South African Internet of Things (IoT) specialist Trinity IoT has kicked the year off with a bang by announcing a R50 000 prize for the most innovative IoT project idea. This funding will give the winning proof of concept a much-needed boost to becoming fully realised.

“IoT has become one of the most significant technology enablers in today’s connected world. By linking devices to data and enterprise systems, organisations can realise competitive advantage much sooner than before. This competition is designed to highlight the potential that exists for IoT in South Africa and one we are proud to be spearheading,” says Ross Hickey, founder and CEO of Trinity IoT.

Forming part of Trinity funding, the initiative will help a start-up get its project off the ground by contributing to their initial deployment costs to the value of R50 000. The prize money can be put towards any Trinity IoT product and service that includes IoT devices and sensors, SIMs, data, consulting services and access to the Trinity IoT remote management platform.

There are several criteria the project must comply with to be considered for the funding. For instance, the idea must scale to 500 devices within six to 12 months of being rolled out. The business case also needs to have cellular connectivity for networked devices. From a revenue perspective, the project must either generate R50 000 per month from the total device fleet or generate R100 per device from services or subscriptions. Given the focus on realising the full potential of IoT, the project must also illustrate its real-time access and management of data.

“The start-up with the winning project should also consider showing the need for a mobile app or business web portal that integrates data into other areas of the business. After all, IoT centres on unlocking the potential of data in a connected ecosystem. By showing us just how it plans on doing so to deliver demonstrable returns with an integrated approach, a project will stand a good chance of winning,” he adds.

Other considerations include highlighting the ideal end customer, providing a detailed business model or plan, showing the project rollout targets and timelines, demonstrating the team capacity and capabilities, and so on.

“We are very excited about the potential of this competition to provide further impetus to local IoT start-ups to showcase their talent and highlight just how pervasive this technology has become in everything a business does,” concludes Hickey.

For more information go to  http://trinity-co-za-7410365.hs-sites.com/funding