Since wearable technologies are penetrating more and more areas of our daily lives, it is not very surprising that new technologies are not only wearable, but also connected to other devices and machines.
One of these devices is not yet more than a prototype–and we’re not talking about Apple’s iWatch or Microsoft’s Smart Watch here. The project we are talking about is called the SmartSenior Project: A collaboration of 28 renowned research and science companies developed a watch that wirelessly communicates with medical staff, and features two emergency buttons to call for help. A noticeable feature: At the touch of a button, the watch switches off all lights when you leave the house through radio communication with. In addition to displaying pulse and blood pressure, it alerts you when you forget to turn off the stove or close your windows. But that’s still not all. In case an elderly person wearing the watch trips, falls, and can’t get up again or is unconscious, the watch recognizes the emergency and immediately calls for help. The only thing you have to do is to connect your house to the SmarSenior system, consisting of sensors and switches, as well as an online platform.
Emergency watches oftentimes aren’t very stylish—versatile or not. The Swiss company Limmex, designed a stylish and very handy emergency watch. Limmex’ watch has a built-in SIM card. In case of an emergency, it connects you via phone with a person of your choice. And it does really look good, as you would expect from a Swiss watch maker.
Limmex also won the overall award at the M2M Challenge 2012. This award is, after an excellent first run in 2012, the world wide leading award in the machine-to-machine (m2m) field. However, the M2M Challenge is not only looking for smart watches. Last year’s category winners included Tado, who created an intelligent smartphone based heating control system, and QGate, who developed an adapter plug that connects electrical devices to the Internet, which can be monitored and controlled via smartphone. These are only three of hundreds of submissions – developers from all over the world can submit innovative m2m solutions in one of five categories: mobility, energy, security, healthcare, and consumer electronics & more.
Kick-off for the M2M Challenge 13/14 is May 14, 2013 at the m2m Forum. Starting at 12.30pm, speakers from leading companies and the M2M Innovator of the year 2012 (Limmex) will present and start the second round of the competition.
The program includes:
- The M2M Challenge 2013/14 – Gerhard Schedler, Head of M2M Centre of Competence, Swisscom
- The Benefits of a Partnership – Bo Ribbing, Head of Sales Development, Device Connection, Ericsson
- The M2M Challenge Movie 2012
- The Winning Solution of 2012 – Pascal König, CEO Limmex and winner of the M2M Challenge 2012
- The Application Procedure – Guido Walcher, Director Quality and Intellectual Property Telit Communications
- The Official Start of the M2M Challenge 2013/14 – Swisscom, Ericsson, Telit Communications, and Varta
Developers may submit their m2m solutions right after this event on May 14—up to and including November 30, 2013. Innovative character, business potential, and usability will be evaluated by an international team of experts. The overall winner and the runner-ups will be awarded during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain in February 2014. For more information, or to submit your solution please visit www.m2m-challenge.com.
Download the programs for the m2m Forum and the m2m+ Industry Summit.
