Pilot Experiments

Bitmesh: Sustainable Business development for scale ups with the digital shift as driving factor

  Norway, Agder

  DIH Oceanopolis

Experiment objective

The objective of the pilot is:

  1. to explore in an advanced digital lab (mil-as.no) if increased use of digital tools can contribute to further mature their technology and products and increase productivity.
  2. start a structured business development process in a lab to focus on how data can be converted to new and/or improved services in existing and new markets and how this might influence their business model.
  3. engage the company in a hackathon with digital and business development experts to use the results from step 1 and 2 to increase productivity in existing business markets and develop potential products for new markets based on the competence and technology of the company. The target is to develop a viable business plan that describes how the companies can achieve TRL 8-9, and a basis to seek funding from early investors in Norway or Europe including the EIC Accelerator.

Challenges

The main challenge of the pilot experiment is to provide Bitmesh with the necessary administrative capacities and competence to develop a market and business that will enable them to approach investors and/or funding from sources like the EIC Accelerator program or similar funding. To be able to fulfil the requirements of the application process the company needs to develop a business and market plan for the product/services. The team members of Bitmesh count with the technical insights and competencies, but they are lacking competence and staff to develop/create the required business scenario.

Implementation Solution

To evaluate the need for further development of the company’s products and/or services, the management of the company is invited to an advanced digital lab, Mechatronics Innovation Lab (www.mil-as.no), to test different types of digital tools that can enhance their productivity and/or the services and products.

Parallels with the session in MIL, the pilot will engage the two companies in a structured business development process based on digital competence and technology especially adopted to SMEs. The process is based on a successful research project that developed a methodology to develop services from data. The methodology focuses on how digital tools can be utilized to improve productivity but also to achieve costumers’ values like less emissions to air and water, increased safety and decrease operational/maintenance cost.

The process is structured as 4 half day sessions in a business development lab, by use of virtual meeting facilities due to the corona situation, assisted by coaches with digital and domain competence. 

Between the lab sessions there is homework for the companies. Prior to the lab session the companies are invited to attend a cloud based digital competence course.

After this session, a business development process starts in a Business Development Lab (BDLab), www.bdlab.no to create a business scenario to understanding of the factors that might affect the company in the current and potential future markets.  This will be done by an organized hackathon with digital and business development experts. 

The target is to develop a viable business plan that describes how the companies can achieve TRL 8-9, and a basis to seek funding from early investors in Norway or Europe including the EIC Accelerator.

Results Obtained

Firemesh, a solution developed by Bitmesh, now monitors the pressures of the fire sprinkler valves. The pressure monitoring makes it possible to detect errors that are impossible to detect with manual monitoring.

The alarm test of the fire sprinkler is improved over the existing manual practice because it simulates a sprinkler head. This results in a more realistic test and makes it possible to measure the time it will take for the alarm to be activated. Additionally, the alarm test result is reported weekly to the MOM system and the pressure is monitored and reported to the MOM system when failing, which results in a safer and healthier system.

The extra insight given by detailed pressure monitoring and the ability to see historic data makes it possible to see that a valve is failing without visiting the site. This enables the responsible to order correct repair and send a qualified plumber or electrician to improve errors.

Overall, the experiment improved the fire safety. Weekly test ensures that the mechanical parts of the fire sprinklers work. AI Monitoring of the system will detect errors before they get serious, enabling condition-based maintenance and reducing unnecessary maintenance.

The system will also document if the water supply is reliable and whether the fire sprinklers will have challenges with operating in case of a fire.

Impact of the experiment

After the experiment the product is ready for delivery to municipalities. Private actors have also expressed that the results of the experiment make the product interesting. We are in dialog with several large real estate management companies and several municipalities.

Kristiansand municipality has 300 buildings that requires weekly inspection. We estimate that the tests average about 30 minutes pr building and that the driving distance is 3 km on average. If implemented on all buildings that will result in making approximately 5 qualified man-years available for improving other property services. An annual reduction of transportation of 46800 km. This adds up to approximately 5,7 tons of CO2 emissions. The service applies to all buildings with fire sprinklers and the benefits can be used for any municipality, building owner or real estate management company.