has grown organically and through acquisition of complementary technology companies. It now serves around 10,000 customers across 32 countries.

IOT AND THE TRANSPORT SECTOR


Most large companies are not exclusively focused on pure IoT work, and do not break out their IoT-related revenues or investments separately in their accounts. Small private companies are not required to report their financial data in detail, and many startups are not yet earning revenues, and investment in them is not always reported. This makes it difficult to accurately judge the current value of commercial activity in the Internet of Things.

We can identify some significant announcements that indicate the scale of interest in the sector in this country:

In July 2015, Cisco announced it would invest US$1bn in the UK tech sector over the next five years15. IoT is part of this (along with financial technology, retail and healthcare). The investment will include US$150m set aside for VC investments in startups. Cisco Investments is a member of a consortium that invested £10m in EVRYTHNG16 in 2014 and 2015, and has also invested in sensor and monitoring solution provider Worldsensing17.

British Gas acquired smart home energy company AlertMe for £65m18. The acquisition was completed in February 2015.

Cambridge-based low-power, wide-area comms technology company Neul was acquired by Chinese network equipment giant Huawei for a reported £35m in 201519.

Japanese insurer ANDIE acquired 75% of telematics ‘black box’ company Insure The Box in February 2015 for a reported £105m20.

Telensa, a smart city street lighting solution provider, has raised US$18m of funding in January 2016 to support expansion plans21.

Telit, the UK-headquartered supplier of communications modules and IoT platforms, has a market capitalisation of around £205m22(see box).

Tunstall Healthcare secured investment of £20m23 from institutional shareholders to support growth and to reorient its business around digital and connected technology services.

15 https://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?articleId=1674284

16 https://evrythng.com/

17 http://www.worldsensing.com/

18 https://www.britishgas.co.uk/media/releases/ReleaseDetailPage.aspx?releaseId=1291

19 http://www.businesscloudnews.com/2014/09/23/huawei-acquires-neul-to-boost-iot-offering/

20 https://www.insurethebox.com/andie-acquisition

21 http://www.telensa.com/2016/01/19/telensa-raises-18m-to-meet-surge-in-demand-for-its-wireless-smart-city-solutions/

22 http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/prices-and-markets/stocks/summary/company-summary/GB00B06GM726GBGBXAMSM.html

23 http://www.tunstall.co.uk/news/431/tunstall-announces-investment-in-support-of-strategy

Telit

Telit are a global IoT company. They provide both hardware and software to the world, with a turnover of $333.5 million in 2015, up 13.4% year on year. IoT services revenues grew 30% to $26 million in this time.

They are part of the national roll-out of smart meters in the UK, producing the communication module that sends the data from a customer’s household to the company, going out to over 22 million households. Alon Segal, CTO, said that he is excited to be part of a world leading project, calling the UK’s uptake of IoT a ‘bold move’.

Talking about IoT, he said: ‘ [ IoT] represents a paradigm shift and we’re just beginning to scratch the surface of the potential. The current wave of technologies is point-to-point, with a single use for the data that’s produced. Looking ahead, we’re going to be connecting information from multiple sources of data, which will have a huge impact on businesses.’

Telit are currently working with businesses in the industrial space, including John Deere.

WHAT VALUE IS THE IOT GENERATING FOR THE UK?


THE INTERNET OF THINGS IS SO DIVERSE THAT IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT COMPANIES OF ALL SIZES ARE INVOLVED IN SUPPLYING IOT PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND SOLUTIONS. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO SAY THAT IOT IS BEING DRIVEN BY LARGE CORPORATES OR BY SMALL STARTUPS. INSTEAD, THERE IS A RANGE OF DIFFERENTLY-SIZED COMPANIES CREATING UNIQUE AND EXCITING IOT CONCEPTS AND BRINGING THEM TO MARKET.

24 http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en_us/solutions/industries/docs/trans/setting-context-resolution.pdf

25 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/manchester-wins-10m-prize-to-become-world-leader-in-smart-city-technology

26 http://www.globalservices.bt.com/uk/en/news/bt-recognised-for-pivotal-role-in-milton-keynes

27 http://www.dhez.org/

28 https://www.hud.ac.uk/news/2015/october/partneringbttocreateadde dvaluefromtheinternetofthings.php

29 http://www.photonstarled.com/

30 https://www.masternaut.co.uk/UkWebSite/

THE SIZE OF IOT BUSINESSES: IS BIG BEAUTIFUL OR IS SMALL BEST?

IoTUK research has found that ideas are being thought up and investigated by a range of companies including large enterprises and small technology businesses – some spun out from university research departments.

Cisco’s UK operations have been involved in projects to develop free-space optics as an IoT communications network, and developing IoT-based information systems for railway stations which received almost £1m in funding24. Cisco is also a lead partner in the IoTUK CityVerve IoT demonstrator project in Manchester, alongside BT (see below)25. The CityVerve project received £10m from InnovateUK.

BT has been involved in connected vehicle research projects in Milton Keynes26, the establishment of Digital Health services at DHEZ in Bradford27, the IoTUK CityVerve IoT demonstrator project in Manchester, and is funding IoT research at the University of Huddersfield28.

At the other end of the scale, small businesses such as PhotonStar LED, a designer and manufacturer of smart lighting systems and energy-management systems attracted £123,000 in funding from InnovateUK29.

The commercial IoT space is no different in this respect from the research space, though it is worth mentioning that some well-established, large companies are doing things that can be clearly classified as IoT – even though they were already doing them before the term IoT was invented, such as Masternaut30.

It is unusual to find large enterprises completely focused on IoT products or services; most of the largest companies have only a part of their activity related to IoT. Companies such as BT, Vodafone and the chip designers ARM and Imagination Technologies are certainly in this category, as are the global technology giants with large UK operations.


The table below picks out a few examples of corporate, mid-sized and small businesses investing R&D resources and funding in IoT to give a sense of the range of the sizes of business active in the market. It is not meant to be an exhaustive list.

Examples of IoT companies of different sizes based in the UK

Company Size IoT activities

Microcontroller, communications and other chips for IoT modules and devices; mBed platform for ARM-based device management

Connectivity and networking solutions for M2M and IoT deployments, and projects across the UK and overseas. Leading development of the forthcoming NB-IoT standard for low-power, wide-area communications

Location and mapping specialist that provides solutions integrat-ing data from sensors, smart tags and UWB wireless networking with existing enterprise and GIS/mapping applications

Designs and deploys connectivity solutions supporting IoT networks including wireless modules for consumer or industrial IoT products; has been involved with smart metering trials

Develops a Bluetooth-connected baby’s dummy that monitors body temperature

Develops and markets a multi-standard, global wireless connectivity service for IoT devices and applications

Low-cost development boards used for IoT (and other) applications

Large (2015 revenues: £968.3m)

Large (2015 global revenues: £42.2bn)

Medium (2014 revenues: £8.8m)

Medium (revenues for year ended 31 March 2015: £21.7m)

Small (annual revenues below micro-entity threshold of £632,000)

Small (annual revenues below the small company exemption threshold of £6.5m)

Small (2014: income of £2.02m)

ARM Holdings

Vodafone Group

Ubisense

Plextek

Blue Maestro

Arkessa

Raspberry Pi Foundation


The chart below shows the distribution of IoT companies we have identified and our analysis of the spread of their activities.

ANALYSIS OF THE UK’S IOT VALUE CHAIN: NUMBER OF COMPANIES ACTIVE IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE MARKET

THE MULTILAYERED IOT IN THE UK: WHAT DOES THE VALUE CHAIN OF THE IOT LOOK LIKE IN THE UK?

ONE OF THE WAYS OF REVIEWING THE BREADTH AND DEPTH OF THE UK’S IoT INDUSTRY IS TO CONSIDER THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE COMPANIES OPERATING HERE ARE ACTIVE IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE IoT VALUE CHAIN.

Components Devices Network

Integrated multiplayer system

Number of companies identified providing relevant products/services in each link of the value chain. Companies provide on average 2.5 links in the value chain

Data layer Dev platformApplication

service solution

14 60 37

6

#

58 16 70

WE HAVE DEFINED THE ‘THINGS’ IN THE INTERNET OF THINGS SYSTEMS AS FOLLOWS:

Components are the underpinning technology elements used inside devices. Companies active in this part of the value chain are developing the items that power the IoT; the innovative chipsets, sensors, actuators and power modules. Because of the complexities of this area, it is one of the hardest parts of the market to access. These components are often developed with funding from UK research or universities. There are also a number of established companies such as Gas Sensing Solutions (see box) active in this market31.

GAS SENSING SOLUTIONS: NOVEL LOW-POWER SENSORS FOR IoT APPLICATIONS

Scottish company Gas Sensing Solutions (GSS) manufactures low-power and high-speed CO2 sensors, based on patented epitaxial thin-film technology, for applications in multiple industries from building control and food packaging to horticulture and metabolic assessment. It also develops bespoke CO2 sensor systems for special uses and can also provide temperature and humidity measurement within its products.

The company has identified a growing demand for integrated battery - or self-powered - energy harvesting (EH) wireless sensor systems. The low-power characteristic of the company’s technology lends itself to wireless sensor networks for IoT-type applications. Its sensors are ‘wireless ready’, though GSS does not manufacture communications modules or power supply/EH modules itself.

GSS works extensively with universities in Scotland on low-power wireless and smart sensor projects. Examples include:

Work with the University of the West of Scotland to develop self-powered autonomous sensor modules harvesting indoor light as the energy source.

Work with Glasgow Caledonian University on a project funded by Scotland’s CENSIS ( Innovation Centre for Sensor and Imaging Systems) to develop smart, self-powered CO2, temperature and humidity sensors using random neural networks within a self-learning network. Radio-frequency (RF) energy harvesting will be built into the sensor system.

Work as a member of a consortium in the CENSIS-supported Mirage project, alongside the University of Glasgow, to develop next-generation infrared sensing technologies operating at lower power and with greater sensitivity.

31 https://www.gassensing.co.uk/


RF MODULE & OPTICAL DESIGN (BEANIoT)

Cambridgeshire-based RF Module & Optical Design Limited (RFMOD) is developing a wearable or portable device (BeanIoT) with multiple sensors built-in that can be connected via a low-power wireless mesh network to other BeanIoT devices, sensors and to the Internet. Configuration of BeanIoT devices can be done via a smartphone app. BeanIoT is due to launch in Q4 2016.

The company anticipates that the data collected will be useful for the individual that owns the device, but there are also business application opportunities in smart building, agriculture and retail sectors for instance where BeanIoT data can be shared and aggregated.

Andy Holland is the creator of this innovation. He said, ‘the size and shape of a bean makes it ideal as a versatile, low-profile monitoring device’.

The company will develop its own applications and services to make use of the BeanIoT device data, and also make third-party apps available. The product is due to be launched commercially in the last quarter of 2016.

BeanIoT is going to be trialled in silos, where it will be able to measure the temperature, moisture and CO2 levels, alerting the farmer to an issue before it ruins the harvested grains.

Holland said, ‘Farmers are some of the most practical people in the world. They aren’t going to invest in anything unless they can see a clear return on investment. They’ll be the perfect judges.

32 http://www.beaniot.com/

Devices are the items that contain the components in an IoT deployment, the wearables, pumps, locks, sensor ‘boxes’, industrial elements, and even large items such as vehicles where they form part of an IoT system. To be counted as an IoT device, that device must be connectable. It must also have one or more sensors and the capability to send data to another location so that the data can be analysed and used or acted upon in some way.

Not everything has been included. Items with smart RFID tags, bar codes or with innovative designs, as an example. Whilst these items can be included within an IoT system, it is possible for pretty much everything sold to be identified and tracked: floor tiles, bricks, foodstuff and chemicals can all be given unique features and digital personas. Even people can be included.

There is a significant base of companies developing devices, with 105 in IoTUK’s database: everything from digital screens and signage, through to health monitoring equipment and connected lamps that notify friends or family of your presence and availability to be contacted, to devices for home energy management and automation. This means over half of the companies included in the database are developing solutions including devices. For example, BeanIoT31 (see box) .


The network layer comprises the network itself (whether using fixed lines, cellular networks or other wireless technologies operating in unlicensed spectrum bands), network technologies (where specifically tailored for IoT), and the connectivity platform. Also included are network-layer security solutions where these are specifically designed for IoT systems.

The data layer covers a variety of activities critical for the successful deployment of IoT systems. It encompasses data extraction from sensors and systems, data storage, data integration (ensuring that all the data is stored in a way that makes it possible for it to be used) and interoperability tools and platforms (that enable the outputs of different data collecting systems to be brought together securely, efficiently and with the minimum – ideally zero – manual processing). It additionally includes analytics tools to help users find meaning and value in the collected data, or to use it in a predictive way, as well as data layer security solutions.

Over half of the companies active in the market are providing solutions with significant data layer capabilities, with 97 out of the 167 IoTUK has in the database working on some aspect of the data layer; perhaps not surprising as data capture, processing and management are the trickiest elements to manage in large-scale IoT systems.

One UK company working on IoT data layer technology is Aiseedo33. They provide an artificial intelligence (AI ) software-as-a-service (SaaS) designed to process and integrate data streams from different sources including connected devices and sensors. It then learns how to perform functions such as anomaly detection, predicting outcomes, and how to support autonomous decision-making. This could be useful in all kinds of scenarios, from healthcare situations where elderly or vulnerable people are living alone and experience a fall or traumatic event. It could be used by game designers who want to environments to adapt to the skill of the players.

Development platforms include companies providing service and application development platforms designed to help customers build tools and turn their IoT-derived data into useful applications. Platforms will be analysed in a separate IoTUK Insights paper.

User-facing applications, services and solutions are being designed by companies for business, public administration or consumer customers. It is the most heavily populated part of the IoT value chain with over 70% of the companies in the market providing some kind of enterprise- or consumer-facing application or service.

Integrated multi-layer systems includes companies offering fully integrated solutions spanning several (but not necessarily all ) parts of the value chain.

THEWINDOP

One quirky user-facing application is thewindop, winner at Scotland’s first-ever IoTUK Boost event. The brainchild of Andy Maginnis and Julian Dale, this system crowdsources wind-speed reports for use by people interested in wind-enabled leisure activities like kiteboarding and windsurfing. Wind meters are run on solar power and the information received on user’s smartphones.

Co-founder Andy Maginnis said, ‘Too often we turned up at the beach only to find the wind was less than forecast or too gusty, meaning we couldn’t ride. What then started as a few chats on the beach and in the pub quickly evolved into a full-scale product.

‘The result is the cAno device: a system sized to update data continuously every 15 minutes during a UK winter and send data at various rates, dependent on application. It can also respond to events detected on-board in real-time and users can set alerts through our website for their preferred weather conditions at their local beach.’

This project is currently in beta, with crowdsourcing and other funding possibilities being explored by the founders.

31 https://www.gassensing.co.uk/

33 https://www.aiseedo.com/


WHAT IOT ENVIRONMENTS ARE UK BUSINESSES BUILDING FOR?

Home deployments can be used for security, for comfort or to help those that need support. For business environments, advertising can be tailored and personal to those out shopping, helping stores to encourage people into bricks and mortar shops and away from the lure of online shopping.

TARGET SETTING FOR IOT PRODUCT/SERVICE (%)

Percentage of companies with relevant products/services

0 10 20 30 40 50

Home

Industrial

Urban/City

Office

Transport or utility networks

Vehicle

Retail/warehousing

Rural

Personal

Multiple

Other public buildings and cultrual spaces

Our analysis shows that there is a strong mix of solutions being tailored for both business and consumer applications. Companies developing IoT solutions for the home make up 52% of all the businesses identified. Those suitable for personal deployment, i.e. wearables or implants, account for 15%, as seen in the chart above.

IOT DEPLOYMENTS CAN BE DELIVERED IN A NUMBER OF ENVIRONMENTS, WHETHER IN BUSINESS OR FOR PERSONAL USE.


There are numerous home IoT solutions designed to help people manage their energy usage and to automate home systems. Examples of companies active in this market include British Gas34, Current Cost35, Heat Genius36, Lightwave RF37, nCube38 and PhotonStar LED Group39. It is clear that companies are starting to use IoT to develop other creative applications for the home too. One example of a business developing an innovative IoT solution for the home setting is Inclusive Media40 (see box).

There is a significant cross-over between deployments for urban/city, industrial, office and transport networks, and these three categories are all well represented with between 23% and 28% of all firms providing products or services applicable to those markets.

Urban/city solutions available in the market include the various platforms and systems that have been developed to integrate and manage smart city data. Players active in the urban/city and transport markets also include organisations like SSE41 and Telensa42 providing urban infrastructure such as smart street lighting, OXEMS43 which provides urban asset management solutions, and businesses such as Arqiva44, NWave45 and Plextek46 that focus on deploying the wireless infrastructure needed to support smart city systems. One interesting example of a solution that is applicable in multiple business-related settings is that offered by Pointr Labs47 (see box).

POINTR LABS: INDOOR POSITIONING AND NAVIGATION FOR RETAIL, AIRPORTS AND EXHIBITION SPACES

Pointr Labs is a rapidly growing startup company based in London with offices and technical development centres in Munich, Istanbul and Dubai. It has received backing from Microsoft Ventures. There are 29 people in the London offices.

The company provides networks of Bluetooth beacons (it uses beacons from multiple manufacturers) to building owners such as airports, shops and exhibition halls, software to enable analysis of accurate visitor location (within 1-4 metres depending on configuration of beacons), and provision of navigation services and marketing messages to those visitors via their smartphones.

Visitors need to have Bluetooth Low Energy enabled on their iOS or Android smartphones, and to download an app. Pointr’s analytics and messaging software is hosted in the cloud: visitor location data is uploaded to the internet, though navigation and some other services can be provided to visitors without the need for their phones to be internet-connected.

While GPS works well for location outdoors, indoors the signal strength is often too weak. Bluetooth beacons are a key enabling technology for indoor location services, helping visitors to navigate their way around buildings and providing building owners the means to deliver them accurate location-based messages. In a shop, for instance, relevant offers can be conveyed for products located on the same aisle the customer is in.

Pointr’s systems have been deployed at Heathrow and two other major airports, at exhibition venues in four countries in Europe and Asia, and by several large retailers in Europe.

34 https://www.hivehome.com/

35 http://www.currentcost.com/

36 https://www.heatgenius.co.uk/

37 http://lightwaverf.com/

38 https://ncubehome.co.uk/

39 Op. Cit.

40 http://www.inclusivemediasolutions.co.uk/

41 https://www.sse.co.uk/home

42 http://www.telensa.com/

43 http://www.oxems.com/

44 http://www.arqiva.com/

45 http://www.nwave.io/

46 http://www.plextek.com/

47 http://www.pointrlabs.com/


WHERE ARE UK IOT COMPANIES BASED?

We have plotted UK IoT companies according to where their headquarters are located. Clearly this does not reflect where offices, industrial facilities, customers or staff might be located, but it is an interesting heat-map indicator of where the clusters of activity can be found. Foreseeably, the UK’s IoT landscape is heavily biased towards the south east.

As the chart below shows, over 75% of the UK’s IoT businesses have chosen somewhere other than London as their base. Cambridge features as a significant hotspot of IoT activity. Many other companies are spread along the M4 corridor. However, with a large amount of investment available there, London remains a popular choice.

Scotland has clusters of activity around Edinburgh and Glasgow, but while Wales and Northern Ireland both have rapidly developing digital economies, neither sees much in the way of an IoT industry.

KEY

Both

Digital Layer

Physical Layer


It is clear there is no lack of appetite for investment in IoT platforms, and creation of strong UK IoT enterprises is already attracting significant investments to the UK economy. Over the coming years we can expect to see more of the companies operating today as start-ups growing, raising money, and in some cases being acquired as IoT becomes more popular and a more attractive investment. We can also expect to see more IoT-focused businesses emerging from parts of the UK that do not have a strong base of IoT activity as the technology becomes more mainstream.

As the public become more educated about the potential of IoT technologies, as the concepts start to become so mainstream that they are incorporated into classrooms, hospitals and other areas that people use in their day-to-day lives, more people will start to innovate in this area. Innovation will foster growth, bringing IoT technology into more people’s homes and work lives, giving companies better data and helping to find the gaps that need filling with new ideas and software to make further improvements down the line. One of the roles of Digital Catapult is to ensure that this education filters through to everyone.

If you can add any information about new and emerging companies, please let us know at [email protected]

CONCLUSION

BUSINESS ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Count of businesses

0 10 20 30 40 50

Health and Social Care

Power

Transport

Public Admin

Manufacturing

Communications and media

Water & Waste

Retail

Agriculture

Business Services

Construction

Real estate

Arts and Culture

Extractive

Accommodation and food

Defence

Education

Police/emergency

Finance

Non-sector specific

60 70 80 90

Documents

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