08:22 Tuesday 6th October 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
DOTTY MCLEOD: Have you heard of the Internet of Things? This is when everyday objects are connected to each other using web connections. It means that they’re able to collect and share data. So for example you could set your house lights to come on for just before you get home at night. And some people say that the potential benefits for all of this data are enormous. So for example you could take data from vans to look at where and when the most traffic occurs, which could then mean smarter scheduling, so companies could cut their fuel use, congestion could go down and in turn accidents could drop. There is one problem though with this. Most databases don’t have the storage space or processing speeds to manage the huge amount of data that can be collected. But a Cambridge-based company called Geospock thinks it might have the solution, by looking at the ultimate data storage unit, the human brain. Steve Marsh joins me now, the founder of Geospock. Morning Steve.
STEVE MARSH: Good morning. How are you doing?
DOTTY MCLEOD: yes. Fine thank you. So the Internet of Things. Exactly what is the vision with that first of all?
STEVE MARSH: I think it’s the overarching goal that by collecting data from everyday objects we can get better contextual understanding of the world around us, and then so improve it.
DOTTY MCLEOD: And you’ve been awarded £3.5 million worth of funding to bring something to market. What exactly are you aiming for?
STEVE MARSH: So the overall goal of GeoSpock is to help understand these varied amounts of data sources, and take that information, of which there is vast quantities of it, process it extremely quickly so we can act upon it in real time.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Right. So I’m trying to imagine an everyday use of this. Imagine I connect my car radio suppose, or my car with my kettle, so that my kettle knows when I’m getting homes. And five minutes before I reach the front door it can put the kettle on so I can make a nice cup of tea when I get homes. What’s the value of gathering data like that?
STEVE MARSH: Absolutely. That’s the convenience factor, so it’s probably one of the first use cases we talk about. A lot of people talk about smart fridges as well, the ability to re-order food when you’ve run out. We’re really looking at dynamic use cases, so things that move around a lot. So a better use case in terms of your car would be to monitor how and where you drive, and how that compares to other people on the road. You mentioned it before, can we cut down congestion, can we reduce our carbon footprint by essentially better scheduling of cars as they move around in the real world.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Steve, thank you very much for coming on this morning and sharing this just one example of the kind of amazing technological innovation that goes on around Cambridgeshire. Extraordinary. Steve there is the founder of the company called GeoSpock.
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