Without much fanfare and thanks to EVRYTHNG we ran a little session focusing on testing the principles we’ve developed over the past year. Thomas Amberg started us off presenting the principles as they are now on github. Alasdair Davies from Arribada Initiative (and our host last year) and myself with Good Night Lamp put on our implementation hats and looked at how many of the principles we’d be able to apply today or tomorrow and what didn’t apply. It was, as always, a really rich conversation that highlighted the fragmented nature of #iot. Sometimes, things simply don’t apply!
We started building our ultimate project outcome. A free form that startups could fill in quickly (less than 30 minutes) to give them a sense of where they were doing already, and what they should be thinking about implementing. At the end of the form, they would be prompted to ask for technical help and we would match them up with someone in the network who could help. Historically, many organisations have done this for a small fee (The Council of Industrial Design for eg. ) so we discussed this a little. It might also be good to tell a startup what they should be expecting to pay to get one of the principles applied and share the average day/rate of a security expert, backend developer or industrial designer for eg. The aim of the project is, after all, to help people make better decisions but they come at a cost, which, when it’s clear, can help a startup plan ahead.
In the afternoon we prepared some objectives for the next months which I wanted to share:
- Finalise the form to launch it publicly in early September and share it at events where people in the group will be speaking or attending. (ETHBerlin, Thingscon, IFA, Mozfest, London Design Festival were mentioned).
- Have calls with 30 startups we know in our network and test the principles on them. Get their feedback and document it to help champion the usefulness of the principles.
- Get at least 500 companies using the form with at least 50 completing it via newsletters (12K members on #iotlondon).
- Generate at least 5 opportunities to link up a company to an expert.
- Understand how we can collaborate with other efforts without duplication (Thingscon Trustmark and the Projects By If security in iot report for eg. )
We’re using Thingscon conference in Rotterdam as a deadline and an opportunity to reflect on the results. Funding was discussed again, and I’ll be looking at whether we can incorporate the project as a CIC or non-profit somewhere inside *and* outside of the UK (because of Brexit) so that it may benefit from future funding opportunities.
So we really have our work cut out for us. Onwards!
Better IoT 