Momenta I Digital Thread

Sean Parham is Group VP and Head of Product Management for the ABB Ability Platform. In our conversation, he covered his origins helping the telecom industry migrate the transition to broadband, and the lessons learned that apply today. The discussion touched on the concept of “Maslows Hierarchy of Value”, the parallels of systems management applied to the challenges of managing distributed assets and the broad implications of how technology impacts multiple industries. The conversation also addresses the disruption coming from two simultaneous revolutions in IT and energy and how this changes the way that energy is generated and delivered, through microgrids, with green energy and storage. Robotics is not to be feared as it solves the undersupply of talent and people. Current areas of technology focus for startups include batteries and the consumer drone market.

Mike Dolbec is Executive Managing Director of GE Ventures, and in this episode of the podcast we cover his background, beginning with his work at the legendary Xerox PARC, the origins of his venture investing career and observations on recurring patterns in the technology industry. With a perspective on AI that dates back to the 1980s, he provides perspectives on the evolution of in the market, and the different applications of AI technologies. He also provides an overview of the distinctions between traditional IT and Industrial IoT technologies, providing insights around the differences that entrepreneurs and investors need to take into account when selling tech to industrial customers. Lastly, he discusses some of the areas of investment including edge computing, with companies including Iotium, Foghorn and Balena (formerly Resin.io), as well as industrial inspection startups such as Avitas and oil and gas-focused startups like Maana.

George Matthew is the CEO and Chairman of Kespry, a provider of Aerial Intelligence solutions for heavy industry – construction, mining, paper and pulp, and insurance. Kespry’s custom built drones capture visual information from the air, helping its clients create digital twins to improve performance, visibility and reduce risk. Our conversation focused more on the company than we do typically, as Kespry is a proxy for the use of drones in industrial IoT. The discussion covered some of the challenges, opportunities and successes from the collection of high resolution visual imagery and application of AI-enhanced analytics as well as the broad opportunities ahead. Noteworthy startups highlighted include Uptake Software, C3IOT, and Cape Analytics.

Rami Avidan is a serial entrepreneur and former CEO of Wyless Group and Tele2 IoT and was creating connected solutions for customers even before the terms M2M and IoT came into broad usage. Our conversation touched on the growing interest in driving social impact from business today, the evolution of what has come to be known as IoT and key dynamics involved in advancing success. He highlights key distinctions in the evolution of carriers and connectivity resellers, the importance of building an ecosystem and best practices to cultivate success, the importance of leadership in advancing digital transformation, and the multiple dimensions of business value being created across different industries.

Richard Soley is CEO of the Object Management Group, Executive Chairman of the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) and founder of the IoT Solutions World Congress. In this special edition of the Edge Podcast recorded on site in Barcelona, he shares some of the notable developments coming out of the conference. The IoT Solutions World Congress is differentiated from other events through the focus on end users and case studies, showcasing test bed work shepherded by the IIC. In our conversation, Richard Soley shares stories and examples of notable work underway, the potential for productivity gains across industries, and the view that manufacturing represents the industry with the most to gain from connecting assets and advanced analytics. Additionally he discusses the launch of the IIC’s new Resource Hub. Finally he shares a fascinating story about standards that connected the design of Space Shuttle booster with the Ancient Romans.

Syed “Z” Hosain is CTO and Founder of Aeris Communications. Our conversation covered the origins of Aeris, which has been delivering connectivity solutions in the market since before M2M and IoT were common terms. “Z” shared his perspective on the challenges in the early days of Connected Industry, along with some of the advances and innovations including layering on analytics that helped Aeris evolve with its customers. He highlighted a number of significant advances in health care, where there are notable use cases both in critical care and for every day monitoring for patients with chronic conditions like diabetes. Looking forward, he sees enormous opportunities for Connected Industry, though security remains a key concern for everyone. “Z” is also a huge fan of Science Fiction, with a collection of over 6,000 books, and shares a couple of his favorite authors.

Our conversation with Param Singh covered his recent blog posts “Is IoT a Viable Market” and “The Long Tail of IoT”. The evolution of IoT has seen a lot of focus on bespoke solutions, and our conversation explores the distinctions between the types of use cases that are replicable, and those that fall along the “Long Tail”. The importance of business value is a recurring theme in our conversation, as companies that succeed tend to follow the most practical use cases for technologies. One interesting startup worthy of note is Brighton.ai, which is developing speech recognition technologies that are vertically oriented.

Our discussion with Ganesh Bell, President of Uptake focused on how the application of Machine Learning and AI is driving a new generation of solutions that go beyond enterprise software and business process automation. With the data created by machines and other contextual data, it’s possible to tackle far more complex, and industry specific challenges with Machine Learning and AI. He shared his view that Industrial IoT adoption is both slow and fast, while data presents an ongoing challenge to manage. Successes come from building a belief system, creating new measures for the business, embracing the diversity of people, experience and diversity of thought.

Kelly Wanser is a technologist and entrepreneur, Executive Director of SilverLining, a not for profit climate research organization. Previously she was Principle Director of the The Marine Cloud Brightening Project, a program focused on research in reflecting sunlight to reduce heat in climate. She also sits on the Board of Directors for BioCarbon Engineering. Our conversation focused on the application of technology to address the challenges of climate change, and how the initiatives she works with are looking to expand on research in the public sector. Kelly is an articulate advocate of the imperative to marshal the resources of Silicon Valley’s tech innovators to address the pressing global issues of our era.

Dr. Thuc Vu is an entrepreneur and co-founder of OhmniLabs and Kambria, a decentralized open innovation platform focused on accelerating the development and adoption of the world's most advanced robotic technologies. Our conversation covered a range of topics, including the differences between industrial and consumer robotics, key advances in AI, the role of game theory in designing collaborative systems, and the promising opportunities for robotics in health care, education and senior care. We also explore the broader market dynamics in the robotics markets and the burgeoning tech scene in Vietnam.

Author Max Borders tackles an broad range of topics relating to his new book The Social Singularity: How decentralization will allow us to transcend politics, create global prosperity, and avoid the robot apocalypse. Our conversation covered the factors that have led to the current political disfunction in the US, how unbalanced incentives evolve over time and the profound implications of decentralization. Drawing from the arguments outlined in the book, Borders applies a philosophical lens to understand the roots of decentralization, and how blockchain and related technologies have the potential to reshape power dynamics in organizations, the evolution of hierarchies in society, and the structural dynamics of economies and culture.

For Dan Yarmoluk, Director of IoT for AETK Technologies, work takes him wherever the “rubber hits the road” in Industrial IoT. Based in the Midwest, Dan’s customers include traditional manufacturing firms with a conservative bias toward adoption of new technologies. One of the key observations is that early IoT projects often misaligned the type of data collected from machines, for instance lacking the granularity necessary to derive business value from data analytics. He discusses the value of being close to the customer, which is too often overlooked by vendors, as key to driving value from IoT initiatives, as well as his view that we are seeing an inflection in the market as more traditional companies are realizing the value of connected industry projects. While Dan’s an enthusiastic advocate for emerging technologies, he shares a pragmatic bias that’s key to success for more conservative industries in their digitization journey.

Rob Tiffany is a technologist, CTO, board member, blogger, entrepreneur and thought leader in the IoT market. Our conversation covered his origins in the 1990s building connected systems for vending machine business using technologies considered primitive by today’s standards. We follow the progression of the industry through the evolution of powerful enabling technologies while fundamental principles forged during his early experience inform the success of his work at larger companies including Microsoft and Hitachi. A key message to the industry is the need to focus on the basics like connecting machines for visibility and operational efficiencies – the more advanced technologies like AI and Blockchain are interesting, but there’s important value that’s being overlooked today – and real business needs to be met.

Guido Jouret is the Chief Digital Officer at ABB, a technology leader in power grids, electrification products, industrial automation and robotics and motion. Our conversation covered a wide range of topics, including the dynamics of digitizing traditional operational technologies, the importance of Industrial IoT platforms particularly ABB’s Ability platform, the multi-faceted partnership with Microsoft and the demands of bridging operational and information technology paradigms. The discussion highlighted several customer success stories in mining, autonomous shipping and utilities, addressing the massive potential of AI to transform industries and sectors including energy, power grids, transportation and manufacturing. The key for the future will be a digital operating system that will enable far more distributed networks to evolve, while finding people with the skills to address the increasingly complex technical demands of a connected world remains a challenge.

Charlie Oliver is the CEO and founder of ServedFresh Media and founder of Tech2025, a leading technology focused community based in the New York City area. Our conversation covered the emergence of online communities in the late 2000s and the genesis of Tech2025 in late 2016. She discusses the divide that exists between people that work in the tech industry and average citizens, and the potential value that emerges from putting people together from different backgrounds. Charlie shares her observations of the changing views of AI and tech companies by the public, and the need for to have collaborative conversations to avert further backlash against the tech industry. Charlie is an experience podcaster and communicator, and this conversation highlights the challenges and opportunities that emerge from curated communities.