Wireless Technologies, Big Data and Healthcare

Ok, this is a bit outside of the usual IoT area, but high tech and healthcare are becoming such a hot topic, that I wanted to share this presentation made by my friend, Dr. Mattison (here is his bio).  He spoke at an intimate gathering of TiE here in San Diego in September 2014. (Start video at 15 minutes if you want to go directly to the start of the presentation). In his presentation Dr. John covers everything from why you should wear your Fitbit, to genomics and social networking, and the transformation of what future of practicing medicine holds, and how doctors will again be healers with the help of these various technologies. In his first slide he has a list of books that he recommends, so stop the video and go to Amazon!

 

Internet of Things, M2M, Facebook, and Asimov’s Solaria

I’ve been an avid Science-fiction enthusiast for most of my life, gobbling up most of the well known series from the early Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days, to Lem’s Solaris and The Invincible, to the entire Asimov Robot and Foundation series, and on and on. Asimov in his Robot series created a world, Solaria, which specialized in the construction of various robots. Ultimately, Solaria became totally dependent on robot labor and roughly 10,000 robots existed for every human. Over time, Solarians became extremely isolated, living on their estates, surrounded by robots anticipating their every move, and becoming completely isolated from other Solarians and other humans, communicating via a sophisticated telepresence viewing system. Eventually, they genetically engineered themselves to become hermaphrodites, hereby removing the need for even sexual contact. I am often reminded of Solarians and their evolution, and amazed by Asimov’s vision and perhaps pre-scient view of our own future. We already have automated farm equipment to ensure proper watering, manufacturing is done mostly by robots, and even in our personal lives, we are starting to have sensors ensure our living environment is set to the optimum conditions. We even have sophisticated viewing systems (FaceTime, Skype) so that we can see each other without being there, and our social interactions on Facebook are in isolation, so that you can interact with your friends, without actually being together.

So my worry is that with the technological advancements and connectivity, what are the social implications? In our politics we hear about the class warfare of the 1% v. 99%, but what about classes being defined by whether you are the isolated, Solarian-like group, who can no longer relate to the lives of those who are part of real social circles, or worse, not be able to relate to issues of those communities that don’t have access to proper food and education, let alone technology!

DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A BILLION $$ M2M BUSINESS FROM SCRATCH?

Well, that may be an exaggeration, but, my colleague and founder of FieldLogix, Yukon Palmer and I, are putting together a panel discussion at the upcoming MobileCON 2012 focusing on how to start an M2M business on a shoestring budget. Here’s the longer write up, as we were limited on MobileCON’s site.

It is estimated that we are on track to connect 20 billion M2M devices by 2020, so the opportunities are wide-open for entrepreneurs that have a bold vision and the proper support to see it through.

Machine to machine communications requires a solid understanding of diverse technologies.  Attempting to navigate this space on a startup budget only compounds the challenges.   During this panel discussion, we will discuss the various M2M eco-system players and related business models, the process of streamlining the development of the technologies to fit your vision and budget, the types of of hurdles you may expect to jump through to successfully develop and deploy your product, and how to leverage strategic partnerships to find the right talent, vendors, and customers.  You will also hear the investors’ perspective and advice on what they may be looking for as an investment opportunity.

For this upcoming discussion we have invited an expert panel representing entrepreneurs who already had a successful exit after bootstrapping their company, a service provider, a company that will help with everything from proper system design and certification to how to integrate all the components, as well as a representative from the VC community who has a background in M2M investments.

Our speakers include Steve Pazol, former CEO of nPhase, Mo Nasser, BD Director at Sprint, and Kelly Venturini, CEO of  M2MCertified.

Join us on October 11 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM at MobileCon as part of the Thought Leadership series inside the Exhibit Hall at the San Diego Convention. For more information go to MobileCON’s Thought Leadership Series page here: http://www.mobilecon2012.com/events/eventdetails.cfm/1731

Poland, the hidden secret for business opportunities!

Last week I attended an event held by the San Diego World Trade Center that was put on by Metrix Inc. representing a Polish technology company EC Systems.

Of course the information that was presented was not news to me, because I have been traveling there just about annually for the past few years, and have seen this first hand. And by this I mean the economic growth, the logos of many large technology companies on buildings in cities such as Warsaw, Cracow, and near my home town, Katowice, hearing American business people talking at the local airports, and just feeling the overall positive atmosphere that is impossible to miss when you’re walking around the shopping centers and town squares and seeing people rushing about with purpose and heads held high, and often with full bags of stuff.

At the event, however, I got to actually see this through the very powerful presentation compiled by Metrix and also by hearing what EC Systems CEO, Mr. Tomash Barszcz had to say about the growth of his company, the expansion into a group of technology companies that are able to deliver technology products from software, to sensors, to electronics and other tech. equipment!  I was very proud! It was truly heart warming to see one of my countrymen speak about his success!

I encourage you to review the presentation which I was allowed to share here to see this first hand:

Metrix wtc 20 sep2011

So, if you or anyone in your company has ever considered moving any of your operations, and thought about Russia, Ukraine, China or India, you may want to consider Poland instead!!