This document discusses the potential for using internet-connected devices (the Internet of Things or IOT) to have positive social and environmental impacts. It provides examples of IOT applications that could benefit the environment (Scoutbots, an autonomous boat that cleans oceans), development (Mobile Wire Service, connected farming equipment), commerce (Bleu, a retail system that uses customer data to improve shopping experiences), agriculture (HelloTractor, connected tractors), and energy (WattVision, a system to reduce home energy use through data). The document argues that connecting devices allows them to have "super powers" like communicating with each other, predicting patterns, accessing past data, being accessible anywhere, and enabling non-human problem solving.

1. IOT4i
The Internet Of Things For Impact:
Practice And Possibility

2. DOEN Foundation
March 25, 2015
Amsterdam, Netherlands
by Jon Gosier
jon@crossvalley.vc
The Internet Of Things For Impact:
Practice And Possibility

3. The Social Return of Connected Devices
- IOT4Environment
- IOT4Development
- IOT4Commerce
- IOT4Agriculture
- IOT4Energy

4. PRACTICE

5. If your washing machine knows that
everyone else in the neighborhood is
using power, can it save you money if it
waits to run?

6. Connecting our things gives
them “super powers”!
Connected Device “Powers”
Telepathy (wirelessly talk to other devices)
Precognition (predict patterns)
Time Travel (revert data and settings to any point
in the past)
Omnipresence (accessible from anywhere)
Super Intelligence (non-human assisted problem
solving)

7. IOT4ENVIRONMENT

8. Example: Scoutbots
- Connected sea-faring drones
- Founded to help clean up BP oil spill in Louisiana
- Now used globally to collect garbage and clean the oceans
- Hands on project for social impact innovators
- Environmental recovery for oil, radioactive, plastic, other
pollution
Source: https://www.techinasia.com/autonomous-shapeshifting-boat-clean-worlds-oceans/

9. “Autonomous shapeshifting boat cleans up
the world’s oceans.”
- TechInAsia
Source: https://www.techinasia.com/autonomous-shapeshifting-boat-clean-worlds-oceans/

12. IOT4DEVELOPMENT

13. Example: Mobile Wire Service
- Connected farming equipment
- Reduces labor
- Small enough to be cheap to ship and transport
- Responds to real-time data
- Automates manual labor
- Connected, can be controlled remotely
Source: https://www.techinasia.com/autonomous-shapeshifting-boat-clean-worlds-oceans/

14. Predicting Economic Trends
Using Real-Time Mobile Data Reporting

15. Does real-time consumer
spending data predict
macro-economic
trends?

16. Mombasa, Kenya

17. * Surveys via Mobile Phone and SMS
* Accounted for pricing bias
* Collected sales data from vendors
instead of consumers
* Tested correlations against macro-
economic indicators like Gross Domestic
Product, Purchasing Power Parity,
Inflation, Foreign Direct Investment,
Debt and others.
Methodology

18. EBOLA DEEPLY | eboladeeply.org

19. 1. Information Intervention (News + Data + Outreach)

20. 2. Use Data and Mobile to improve Africa’s understanding of Ebola.

21. IOT4COMMERCE

22. Example: Bleu
- Makes shopping a personalized more welcoming experience
- Retains history, “know your customer”
- Frictionless payments
- Improves loss prevention
Source: https://www.techinasia.com/autonomous-shapeshifting-boat-clean-worlds-oceans/

24. In Store Analytics
DATA & ANALYTICS
As customers enter the store, their mobile devices connect and transition from one Bleu beacon to the next,
transmitting valuable information on visits, micro location data, and shopper experience.

25. IOT4AGRICULTURE

26. Example: HelloTractor
- Connected farming equipment
- Reduces human labor, improves productivity
- Small enough to be cheap to ship and transport
- Responds to real-time data
- Automates manual labor
- Connected, can be controlled remotely
Source: https://www.techinasia.com/autonomous-shapeshifting-boat-clean-worlds-oceans/

29. IOT4ENERGY

30. Example: WattVision
- Better understand neighborhoods and homes
- Reduces energy waist and redundant usage
- Helps to change individual behavior through recommendations
and gamification
- Offers visibility of usage while away from home
Source: https://www.techinasia.com/autonomous-shapeshifting-boat-clean-worlds-oceans/

34. POSSIBILITY

35. DOEN Foundation
March 25, 2015
Amsterdam, Netherlands
by Jon Gosier
jon@crossvalley.vc
The Internet Of Things For Development:
Practice And Possibility