The London-based tech startup Flyingcarpet has won the trophy for ‘Best Decentralised IoT-Enabling Project’ at the 2018 CogX Awards for its developed technology built on Artificial Intelligence, blockchain and renewable energy to help communities in developing countries. Founder Julien Bouteloup accepted the award on behalf of the team.
The Flyingcarpet project is a decentralised network that enables Internet of Things (IoT) devices, from drones to cars, to operate autonomously and provides services that will create value for all people, from the poorest communities to the largest corporations. The network incentivises anyone to participate, but makes it impossible for anyone to control.
The Flyingcarpet team at the awards ceremony.
Julien last year traveled to the remote village of Kokopo in PNG to help a coconut farming family successfully analyze a yield from its 100-hectare plantation. The family used a drone powered by the Flyingcarpet device, a solar-powered charging and docking station which connects drones to their decentralized blockchain network. This breakthrough Proof of Concept demonstrates just a fraction of the potential that IoT devices such as drones can do for improving the lives of poor communities across the world.
Accepting the award, Julien said, “The Flyingcarpet team is excited to win the CogX award for Best IoT Enabler in the blockchain category. This award has given us a sense of validation that we are heading in the right direction and that our faith in the power of IoT, blockchain and AI to bring positive, transformative change to the world is shared and acknowledged by industry leaders.
“IoT is an infinitely large area with endless potential, but our excitement with this project stems from the ability to use blockchain technology to create access to this potential for everyone on the planet. Our solution ensures that this value won’t be concentrated within our tech giants and largest corporations, but instead will be available to anyone who wishes to participate in and contribute to this valuable ecosystem. That is really powerful.
“Our vision for the future of decentralised IoT global networks is all about interoperability and inclusion for us. The value of IoT will come from all sorts of sources, such as autonomous drones collecting data, so building services that generate this value should come from the ground up. This way, not only can we utilise data that is real-time and interoperable, but we can do so in a way that is accessible to all.”