Sigfox foundation will leverage IoT to tackle global challenges
Structured around an endowment fund, the Paris-based foundation will support programs that are designed to protect people and the environment, improve health care and social ties, with the contribution of the company’s network and the best-associated resources.
Le Moan and Fourtet are focused intensively on the future – the future of the Internet of Things. The vision of building a global standard of connectivity guides the activities of the foundation, which will pursue the same goal to address major issues at large scale.
“We don’t want to save only one tree, but all trees in a connected forest. We are confident we will bring a high value because of our technology and skills,” he says.
“We still aspire to change the world through the awesome potential of the Internet of Things, but we can’t do this on our own,” adds Fourtet, the company’s chief science officer. “The Sigfox Foundation will work with the best partners – NGOs, industrials, startups – to bring real solutions that save forests, not just trees, with millions of connected objects communicating as needed with very little energy.”
In 2015 alone, the company added 6 countries to the now generally used low power wide area network (LPWA) that it created. It also built the Sigfox ecosystem to more than 1,000 partners, ranging from network operators to component manufacturers, integrators and platform developers. In the process, at extended coverage to more than 1.2 million square kilometers (460,000 square miles) and contracted with customers to connect 7 million objects and devices.
“Forest fires, earthquakes, climate change, threatened animal populations in the wild, early signals of an imminent epileptic seizure with a wearable device, even anglers in danger: there are so many challenges that can be addressed by the Internet of Things,” Le Moan says. “The IoT must be seen as part of the solution, because detecting and reporting signals that are unknown to us, or before a disaster occurs, will allow us to respond sooner and give us opportunities to solve crises.
“The ‘Power of Low’ refers to the unique ability to send small messages, low-power signals, from connected and long-lasting sensors, to improve life in many ways,” he says. “The Power Of Low is also a new paradigm, where the impact comes from the very little, the very small.”
Marion Moreau, a former journalist who specialized in new technologies, heads the foundation. Besides Le Moan and Fourtet, the foundation board includes Géraldine Le Meur, a serial entrepreneur based in San Francisco, and co-founder of LeWeb Conference.
The foundation will work with several "ambassadors" from the wider society: entrepreneurs, artists, sociologists, representatives of NGOs and associations and schools who will be invited to contribute directly or indirectly to its mission. This could include helping it choose projects to support, and postings in online media about the Sigfox Foundation.
Visit the Sigfox Foundation at www.sigfoxfoundation.org
Related articles:
Virtually free crowd-sourced IoT networks on the horizon
Building automation startup steps in the game of IoT networks
Loud about IoT: LoRa takes over Sigfox’ noise says Bouygues
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
