Artemis Water Strategy

Water resilience for a thirsty future

Oct 26 2018

Two Visions For On-Demand Farm Insight

Google’s radar-based gesture sensing and data transmission patent

How might innovations from Google and Salesforce bring an ocean of agricultural data to a farmer’s smartphone?

Farming might be the world’s most complex manufacturing environment, working within an intricate interplay between soil, sun, and moisture to produce food. The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to track more of that complexity and boil it down to insights that will drive yield and profitability. But first, farmers must harness the ocean of data.  “We all know weather trumps everything,” notes Climate Corporation’s Chief Science Officer Sam Eathington. However, he estimates that 70% of yield is “a result of decisions made by farmers such as what to plant, how to fertilize the crop and how to protect it.”

Over the last 18 months, some of the giants in agriculture have accelerated their data services offerings. Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Monsanto, states that it is “on track to hit 50 million acres” with its FieldView product this year. FieldView brings in nine years of yield data on 2000 seed hybrids to provide recommendations for farmers. Today, the combination of more accurate GPS and autonomous vehicle control has made precision farming economical, at least for large farms. According to John Deere, self-guided systems now farm approximately 60 to 70 percent of the crop acreage in North America, 30 to 50 percent in Europe, and more than 90 percent in Australia.

Serving up farm data is emerging decisive opportunity that will define the rural market in North America.  The winners here might be set to engage the millions of farmers worldwide.  As a vibrant crop of young agtech startups strikes out into a North American market long dominated by ag giants, they are increasingly looking beyond the few thousand $1M family farms which have been the mainstay of precision agriculture. Tools that can process massive farm data streams into actionable insights and deliver them to mobile devices will unlock a US market of more than two million additional farms and define rural markets around the world.

Watch for innovations from the broader mobile market. Here are two examples.

Radar-Based Gesture Sensing and Data Transmission

Google is looking to integrate its smart devices into a single platform, spanning all of its devices, notes Rachel Binder from CB Insights. It has filed a patent for “radar-based gesture sensing and data transmission.” (See image above.) The technology would allow users to control a suite of devices using gestures in addition to voice control and handheld devices. Could it be applied to a grower, workers, and equipment- pivots and sprayers in the field?

Data integration on the fly

AI-powered data integration from companies like Datorama (recently acquired by Salesforce (CRM.N)) turns any data reporting source in the form of a feed or file into a continuous data connection that leverages email, FTP or other storage locations to maintain continual updates. Data for marketing professionals, like data for farmers, comes from many sources across devices leading to a data source explosion that can quickly move from dozens to hundreds or more.   In today’s world of social media and real-time logistics, the average marketer uses up to 70 data sources to assess marketing performance.  Systems like Datorama help marketers access more niche channels for data on specific neighborhoods instead of entire cities. These systems take mountains of data and facilitate new advertising and pricing strategies tailored to niche markets.  What if growers could dynamically switch in different irrigation monitoring solutions and remote imaging systems, receiving data insights on their fields and crop status from mobile devices?

Organizing data to mirror the way you farm

An automated data source integration engine like Datorama modified for farm data might provide the ability for small farmers to use data the way big farms with IT staffs do today. AI-driven data integration would process farm data and deliver insights directly to mobile devices.

Agtech has been a sleepy corner of the technology world over the last few decades, both because of the speed of change, but only a tiny fraction of the 2 million US farms have the staff to manage data.  The mounting pressures on smaller farms are forcing farmers to change to survive. With cheaper hardware and the new stretch of advanced communications networks, smaller farmers might have the opportunity to drive their profits with data.

Credit: Datorama

Written by Laura Shenkar · Categorized: Agriculture, Big Data, IP Strategy · Tagged: agtech, datorama, Google

Jul 19 2014

Building a Brand that Drives Success

Leading brands http-:www.novosti.rs:upload:thumbs:images:2014:04:25n:apple_620x0For tech companies that are breaking new ground in the way we manage water, branding can be decisive.  Lynn Nichols of X Intellectual Property, one of the leading experts on branding in the Silicon Valley, shares her view on how names can help early-stage companies set themselves apart as emerging leaders.

How do the best companies develop names that become brands?
When creating a name for a company, the first instinct is often to describe the company’s services or product in the name.  Startups especially succumb to the fear that “if we don’t put it in the name, people won’t know what we do.”  But a name can be used to do so much more than describe.  A name that simply describes misses out on important opportunities for a business with big aspirations.
Names are always conveyed in some context, written or verbal, so it’s not hard to figure out what the company does.  Early companies that follow the startup descriptive instinct instead wind up with a liability: a name that emphatically labels them a startup.
Founders and CXOs should ask themselves if that’s the name they want to be know by
5 years down the road when they are an industry standard, a household technology, when they want everyone to be talking about the brand .. when competitors have entered their market space.

Isn’t it risky to adopt an innovative name?
Yes, but its risky not to. If you don’t go in a new direction in your industry with the company name, you run the risk of someone else out-innovating you in name.  And suddenly you sound old school, even if your technology is not, because your competitor has been more thoughtful in forging a new path, paid attention to competitors’ positioning, identified an elegant way to convey a new idea, or is bolder.

How does a company develop a great name?
An opportunity to name a company is an opportunity to stand alone.  By examining existing naming patterns in your industry and choosing a different route, you can convey though the company name itself that you are a leader, an innovator, that you have new technologies that surpass legacy technologies.  Your name position can both stake out unique territory and convey that you are the only solution to that problem, rather than simply the best alternative among many.

A business name is also an opportunity to make your audience pay attention to the Big Idea behind what you do.  Ideas are magnetizing.  People talk about companies and the ideas they inspire.This opportunity is especially important with new technologies that are poised to grab public attention when changes in society or public policy make their industry highly topical.Ideas create loyalty and relationships, ideas sell services and products.
A name alone can make people pay attention, as Apple found out in its early days.

What are some ways to make a name powerful?
A powerful name begins with a thoughtful distillation of the brand core to a single idea that makes the most impact. Rather than describing what the company does, this idea may reflect the company vision for the technology, the end benefit for customers, characterize a difference from competitors that resonates, or it may speak to a particular audience.

Name positioning is a key next step. When the business name breaks with established patterns in the industry, people pay attention. Take a close look at names in any one industry and you’ll see identifiable trends in form and meaning: large numbers of technical descriptive names, or names cobbled together from supposedly meaningful pieces that sound corporate and empty. The tech startup world is well-known for churning out name after name ending in –ly, -able, -box, -panda, or two one-syllable words that make no sense when shoved together. Often the same words are used over and over in an industry, e.g. ‘caring’ in the senior care industry, words for spark or explosion among PR firms, or evocative feminine names in the high-end salon industry. Mapping out a different strategy for the form of the name can give the name much
larger impact. And aside from positioning, careful attention to word choice alone can result in a name that resonates with a particular target audience. Think Bitcoin as the name for a digital currency, which sounds innovative, and Coin, a type of electronic wallet, which does not.

The type of name should be carefully thought out as well. Different types of names – descriptive, evocative, invented – have different strengths and weakness depending on the industry. And beyond business names, product names need special ingredients to ensure they, and not a generic term, are used for the product.

What is the potential impact of a good naming strategy?
Your company can easily be distinguished from competitors, and future competitors. People don’t avoid saying your name because it’s too long. In fact, people remember your company name and tell others about it. You stake out a leading position in your industry in name recognition, others are left to play catch up.

There is even more impact for your business as you raise your awareness in your target market and create a larger audience. Your Big Idea drives customers to you. A name that intrigues provides incentive for your audience to take a closer look. A name can grab attention because it represents a new way of looking at the industry. People talk about your company and your technology because the concepts are well-packaged and resonate.

In short, you are on the radar screen of your client audience because they are engaged by the ideas you represent. Your name is the flagship reflection of those ideas.

Written by Laura Shenkar · Categorized: IP Strategy, Start-up Management

Jan 11 2014

Tackling the Chinese Market for Water Technology

China is a central issue for water tech growth companies. It is set to be the epicenter of water innovation.

For decades, China has been using up its water at an unsustainable rate. 28,000 of its rivers have disappeared since the 1990s. Only half the water sources in cities are safe to drink. More than half the groundwater in the north China plain cannot be used for industry, while seven-tenths is unfit for human contact. China’s Twelfth 5-Year Plan includes ¥ 430 Billion or US$71.1 B in investment in water management.

Chinese Water Investment Under the Twelfth 5-Year Plan
Chinese Water Investment Under the Twelfth 5-Year Plan

While China’s water crisis might make it the most promising market for water, launching a water tech solution in China can ruin its value. On Wednesday, the Artemis CEO Forum tackled the China market opportunity in its inaugural session.

Dr. Xiang Wang, Orrick’s lead partner of China-focused intellectual property practice, spoke to the forum about how tech companies manage IP protection in China. Wang stated that IP protection is as much a business operations issue as a legal issue. “If you think that  your IP hasn’t been copied, either your product isn’t very valuable or you just don’t know that it is being replicated,” Wang noted. 

Despite the risk, China is a clear priority for the members of the CEO Forum. While it isn’t a major focus today, most of the eleven forum members surveyed see China as critical five years from now.

“How important will China be for your company in five years?”

“How important is China during the next five years?”

Jim Matheson, CEO of Oasys anticipates that over the next five years, nearly 50% of bookings will be from Asia. He presented his company’s launch experience in China. Oasys is a leader in forward osmosis water treatment solutions, primarily targeting industrial applications like oil and gas drilling, petrochem and power generation.   In October, Oasys raised $15 million in Series B funding, led by privately held Chinese engineering firm Beijing Woteer Water Company which was part of a broader strategic partnership between the two companies. “Finding the right partner and structuring the right relationship with them is critical for success in China,” Matheson stated.  “We developed our relationship with Woteer over a period of 18 months and ultimately partnered with them exclusively for tackling industrial applications in China.  Importantly, we included the strategic investment from Woteer as part of the overall relationship as we expect it will help us align our interests in the partnership.”

“What is/will be Your Business Model in China?”

What is:will be your business model in China?

Strategies for China with the forum companies run the gamut from licensing patents and know-how to joint ventures and setting up their own offices.

While launching in China requires significant management time over an extended period, cleantech companies in solar and wind energy have shown that the Chinese can move more quickly to scale projects following a pilot. Companies like LanzaTech, a producer of low-carbon fuels and chemicals from waste gases are showing how high profile government initiatives can provide an ideal combination of investment and on-the-ground partnerships to scale new technologies. Within two years of the CEO’s first trip to China, Lanzatech closed two major partnerships and completed its first full-scale project with $80M in Chinese financing.

Written by Laura Shenkar · Categorized: China, IP Strategy, World Water Markets · Tagged: IP Strate, IP Strategy, World Water Markets

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