Second “Hacking House” program will offer 24 participants the opportunity to network and experiment with IoT technology to solve real-world problems, following the success of last year’s edition in Silicon Valley
Taipei, Taiwan – March 5th, 2019 – Sigfox, the world’s leading IoT service provider and first global 0G network operator, will be hosting its second Hacking House in Taipei, with the support of the Taiwanese Institute for Information Industry (III), the Industrial Development Bureau and commercial partners such as UnaBiz, Mighty Net and STMicroelectronics. The opening ceremony takes place on the 5th of March 2019, with the event continuing through to the 7th of March, culminating in idea pitch presentations on the final day.
Hacking House 2019 is a pre-incubator initiative that will bring together 24 students, developers and freelancers to share ideas and turn them into IoT-based solutions to real-world problems, with the goal of creating a proof of concept within three months, by June 2019. The three teams with the most promising concepts will be awarded a prize. However – every team that takes part will receive support to launch their own start-ups and be introduced to Sigfox’s global network of more than 60 incubators, accelerators and venture capitalists. Attendees will also benefit from getting hands-on experience with Sigfox’s widely adopted technology, which now has over 1,200 IoT startups onboarded, more than 85,000 subscribers and more than 10,000 development kits now being used worldwide.
Raouti Chehih, Chief Adoption Officer, Sigfox, comments: “We’re extremely grateful to the Taiwanese Government, and all our partners, who are offering their support for Hacking House 2019. The event is a win-win for all involved, with attendees benefiting from access to Sigfox technology, mentoring from our most experienced technologists, and the chance to network with industry contacts from venture capitalists to manufacturers, as well as the best and brightest academics, students and professionals. What’s most rewarding of all is witnessing how IoT technology plus young people’s’ energy and creativity can be combined to address and solve real world problems.”
This year’s event will see teams tackling challenges ranging from detector for palm-tree infests by red-tree weevils, to gas-cylinder and fire-extinguisher safety monitoring.
The 2018 event, which was held in Silicon Valley, led to the creation of three working prototypes, including the “ConnectedSeals” solution, to alert import and export companies when container seals are removed. As well as the “LALI Wildfire” detection app which identifies fires when they start and automatically alerts firefighters with information they need. Both projects are currently in development, with ConnectedSeals being driven internally at Sigfox Agency and LALI Wildfire being developed by one of their team members. Device testing is planned for June this year in the south of France.
Jang-Hwa Leu, Director General, Industrial Development Bureau (MOEA), Taiwan, adds:
“Together, IDB, III and Sigfox are looking forwarding to this year’s Hacking House event in digiBlock C. It gives participants the chance to collaborate with major international loT companies and makes the most of Sigfox’s network to create local, and global business opportunities in this new and exciting era for IoT.”
Philippe Chiu, Chief Technical Officer & Co-founder, for local Sigfox 0perator, UnaBiz, says: “UnaBiz has been focused on promoting Taiwan’s world-class know-how in hardware prototyping and manufacturing management since 2016. Our first Hacking House event in Asia has all the ingredients needed to bring brilliant IoT innovations to life, by mixing the excellence of Sigfox technology with the in-depth engineering talent pool this region benefits from.”
Full list of commercial partners:
- Business Next
- Exosite
- Fablab Taipei
- French Tech Taiwan
- Jorjin
- Mighty Net
- Soracom
- STMicroelectronics
- Taiwania Capital
- UnaBiz
- Zyxel Foundation
Full list of academic partners:
- National Cheng Kung University
- National Chung Hsing University
- National Taipei University of Technology
- National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
- National Tsing Hua University
- National Yang Ming University
- National Chiao Tung University
- Tamkang University
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About Sigfox
Sigfox is the initiator of the 0G network and the world’s leading IoT (Internet of Things) service provider. Its global network allows billions of devices to connect to the Internet, in a straightforward way, while consuming as little energy as possible. Sigfox unique approach to device-to-cloud communications addresses the three greatest barriers to global IoT adoption: cost, energy consumption and global scalability.
Today, the network is available in 60 countries, with 1 billion people covered. Surrounded by a large ecosystem of partners and IoT key players, Sigfox empowers companies to move their business model towards more digital services, in key areas such as Asset Tracking and Supply Chain. Founded in 2010 by Ludovic Le Moan and Christophe Fourtet, the company is headquartered in France, and also has offices in Madrid, Munich, Boston, Dallas, San Jose, Dubai, Singapore, Sao Paulo and Tokyo.
About UnaBiz
UnaBiz is a young and energetic IoT startup based in Asia, established by people who want to empower massive IoT and to connect the world. Our adventure started in 2016 when we launched our nationwide Sigfox-based network in Singapore. Less than a year after, we successfully expanded our activities to Taiwan. That is why UnaBiz has 2 teams, uniting more than 5 different nationalities members and we proudly embrace this diversity in the big family. Today, we are fully dedicated to improve our networks, provide cost-effective and energy efficient IoT solutions, and help businesses getting started with IoT.
