For the second year running, the French post office is running its #FrenchIoT programme. The aim is to support innovation in IoT by bringing together startups, innovative SMBs, large groups and local stakeholders. At SIDO, the professional IoT expo which took place in Lyon in early April 2016, La Poste outlined the new edition of its programme.
=> Also on our blog: IoT: La Poste deploys a connected button in France’s letterboxes
BUILDING A FRENCH IOT ecosystEM
There could be between 50 and 80 billion connected devices by 2020, predicts France Stratégie, a research organisation attached to the French Prime Minister. With this information in mind, La Poste decided to launch a digital hub in 2015, a platform for managing all the group’s connected devices and services. Easy to use, universal and open to communities of developers, startups and corporations, the hub enables users to create and personalise their “connected universe” as they can use it to configure various equipment, such as setting an alarm when they leave home or automatically turning the heating down.
After the enthusiastic response to the presentation of the hub at CES 2015 in Las Vegas, La Poste decided to launch another challenge: promote the future champions of IoT and thus create a dynamic, innovative, sustainable IoT channel. To do this, they launched the #FrenchIoT programme which includes startups, small, mid-size and large businesses, competitive clusters and incubators.
The first competition in 2015, led to the recruitment, with the support of groups like BNP Paribas and Malakoff Médéric, of the first #FrenchIoT community, made up of over 100 startups, 15 of which attended CES 2016. Among these were Sensing Labs, an outfit that makes sensors to control energy consumption, Hakisa, the first social hub for senior citizens, and Jagger & Lewis, which makes smart dog-collars.
APPLY NOW FOR French Iot 2016
Following the success of the first programme, La Poste is repeating the experience in 2016. From 16 May, startups in the fields of smart home, smart city, connected health, well-being and local services will be able to apply online. Results will be announced in July 2016.
For startups, this is a dual opportunity: not only will they benefit from exclusive access to the digital hub and its development platform (API), but they may also be one of the 16 lucky startups selected for the French IoT Academy, a programme that includes a week’s boot camp, coaching and personalised mentoring, a business test with La Poste or one of its partners, and, the highlight, a free stand at CES 2017 in Las Vegas.
=> Also on our blog: With Facteo, the French post office brings its 85,000 postmen into the digital age