FEATURED PROJECTS AND STORIES
How We Got Here
We’re a talented group of entrepreneurs and engineers with a groundbreaking idea that we hope will contribute towards a better tomorrow. We provide smart solutions for companies of all sizes and pride ourselves on our unparalleled, dedicated service.
At 99Bridges, we believe that the right understanding and technological edge can lead companies towards a successful future. We always seek valuable feedback from our clients in order to learn and evolve. Contact us today to set up a meeting with one of our sales representatives or request a demo.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
What is Circular Economy?
Today, economic growth is primarily contingent on increased resource consumption. In this linear economic approach, organizations harvest or extract materials, use them to create products, and then sell those products to consumers who generally incinerate or send to landfill the materials that no longer serve their original purpose. As the population grows and the negative environmental impact of resource extraction continues, this “take, make, waste” model is quickly reaching its limits.
The circular economy, by contrast, is one that is “restorative and regenerative by design, and aims to keep products, components, and materials at their highest utility and value at all times” (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2013).
Here are some pioneers leading the way to a circular economy.
According to a report by McKinsey in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, US$1 trillion a year could be generated by 2025 for the global economy. The market momentum is clearly accelerating with major corporations committing toward circular economy. A survey conducted by ING in 2019 interviewing 300 executives found that 62% of American companies now plan to move toward circularity. Nearly twice as many U.S. companies say that they are embedding sustainability in strategic decision-making in 2019 compared to 2018.
How will 99Bridges enable businesses to move towards a Circular Economy?
Fast-moving consumer goods currently account for 35 per cent of material inputs into the economy and 75 per cent of municipal waste according to McKinsey paper “Towards the Circular Economy”. Therefore, an important use case is that of packaging of consumable products. Specifically, the reuse of packaging will deliver dramatically greater materials savings and profit than the traditional linear economy.
A retailer in South America is leading the way to create a circular retail business for common household goods using reusable plastic bottle packaging. The company created fixed and mobile refill stations using custom-made vending machines at convenient locations for consumers to re-purchase the products by reusing the plastic bottles. In doing so, consumers are rewarded with loyalty points that can be used against future purchases.
For this business model to run smoothly data needs to be easily exchanged among the involved parties since each of the fixed and mobile refill stations is equipped with various sensors, such as temperature, humidity, fill level. Also, the vending machines each have their own set of telemetry. The sensors and devices provide data to the retailer that enables data driven decisions. For example, the fill level sensor shows the retailer when to replenish the vending machine or which locations are performing better than others. Furthermore, the retailer would want to perform analytics on the data to understand consumer purchasing patterns. Suppliers would also need the data to understand what products are selling well vs others. To make the whole business model function seamlessly, the retailer needs to establish a data infrastructure for the relevant data to be present at various stages of the business cycle.
99Bridges provides a secure, trusted data exchange infrastructure to enable the entire business cycle, from manufacturers to retailers to consumers. IoT sensors and devices securely capture and protect the data at the source, which we called the Edge. A 99Bridges’ Edge Data Guardian is installed at each refill station acting as a data collector to aggregate all the relevant data. It then processes the data to support the company’s operational systems. The data is then encrypted before forwarding to the company’s central data center for analytics and other applications. A 99Bridges’ Edge Data Port at the data center securely anonymize the incoming data and packages them for external party sharing. Suppliers and other business partners can obtain access keys from 99Bridges’ Edge Data Bridge to access the anonymized data stored in the retailer’s Edge Data Port.
The diagram below illustrates the high level architecture of the solution:
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CLIMATE CHANGE
What is Climate Change?
Climate change refers to the rise in average surface temperatures on Earth. An overwhelming scientific consensus maintains that climate change is due primarily to the human use of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the air. The gases trap heat within the atmosphere, which can have a range of effects on ecosystems, including rising sea levels, severe weather events, and droughts that render landscapes more susceptible to wildfires. –takepart The Paris Agreement, signed in 2016 with the focus to limit the threat of climate change by keeping global temperatures well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, has become more of a focus for businesses around the world. Companies are becoming increasingly aware of the need for change and sustainability efforts have become a key business priority. In the Summer of 2019, 215 largest global companies representing nearly $17 trillion in market capitalization have valued the climate risks to their businesses at almost $1 trillion – with many likely to hit within the next 5 years (source). The group however also sees gains from realizing business opportunities related to climate change at US$2.1 trillion. More than 20 multinational corporations made new commitments to use renewable energy for 100% of their electricity and this makes up for 300 renewable commitments from companies with $5.5 trillion in revenue, according to the Climate Group.
The retail giant Target, Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, the Japanese department store Takashimaya, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and China’s world leading solar panel maker JinkoSolar were among those vowing to rely solely on renewable energy to meet their electricity needs (source).
As businesses and organizations transitioning to become more sustainable, optimizing their resources and generating less toxic waste, digital technologies such as IoT solutions and edge computing will be catalysts to accelerate their efforts. According to a study by Ericsson Research, IoT can reduce global emissions by up to 15% by 2030 while being responsible for only 1.4% of global emissions. However, to reduce the threat of climate change an ecosystem of stakeholders must work collaboratively to make an impact as no one single entity has all the data, information, and knowledge to address all aspects of climate change.
The demand of climate-related data is growing. Understanding that inadequate data can lead to the mispricing of assets and a misallocation of capital, more and more financial decision makers are demanding data on the business risks and opportunities associated with climate change. That requires sharing of relevant climate data securely, in real-time, for the successful implementation of solutions to reduce global warming.
How 99Bridges enables businesses to reduce global warming?
Fast-paced urbanization has required large cites to maintain a large supply of energy to power various functions such as transportation, residential and commercial life, and more. Significant progress toward global warming can be made with smart buildings since buildings and construction currently account for 36% of global final energy use and 39% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.
Transforming building construction and energy usage could significantly reduce carbon emissions and slow global warming, jumpstarting efforts for climate change. Moreover, 66% of global organizations say that better energy management is their primary business driver for making smart building investments, according to a recent Harvard Business Review survey.
Smart buildings are a great starting point as it can transform and automate traditional design, production, and operational processes. It can also enable preventive maintenance, identify and prioritize issues that need attention and continue to optimize energy usage for buildings. Businesses and owners can benefit as well since many functions will get automated and optimized like lighting, heating, and cooling reducing unnecessary use and maintaining comfort.
Furthermore, Smart buildings open tremendous opportunities for businesses and cities because they can become connected ecosystems, with technology-enabled businesses, solar panels, smart-battery storage, and electric vehicle fleets. This ecosystem can help manage energy efficiently to prevent overloading the grid and create new infrastructure. Smart buildings provide a rare opportunity to do what is right, create cost savings and new opportunities, deliver better services and create a sustainable future.
99Bridges is working with a multi-national property development firm to enable their digital twin platform through real-time capture of data at buildings from all IoT connected devices. The data is securely processed and protected at the edge before moving to firm’s data platform for secure sharing of relevant data with their building design, build and management partners. The diagram below illustrates the concept.
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RENEWABLE ENERGY
What is Renewable Energy?
Renewable energy is the energy that has been derived from the earth’s natural resources that are not finite or exhaustible, such as wind and solar. Renewable energy is an alternative to the traditional energy that relies on fossil fuels, and it tends to be much less harmful to the environment. –Just Energy
Renewable energy is contributing 11% of the total energy consumption in the U.S. in 2018. It plays an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Using renewable energy can reduce the use of fossil fuels, which are major sources of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. It is the fastest-growing energy source in the U.S., increasing 100% from 2000 to 2018. Globally the renewable energy share is expected to increase to 22.5% of the global power mix by 2020.
Global Renewable Energy Market is forecasted to reach US$2 trillion by 2025. The global renewable energy market valued approximately US$1.5 trillion in 2017 is anticipated to grow with a healthy growth rate of more than 4.90 % over the forecast period 2018-2025.
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) agreed to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28% by 2025 and 80% by 2050, compared to 2005 levels. To meet these goals, a large proportion of electricity will need to be generated by low-carbon sources, most likely wind and solar power. The challenge, however, for wind power and solar energy production is their intermittent nature and unpredictability. This makes it difficult to balance availability and demand. Energy must be supplied in the time frame needed, with the capacity required, and at a competitive cost of operation.
IoT is helping to address this challenge through remote asset monitoring and management, better automation and control, better load management, all of which leads to improved production and operational efficiencies.
How 99Bridges enables businesses to move toward Renewable Energy?
Click here for the full RE100 list.
Rapidly evolving technologies and declining costs, coupled with favourable policy landscapes, have resulted in an unprecedented scale-up of renewables worldwide. These trends are set to continue in the coming decade, opening up new opportunities for a growing number of non-traditional energy players in the corporate sector. –Corporate Sourcing of Renewables: Market & Industry Trends
As more and more businesses committing to 100% renewable power, such as those in RE100, coupling with increasing deregulated, open energy markets, the pricing, buying and selling dynamics amongst producers, brokers, and consumers are not unlike any other market driven, multi-stakeholders, economic ecosystem. Take the long-deregulated insurance industry as an example. For the market to function, the role of a broker is essential. They not only bring the buyers to sellers but in many cases must bring together multiple suppliers to meet a single buyer’s needs. The major difference is that the energy buyers are in most cases also investors to the renewable energy producers. One of the vital functions in this growing industry is the verification of production data from the producers. That means, transparency, accuracy, and authenticity of the production data from the source must be verified.
In addition, an open renewable energy market carries a much higher stake then financial risks, especially considering the implication of energy producers having to integrate with the main power grid. A power grid is considered as a nation’s critical infrastructure. As such, extreme precautions must be taken to ensure anything connecting to power grid are safeguarded from potential cybersecurity risks.
By capturing and securing remote sensor data at the source from wind or solar farms, 99Bridges acts as the trusted data guardian to ensure secure sharing of energy data across the entire value chain. The following diagram illustrates how it works.
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