Narayan AmmachchiGerman multinational SAP Labs has teamed up with incubator Unitec to capitalize on Brazil’s demand for IoT (Internet of Things) solutions by leveraging the resources of local technology startups.
Nicknamed ‘idea’, the program assigns different roles to each organization involved, and gives startups access to SAP’s vast depository of technology tools.
In the first step of the program, SAP Labs and Unitec will survey the market to identify the technology solutions that businesses are looking for. They will then take orders and assign the task of developing the solution to a startup.
“It’s a paradigm shift,” said Daniel Duarte, SAP Labs’ chief innovation officer in Latin America. “We first identify what customers are looking for, and then invest in developing the technology solution, instead of looking for clients for the product we have already developed.”
“In this way, we are revolutionizing incubation models,” said Carlos Eduardo Aranha, manager of Unitec.
Each project will last for 18 months, with SAP retaining the right to commercialize the product. It is, however, not clear whether the German firm will share sales revenue with the startups that develop the products.
Santa Casa de Misericórdia, a popular hospital in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, is said be one of the customers ordering IoT solutions.
Brazil’s industrial IoT market will be worth about US$3.29 billion in annual revenue by 2021, according to the latest report from Frost and Sullivan.
Late last year, the Brazilian government asked the national development bank (BNDES) to carry out a study and find out what opportunities IoT can create for the country.
“Healthcare and smart cities are expected to have the highest growth in the forthcoming years, while automotive and manufacturing will gain maturity by 2021,” said F&S. “Collaborating to deliver these services represents a robust opportunity for vendors.”
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