The SMART Infrastructure Facility has announced a partnership between its Digital Living Lab and Thinxtra, a company deploying Sigfox Internet of Things (IoT) network across Australia. The Sigfox technology, established in France in 2009, is the first global LPWAN and currently operates networks in 36 countries around the world.
The IoT network connects large numbers of low-energy sensors – such as water meters, parking sensors or air quality probes – to real-time applications enabling the rise of smart cities.
The partnership will see Thinxtra providing IoT development kits to the SMART IoT Hub – a research space opened to students, researchers, start-ups and local schools – and installing a Sigfox base station on campus. ‘The partnership is very simple,’ said Renald Gallis, VP of Marketing and Ecosystem at Thinxtra.
‘We provide free connectivity and free development kits in exchange for access to the rooftop for a base station. There are already some companies within the university that are developing applications using Sigfox and this will give teachers, students and researchers the support that they need, at no cost to the university.’ he said.
SMART director, Professor Pascal Perez, says the agreement is an important step forward for the regional Digital Living Lab, launched earlier this year.
‘This will enable local developers to test the inter-operability of their innovations with different radio communication protocols, from our existing free-to-air network that has attracted a large amount of interest in the community, to future technologies that will be deployed in a near future’ he said.
‘New projects using the Digital Living Lab are constantly in development, and anything that promotes the widest possible adoption of smart cities technology, that will make our cities more liveable and more productive, has got to be excellent news for the university and for the region.’
Thinxtra is very excited to be part of the Digital Living lab and contribute to a better future for the region.
About UOW Digital Living Lab
The University of Wollongong and SMART Infrastructure Facility are leading the digital revolution in the Illawarra with the creation of the Digital Living Lab. Through the ideas of Share, Enable and Create, the Digital Living Lab is facilitating a Smart City solution, improving the quality of life for people in our community.
SMART aims to contribute to next generation infrastructure and smart city solutions, with a strong focus on innovative research, community engagement and service delivery. SMART brings together experts from fields such as transport, water, energy, economics and modelling and simulation and provides a state-of-the-art facility to support this important research.
Alongside UOW’s iAccelerate, a business incubator program, SMART intends to attract additional talented entrepreneurs and innovative IoT startups to the region as part of the Digital Living Lab. SMART has also opened the SMART IoT Hub which allows researchers, students, schools, community members or associations to develop their own community IoT projects.
For more information, digitallivinglab.uow.edu.au
Contact: +612 4221 5031 [email protected]
About Thinxtra
Thinxtra was founded by IoT and network experts who share a common passion for connecting things to improve business processes and people lives.
Thinxtra is empowering the Internet of Things in Asia Pacific by deploying the world-leading Sigfox LPWA network as well as building a full eco-system of IoT solutions and services to enable the non-connected to connect.
Thinxtra is backed by NZX-listed high-tech company Rakon Ltd, which has a history of innovation in communications technology going back some 50 years as well as the CEFC (Clean Energy Finance Corporation), an Australian Government fund with a mission to accelerate local transformation towards a more competitive economy.
Contact: Renald Gallis – VP Marketing +61 404 894 960 [email protected]
