Talk given at the Communitech Tech leadership Conference in Kitchener Ontario on May 28th 2015.

1. The changing nature of things
Getting ready for a connected world
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino
designswarm
@iotwatch

2. First UK distributor of the
Arduino (2007-2010)
Product & interaction
designer
Consultant designswarm
Founder Good Night
Lamp (2010-now)
About me

3. Clients

4. IOT London Meetup Master Classes for investors
Connected Magazine Know-Cards

5. Summary
We are building a grass-roots revolution in the
way we interact with the built environment.
We need to be ready to see things we
previously chose to ignore.
We will need to change the way we do
business and interact with customers.

6. A revolution in making things

7. The internet of things
Ubiquitous connectivity & digital services
connected to real world events.
Embedding cheap sensors, actuators, connectivity
or cloud services in previously “dumb” objects.

8. • Hardware components were expensive
• Specialist knowledge & expensive “design for
manufacturing” services
• An emerging digital economy
• No hardware funding
Before

9. Now
• Easy access to cheap hardware
• Democratisation of electronics prototyping and
product development
• A robust digital economy
• Crowd funding

10. Easy access to cheap & easy to learn hardware
Arduino MiRobot SAM Labs
PrimoLittle BitsRaspberry Pi

11. Has become a corporate revolution
Intel Edison Samsung Artik ARM mbed

12. And national awareness programs
BBC Micro

13. So what are people building?

14. Knowing your loved ones are safe
Glow Caps BleepBleeps
LivelyGood Night LampGood Night Lamp
Good Night Lamp

15. Knowing how safe your environment is
Air Quality Egg Cube Sensors Japan Geiger Maps

16. Remotely controlling your world
Sonos Nest Philips Hue

17. Understanding ourselves better
Jawbone UP Oral B toothbrush Apple Watch

18. Understanding how things are made
HistoryTag

19. Are we ready?

20. Are consumers ready for this?
Access to cheap credit, mass production in
Asia & mostly free internet services has
lowered consumer expectations around the
price of every day objects.
Connected everyday objects will suffer from
this.

21. We already live in times of fear

22. Which means we are slow to adopt new ideas
1946 2015

23. Little Printer Google Glass
Project Andiamo
Especially when they feel radical or in niche markets.

24. So we design for what we know even if its invasive

25. Or controlling

26. We may come to stigmatise technology

27. Corporations are looking to own different spaces
in the ecology
The hardware ideas are built on top of
The connectivity used (M2M, GSM, Whitespace)
The cloud services (Smart Things, Thingworx)

28. But things will take time

29. How do you get involved?

30. This revolution is full of opportunity
• New ideas and companies to acquire
• New vendors to work with
• New investment opportunities

31. The economic downturn has been good for #iot
• Freelance electronics engineers are more
common
• Smaller design firms are doing interesting things
• Small amounts of investment can go a long way.

32. Recognise that a product might not be the answer.

33. The internet of things changes how we do business
Giving a consumer access to his data for the life of
his ownership of a product
Hosting that data beyond the company’s life
Exposing the data roots and third party
relationships

34. And how we treat our customers
Knowing every time a customer stops using your
product and leaves in a drawer.
Maintaining a direct relationship with your
customer for the life of the product (10+ years)
Being responsible for its ultimate disposal &
recycling

35. But this is where legislation is heading.

36. So what can I do now?
• Explore new ideas internally with small
prototypes first before reaching out to large
vendors. Buy some Arduino kits.
• Expose yourself to what’s happening, hire
creative technologists, read postscapes.com
• Grow a local meetup.

38. Read up
Everyware, Adam Greenfield
Smart things, Bruce Sterling
Designing the Internet of things, Adrian McEwen
UX for Connected Products, Claire Rowland

39. And remember
Recognise the complex relationships that
people have with the built environment.
Design for incremental changes in behaviour
and long lasting relationships.
Consider new ownership models (design for
disassembly & second hand markets).

40. Because ultimately we cannot completely design out
human error.

41. Or humans.

42. Thank you and good luck
Merci et bonne chance
alex@designswarm.com
www.designswarm.com
@iotwatch