[Photo Sparks] The sharing economy, smart cities, and smart homes: digital product and service showcase

PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In Part III of a four-part photo essay, we showcase new products and startups at the annual Communicasia conference and expo in Singapore!

In the earlier 50 posts, we brought you a wide range of creative photographs from an art fair, world music festival, painting fair, telecom expo, art museum, mobile showcase, math museum, social hackathon, bookstore, co-working space, sensorium, international design week, flower show, outdoor ads, startup roadshow, computer museum, startup T-shirts, business cards, art therapy, startup festival, Diwali rangoli, Vesak, jazz festival, modern art gallery, ecopreneurs, painter-poets, health activists, eNGOs and digital innovators.

Digital innovators are spawning a wide range of useful offerings which can be accessed as products or services via different business models. The intersection of physical and virtual worlds is leading to innovative solutions such as app-powered electrical device control and even bike rentals powered by digital keys. From smart cities to smart homes, check out these gadgets and gizmos displayed at Communicasia 2015!

DaaS (drone as a service): SkyEyeSites offers drones as a service to companies who want good aerial surveys of properties during acquisition or maintenance. Commercial UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) are currently being deployed for sectors like telecom. Specific services include GreenView (for site locations), PlanView (for rooftop sites), TowerView (for mobile operators), AssetView (for fixed and mobile assets) and LineView (for line of sight surveys).

Hollywood on the go: Atomos has developed a range of tools for faster, higher quality and more affordable video production in settings like expedition adventure. Products such as Shogun, Ninja and Samurai merge recording, monitoring, playback and editing into a single touchscreen device, along with a host of converters, power solutions and accessories. This includes recording direct to Hollywood editing formats, with integration into Apple, Adobe and AVID workflows.

The sharing biking economy: Innobike, developed by SC Soft, allows users to rent an RFID-equipped bike from a vending kiosk, ride to the destination, conveniently drop off the bike at another vending kiosk, collect the monetary deposit and walk away. The company’s contactless smart card technology can also be used in various other transit systems solutions and shared vehicles, thus building on the principles of the sharing economy.

Big Data, smart insights: Latize (pronounced lattice) offers data-centric solutions for companies as enterprise information scaffolding. The aim is to use data-related problem solving to cut across organisational silos, and use semantic technology to browse, visualise and harness enterprise data. The overall benefit is the ability to make better informed decisions: ‘liberate data, empower employees and discover the unexpected.’ The Big Data startup has received investment from August Capital Partners (ACP) and Spring Seeds Capital (SSC).

Wired homes: FiberFox, a Korean company with an Indian subsidiary, offers splicer tools for teleco, cable TV and LAN applications. Founded in 2012, the company’s products include optical fibre fusion splicers and cleavers, to be used in settings like FTTH applications, electrodes and blades. 

Digital skins, smart cities: Huawei has been rolling out smart city solutions in countries ranging from Malaysia to Holland. A Smart City creatively taps the IoT, Big Data and analytics boom to create value for civic planners and citizens alike. Use cases include distributed government information services, traffic monitoring and re-routing, security surveillance in remote areas, and smart neighbourhood solutions for urban residents. 

Mindwipe: Blancco is a leading player in data erasure software. It is used by enterprise and government organisations as well as companies in finance, banking and healthcare. The Finnish product ensures erasure of data during scenarios like disposal of outdated computing devices and smartphones. This helps companies comply with government regulations requiring data erasure before IT products are re-used, re-sold or retired.

Wireless homes: WattDream is an app-enabled solution developed by Korean company InsightPwr for monitoring home appliances and electricity consumption of lighting and air conditioning devices. Users can configure timers from the app, which can be used to ensure that geysers and air-conditioners can be turned off remotely even if they are left on by mistake when the users leave their homes and offices.

Ancient cultures, modern tools: J.Spot Amirag is an augmented reality app supported by the Ministry of Tourism of Indonesia. The series of apps titled ‘Indonesia in Your Hands’ covers cities like Jakarta, Bali, Bandung and Batam. The objective is to provide users with a richer and curated experience of local art, culture and heritage via digital overlays.

Effects with impacts: Yggdrazil Group is one of the top visual effects (VFX) company in Thailand. The Bangkok-based company provides full post production services for commercials, feature films and games companies. Founded in 2006 as a small creative studio, the company has expanded to cinematic content spanning clients from Germany, China, Vietnam and Indonesia, and has won a range of awards including Cannes Lions and Asia Pacific Advertising.

Got a creative photograph to share? Email us at [email protected]!

See also the YourStory pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups,’ accessible as apps for Apple and Android devices.