IoT where it’s really needed
This was originally written and posted in LinkedIn on January 2016: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iot-where-its-really-needed-saikumaar-nagarajan/
I came across a very interesting graphic a while ago by Jim Hunter (@theiotguru), where he takes off on a Maslow-like pyramid for IoT needs.
This set me off on a tangent from what his note actually talked about. Most of the IoT use-cases that one sees being either talked about or being worked on (but mostly, more talked about rather than being worked on), were centered around the top three layers of Jim’s Pyramid of IoT Needs — which seemed counter-intuitive to his whole reasoning. When one thinks of IoT, the most common applications seem to be either commercial — smart homes, smart cars, smart watches, smart underwear (absolutely not kidding), or industrial (smart logistics etc.). The sole purpose of IoT seems to be either to fulfill personal vanities or to improve corporate bottom-lines. But if IoT is to actually become the ‘Next Big Thing’ as it’s touted to be, then it must make a difference where it is really needed — at the bottom of the economic pyramid.
The perfect synergy of data + connectivity + analytics that the IoT world brings, could actually be the secret sauce that the developing world needs to leapfrog poverty. There are innumerable scenarios where IoT can help semi-urban and rural populations; I describe a few below:
- Smart Health delivered by low cost wearable sensors — targeted specifically at rural women and children to combat infant mortality, malnutrition, spread of communicable diseases and improve maternity health.
- Connected soil based sensors to determine salinity, pH, moisture levels in agricultural land, predict drought-like conditions for preventive interventions, determine crop health for designing smarter food supply chains
- Low cost monitoring devices in ecologically sensitive regions (Western Ghats in Kerala, Maharashtra for example) to monitor impact of climate change
- Ubiquitous weather sensors for early warning and targeted disaster relief and rehabilitation efforts
Now the obvious hurdles in bringing IoT to our villages would be input factors like cost, connectivity and power. I would argue that the only hurdle is lack of incentives. Processing power, sensors and bandwidth are all already commoditized and are becoming exponentially cheaper and more ubiquitous. Companies in Life Sciences, Agri-business, Heavy Engineering etc. can be incentivized to push into low cost applications of IoT, with the right set of policy changes, like:
- Standards: Bringing about a national\global framework for IoT technologies, which promote open standards, modular devices and scalable tech
- Smarter subsidies: Targeted government spending — rather than pouring buckets of money blindly into only subsidies, invest a miniscule portion into extending technology (connectivity, support etc.) into rural areas, or tax incentives for companies providing low cost solutions
- Rewiring CSR: Google’s Project Loon is a shining example; get tech companies to not just open up wallets, but actually extend their business models (even at zero profits) for doing good to the society. I’d argue that a mobile telco would do more good providing free WiFi to a single village, than say donating to disaster relief funds or organizing relief concerts.
With a little bit of vision and the right set of incentives, we can get IoT to make a real difference in the lives of millions of people. Some of the best companies and the brightest minds in the world are right now contemplating and blueprinting products and services around IoT. I sincerely hope all of it gets to move beyond my fridge ordering a refill of cheese on Amazon.
