Miguel Maroto

This article examines the barriers to IoT entering the rural world with solutions that help farmers maximise the productivity of their farms. It all started from a conversation I had a few days ago with my father, a small olive oil producer, and several of his friends, who are also small producers. The conversation centred on the problems they are having with the irrigation systems on their farms. These problems were the most important ones: When it comes to irrigating olive groves in the irrigation community that manages all these farms, the farmer has no power to decide when it is the best time to irrigate, as the decision is taken centrally. As a result, there are farms where olive trees are drying up due to an excess of water rather than a lack of water. On the other hand, the costs associated with irrigation are very high, which means that many producers are not as profitable as they would like to be. As an IoT expert, I explained that there are solutions on the market that can help solve both problems. On the one hand, to make a better decision on the best time to irrigate, and on the other hand, to improve the overall cost. After having this conversation, I had the impression that, although the audience I was addressing was interested, there was a certain mistrust among them that led to reluctance to change. Companies that provide IoT solutions must consider the agri-food sector in general, since, according to the Cajamar report on the Spanish agri-food sector in the European context, its weight in the Spanish GDP has increased to 9.7% in 2020. Moreover, according to Caixabank Research, this industry has surpassed its pre-crisis production level. Despite the above, this industry is still facing two major problems, which were reflected in my conversation, where IoT solutions can provide a great help to mitigate them: Climate change: in the case of Spain, one of the consequences is a reduction in the water available for irrigation in the different river basins. According to the PricewaterhouseCoopers study on the future of the agri-food sector, two thirds of the country is at risk of desertification. Cost efficiency: in a scenario in which the price paid to the farmer of origin of some crops is increasingly lower, due to, among other things, competition from emerging countries where the cost of labour is much lower (PricewaterhouseCoopers), it is very important for the farmer to be cost efficient in order to maintain the profitability of the farm. AI of Things How digitalisation makes it possible to accurately identify and meet the needs of an organic cherry farm October 3, 2022 What kind of agriculture oriented IoT solutions are on the market? These solutions currently focus on monitoring farms with the help of sensors (light, humidity, temperature, soil moisture, crop health, etc.) and using this information to automate certain farm components such as irrigation. The final goals are: To improve crop yields To increase crop productivity To reduce the consumption of agricultural inputs such as fertilisers, copper, etc. To reduce water consumption The benefits that this type of solution brings to the farmer include: Improved crop yields Help in planning activities Increased product quality Reduced costs for the farmer Improved control of crop growth and yield factors Increased food security Climate change mitigation What is Telefónica Tech doing in the Agro world? Telefónica Tech team, led by Andrés Escribano, is working on smart farming solutions offering products and services that contribute to improve productivity, sustainability, as well as reducing costs in the use of resources. Smart agriculture solutions combine different technologies such as IoT devices, Cloud platform, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain. These solutions are focused on several product lines: digitalisation of the field either through IoT devices or by flying drones; management platform for decision support and automation of agricultural tasks; smart irrigation management; product for industrial agriculture based on indoor vertical farming systems; and solutions for traceability of production and certification of origin of agricultural products. In short, I believe that companies that market IoT solutions and help farmers to solve their problems need to build a simple yet powerful message so that this profile, which does not usually have a technological background, understands and identifies what these types of solutions can do for their farm. There must also be collaboration with the public administration to get this message across to all rural areas.

This article is intended to describe how myself and my friends have been dealing with the increase in energy prices over the last year with the help of IoT solutions. Paradigm shift on electricity prices We have witnessed a spectacular increase in the price of energy over the last year, with a rise of 334% if we compare the average price in March 2021 with the average price in March 2022. This rise took place at a European level and was due to different factors. Several circumstances have affected both my housing bill, which has risen by an average of 40%, and the bills of friends' companies, which have suffered very significant rises both in the shops and in the factories of their companies. In our country this situation has caused important changes in the energy consumption behaviour. In a recent study commissioned by LG Electronics, 84% of Spanish families have changed their consumption habits in recent months. As a result, the population that has been affected by this paradigm shift is looking for solutions to help improve the energy efficiency of both their homes and business premises. The arrival of European funds, quantified at almost 7,000 million, will greatly help the progress of these efficiency solutions in our country. What kind of IoT solutions help energy efficiency? There are different types of solutions depending on whether they are aimed at the residential or corporate market. The solutions focused on the residential market are simple modular solutions in which different components are included, including: IoT devices: Different types of devices that collect consumption information that help improve decision making. Examples: Intelligent light monitor: Allows the consumption of each connected appliance to be identified in real time. Smart shower device: Device that changes colour depending on the volume of water consumed and helps the customer consume only the necessary amount of water, avoiding overconsumption. Smart Plug: A device that makes it easy to measure the consumption of any electrical appliance connected to it. It is also possible to activate and deactivate it remotely. Smart thermostat: Device that analyses the insulation of the user's residence, as well as the outside temperature, to programme the best time to switch on the heating and define the temperature at which it should be switched on. This achieves a reduction in unnecessary energy consumption. Management App: Application that receives the information collected by the sensors described above and helps the user to make decisions by recommending consumption habits. For the corporate market, the solutions that help energy efficiency are found within what is called Smart Building, which is the intelligent management of the automation of all the buildings or infrastructures of a company to improve comfort, maintenance, accessibility, health and safety, etc. This type of solution consists of the following elements: IoT devices: A set of sensors that collect consumption information from different points of the building's network and send it to the management platform. Centralised Control Platform: A platform that allows any employee of the company to visualise the behaviour of the building in real time and thus make the necessary adjustments at all times. What are the benefits of these solutions? The benefits of these solutions for residential users are the following : Saving on energy costs Helping to fight climate change by reducing our environmental footprint. Total control over the consumption of our electrical appliances For the corporate market, such solutions offer the following benefits : Economic Reduction in the cost of energy bills for infrastructures. Reduction of preventive and corrective maintenance costs of infrastructures. Contained and predictable costs. Bussines Energy optimisation by managing the comfort/energy consumption ratio according to economic and commercial criteria. Implementation of environmental and corporate responsibility policies (ecoMarketing): energy consumption, water, emissions, etc. Operational Compliance with the regulatory framework (RITE) for infrastructures. Centralised remote monitoring and control of devices in real time: lighting, air conditioning, marketing, cold rooms, machinery, swimming pools, fuel tanks, etc. Facilitator of predictive maintenance of infrastructures. What is Telefónica Tech contributing to the world of energy efficiency? A team led by Eva Pérez Marcos at Telefónica Tech has launched the Telefónica Inmotics and Energy Efficiency Service, an e2e Smart Building solution that enables the centralised and remote management of devices in a network of infrastructures (usually buildings), providing customers with efficiencies in energy consumption and maintenance, ensuring that the necessary comfort conditions are achieved. The solution consists of: IoT devices, which collect data from different points in the building. Operation and Supervision Platform: A platform that allows the building to be managed and monitored in real time. Energy Intelligence Platform: An Energy Intelligence analytical platform that provides energy dashboards and proposes new policies to be implemented to manage infrastructures more efficiently. To sum up, the implementation of this type of solutions by both individuals and companies will experience a very significant growth this year, mainly due to the increase in the price of energy, as well as factors such as the arrival of Next Generation funds and society's awareness towards the environment, which will also help the adoption of this type of solutions by the corporate market.

In this second article I want to share another life experience where the technology in which I am an expert helps both to care for and make life easier for people I love. Thankfully, I have two grandparents still alive and, as life inexorably passes, the risk of something bad happening to them, such as heart problems, falling, etc. increases. That's why I turned to IoT solutions to help minimise that risk as much as possible. The aim of this article is to give an insight into the market that is opening up in the IoT world for this business opportunity. What is the potential market like? First of all, we must take into account that the potential market for this type of solutions, people over 60 years of age, is growing year after year. On the one hand, the world population grew from 6.5 billion in 2005 to 7.71 billion in 2019 and, in addition, according to Eurostat, the percentage of people over 60 has also increased from 10.3% in 2005 to 13.2% in 2019, growing in all regions except Africa. This trend is set to increase as projections predict population growth, for example in Europe, where Eurostat 1 projects a 43% increase in the number of people over 65 in 2050 compared to 2020. Another aspect to take into account is that the adoption of the internet by this sector of the population is increasing. We can see for example that internet use by Americans aged 65+ has increased from 14% in 2000 to 73% in 2019 and in 2016, 45% of adults aged 65+ used the internet at least once a week in the EU vs. 82% of the EU population aged 25-64 2 The demographic change we have seen above, where the percentage of older people is increasing, has shown that the ageing population will need more dedicated care than babies and young children in the coming decades. The needs of the elderly have remained the same throughout history, however, it is the delivery of care that will change in the future. We can identify different kinds of needs that this type of population has, which we can divide into the following: Physical Intellectual Emotional Social Within the physical needs we can identify the following examples, depending on their level of ability: Assistance with nutrition due to their lack of autonomy in cooking Assistance with medical care and safety both inside and outside their home Within the intellectual needs, the following examples can be identified: Help with stimulation due to the fact that they suffer from lack of coordination, sight and hearing problems. Help with learning new activities because they have often had to give up jobs or hobbies they previously enjoyed. Examples of emotional needs include the following: Help from family or carers to carry out everyday tasks that used to be done by this type of population but which they are no longer able to do due to loss of autonomy. Help to overcome a feeling of not belonging, as they have often been unable to continue working or have lost friends and family in old age. Make the person feel cared for, as this demographic group needs, above all others, to have this feeling. Finally, we can identify the following needs at the social level: Need for communication in their daily life to avoid isolation and feelings of frustration. Need for social interaction outside their family, which may be from peers or others in society. All these needs can be met in different ways and through different people such as carers, friends, family, neighbours.... However, in a society where Internet use among the older population has increased dramatically in recent years, and is expected to increase further in the future, there is an opportunity to change the way society deals with the older population. There is an opportunity for technology-based solutions in the health care sector, independent living sector and social sector for the older population as more of this population uses technology and the internet. What types of IoT solutions for the elderly are offered in the market? In my search for solutions that would help me improve the care of my grandparents, I have found different types based on solving the needs described above. Mostly, I have found products that help improve the monitoring of the person's health, their safety and help reduce the feeling of loneliness. In my case, the solutions that I am thinking of implementing in my grandparents' home are: Presence sensors: This type of sensor is installed in a non-intrusive way in the home of the person to be monitored, and in an NB-IoT gateway that transmits the information to a cloud platform. The caregiver receives notifications and smart alarms by WhatsApp, email or SMS of the most relevant events occurring in the home, and can access the information securely and in real time from any device and without the need to install any app. Surveillance cameras: easy-to-install cameras that allow the family member or caregiver to see what is happening inside the home in real time. Smart bracelets: this type of solution helps to monitor the person's state of health in real time, providing alerts for possible heart attacks or other types of health problems that may arise. Assistance button: this is a button that the elderly person wears around their neck so that, in the event of any problem that may arise, such as a fall or a heart attack, pressing the button sends an alert to the emergency centre. Other solutions have also emerged, which I don't yet need to implement, that help people not to feel alone, such as a mini smart robot that uses IoT technology and Artificial Intelligence to determine the user's behaviour and preferences to deliver verbal notifications to remind them to take medication and allow them to make video calls. All these types of IoT solutions and others that are being commercialised provide the following benefits: Improved interaction between health professional and patient Regular reporting of the user's well-being to the caregiver Continuous assessment of cognitive status Generation of reminders to perform daily tasks Reduced caregiver anxiety about the individual Improved home security systems Improved energy efficiency Quick and easy installation of new devices without the need for external assistance Relief of depression and increased quality of life. We must also take into account the risks that this type of solution can have, especially in the field of cybersecurity and fraudulent use of people's data. In conclusion, I believe that IoT solutions will help me improve both the care and the interaction that my family, carers and I have with my grandparents. I also think it is a market that is going to have a very high level of innovation because it will not stop growing and the market will demand more and more new sorts of solutions. Ec.europa.eu. 2020. Database – Eurostat. [online] European Union, 2015. People In The EU: Who Are We And How Do We Live?. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union