Creative Connectivity

3D Printing, Kickstarter and the TSB

Today, the UK’s Technology Strategy Board (TSB) announced a funding competition to develop new 3D printing technology. It’s called “Inspiring new design freedoms in additive manufacturing / 3d printing” and is offering funding from £100k to £1.5milion for collaborative, business-led design projects to overcome some of the “dirty secrets” of 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, with a total funding pot of £7 million.

Over the last year I’ve been watching the rise of 3D printing projects on Kickstarter, as they’ve progressed from fairly simple ones to the more recent, high profiles successes, such as the Formlabs Form 1 3D printer, which is a project to commercialise a printer, software and compounds. That one project alone has attracted just under $3 million in funding from over 2,000 backers, over 1,000 of whom will end up with 3D printers by next May.

Which made me wonder what the TSB is going to use my tax-payer’s money for in this competition, as it looks as if there is already a perfectly workable funding model to develop 3D printers. Or do they think that 3D stands for Dead Duck Donations?

Wireless Security for the Internet of Things

If you believe the futurologists, then the Internet of Things (IoT) is going to be the next big thing. Depending on who you listen to, by 2020 there will be up to 50 billion connected devices, an order of magnitude greater than the number of mobile phones. You can already see the start of that, whether it’s smart meters, connected information signs, or the increasing number of fitness devices, like Fitbit and Nike’s Fuel wristband. To get a better idea of what else may be emerging to make up that number, a good place to start is Kickstarter – the website for crowd-sourced funding. It shows that a significant number of potential start-ups are looking for money to produce a bewildering array of gateways and sensors.

It’s great that there is so much innovation going on in this area. I’ve been trying to help it take off for almost two decades and at last I can convincingly say it’s happening. But underneath the enthusiasm, I’m concerned that not enough attention is being given to security.

A few weeks ago, a speaker at a security conference in Australia talked about wireless attacks on pacemakers. Possibly because of the combined press frenzy around Superstorm Sandy, Obama’s re-election and Jimmy Savile, that piece of information wasn’t picked up by the mass media. At the same time, I’ve been playing with some of the latest consumer products that have come to market and found very little evidence of security. In fact, recent coverage in the technical press suggests there is a worrying feeling of complacency. I suspect that may be because wireless and end-to-end security is a new concept for many of the engineers designing IoT devices. But it is important that it makes its way onto the agenda, otherwise it may seriously impact the potential for growth.

Smart Meters could have saved US from Sandy

Following the disruption caused by hurricane Sandy, Smart Metering proponents have been quick to point out how a more widespread deployment could have prevented many of the problems seen in New York and New Jersey. Utilities in Texas and California reported that within their regions where there was close to 100% smart meter deployment, they’d not experienced a single example of power outage or flooding. And smart meter manufacturers added that the outage reporting capability of their meters would have saved vast amounts of time and money for the East Coast utilities. “Instead of having hundreds of staff watching CNN and following twitter feeds to find out where power had gone down, utility executives could have just checked on their iPhones” said one industry spokesman.

These benefits were echoed by smart thermostat manufacturers, claiming that the wireless networks in their devices could have been reconfigured to provide a local wireless mesh, enabling peer-to-peer communications within affected communities, as well as being used for in-home geo-location, aiding local emergency services. “Our thermostats don’t just look over your climate control”, one executive commented, “they can even look after Granny and your pets in situations like this”.

Choosing a Wireless Standard

The first question that most designers ask when adding wireless to their product is “which wireless standard to use?” In some cases, where it is connecting to an existing product, that’s easy to answer. If it’s not, it’s a lot more difficult. It’s one reason I wrote a book about it – to try and help designers answer that question. But another part of the same question is how well the different standards promote themselves as a solution?

This year has seen some major changes within some of those wireless standards. The ZigBee Alliance has lost Benno Ritter – for many years the global marketing face of ZigBee. And the Bluetooth SIG has replaced its Chairman, Mike Foley, as well as its CTO, Andy Glass. Both are interesting moves, as each of these standards is still evolving. ZigBee is taking on smart lighting, home automation and smart metering, whilst Bluetooth is finally seeing Bluetooth Smart appearing in the mainstream. In a recent issue of Incisor magazine, Vince Holton wrote about the loss of passion within the Bluetooth SIG – a sentiment that I’d echo and also extend to some of the other wireless standards. But that’s an opinion formed from being close to these groups. A few years ago I ran to survey to try and see what the general engineering opinion was of the different wireless standards. Prompted by Vince’s article, I thought it would be useful to run the survey again to see what designers think as we approach the end of 2012.

Digital First – a Patient Perspective

A couple of years ago I wrote a somewhat tongue-in-cheek article about how much the NHS could save each year by implementing some fairly basic mHealth initiatives. Nothing very complicated – mostly simple stuff like appointment reminders, but with the help of some silly projections from NESTA I reckoned there was potential to save almost £13 billion a year from the NHS budget.

A few weeks ago I came across a much more sensible proposal in the form of Transform’s Digital First report for the NHS. Whilst my effort was largely based on fanciful numbers from corporate PR departments and think tanks trying to get noticed, the Digital First report uses real examples of current practice within different parts of the NHS. It looks at ten easy-win initiatives which, if they were to be implemented across the wider NHS, could release funding of £2.9 billion per year.

These are not high tech; they don’t require massive capital investment, they’re just ten good ideas which have been developed and deployed locally and which can be copied throughout the country. Most are centred on GP practice. In each case, the report describes the current implementation, the degree of difficulty (or in many cases the ease) of attempting each project, and details of how to do it. There’s even a Digital First website “designed to help NHS staff implement Digital First”. The report is essentially an instruction manual for every GP surgery. I’d recommend downloading and reading it. And the next time you see your GP, give them a copy or ask them how they’re getting on with it.

NHS – The Olympic Legacy

While most of the world was scratching its head about the London Olympics’ opening ceremony, Danny Boyle managed to do something that successive UK Governments have failed to do for over sixty years. The world watched as he promoted the NHS as a Global Brand. For five years we’ve had debates about what the lasting legacy of the London Olympics would be, a lot of which has concentrated on what to do with the buildings. The rest has been about whether it will persuade more people to become more active. Whilst I’m not belittling the positive effects that it may have in reintroducing people to sports and providing renewed support for sporting facilities, I’d like to put forward a much more important legacy – we should follow on from Danny Boyle’s tribute and start making the NHS a Global Health Service.

Readers of this blog will know I’ve been espousing the need to turn the NHS into a Global Brand for many years. But with the Olympic coverage disappearing from the front pages of our papers, that idea seems to be catching on. Recently the Independent ran the headline that the Government was considering a Global NHS. We now have the best opportunity to make that a reality – quite possibly a once in a lifetime chance to transform healthcare in theUK, and improve access to it around the world.

So Jeremy Hunt, here’s a challenge for you. If you want to go down in history, here’s you chance. Take this opportunity to show the world that the UK is great at healthcare as well as sport by making the NHS a truly global brand.