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The Internet of Things Is Now a Thing

Several ventures now under way in developing countries show how networks of connected machines
can drive economic growth.

By Ladan Davarzani & Mark Purdy Fall 2015

new force for growth is emerging in some of the

world’s poorest regions, and it leverages some of the
world’s most advanced technology. The Internet of
Things (IoT)—a model that uses networks of
Internet-enabled devices that often operate without
human intervention—might appear to have limited
applicability to the world’s least-developed economies.
But many elements of the IoT model, such as cheap
In Bhutan, a doctor stocks a drone with medical
sensors and wireless technologies, are remarkably well
supplies. (Photo by Dani Grant, courtesy of
suited to conditions in poor countries. Organizations Matternet)

of all kinds are creating and using IoT networks to

deliver new solutions that can increase living standards, and they are doing so without the need for
large financial investments or the heavy involvement of state bureaucracy.

Drawing from interviews, published reports, and other sources, we have investigated the global
potential of IoT technology. In the course of that research, we have identified three ways in which IoT
capabilities can promote economic growth.

Compensating for poor infrastructure | Lack of infrastructure is a significant barrier to economic

growth in many poor countries. But IoT technology provides a relatively inexpensive way to overcome
that deficit.

IoT systems, for example, offer an alternative to traditional telecommunications infrastructure. That
kind of solution can be particularly effective for tracking weather changes. “Developing countries lack
the weather monitoring infrastructure that we take almost for granted in the United States and
Western Europe today,” says Bob Marshall, CEO of Earth Networks (https://www.earthnetworks.com/) , a

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company based in Germantown, Md. Every year, he notes, severe weather kills more than 20,000
people in developing areas—from fishermen on boats to farmers who are tending crops. Conventional
meteorological monitoring relies on radar systems to measure cloud cover and rainfall. But it’s hard to
apply that approach in many parts of the world. “Radar is costly and time-consuming to implement
and requires advanced training and resources to maintain,” Marshall says.

Meteorologists have long known that certain patterns

of in-cloud lightning provide advance warning of
severe weather. Earth Networks has used this
knowledge to design a cheap, reliable IoT-enabled
weather monitoring system. That system, now in use
in countries such as Guinea and Haiti, deploys
lightning-detection sensors to predict extreme
weather conditions—heavy rains, for example, or
cloud-to-ground lightning. It then automatically
warns people about those conditions via texting to
mobile phones. The system can sound an alarm
roughly 30 minutes before an extreme weather event
occurs. (In the United States, which has an advanced
weather infrastructure, the lead time for such
notifications is often considerably shorter.)

Another common infrastructure weakness in poor

countries is a paucity of grid-based electricity.
Especially in rural parts of the developing world,
people often have no option but to install expensive In Guinea, workers install weather-sensing
equipment.
and environmentally hazardous diesel generators. (Photo courtesy of Earth Networks)
Bboxx (http://www.bboxx.co.uk/) is a London-based
company that offers a solution to that problem. It provides hardware that uses kits of solar cells to
generate electricity. Customers are now using Bboxx products in countries such as Nepal, Rwanda, and
Uganda.

Solar kit technology isn’t new. What’s novel about the Bboxx approach is the practice of remotely
monitoring the condition of solar kits. Batteries are an important part of this technology, but they are
highly prone to failure. By connecting each solar kit to the Internet, the Bboxx system can detect
battery flaws that may not be obvious to the kit’s user. Christopher Baker-Brian, chief technology
officer of Bboxx, explains how the system works: “We record data such as battery voltage, current, and

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temperature, and those data are sent to us every four hours.” Whenever the system identifies a
problem, Bboxx relays that information either to its customer or to a local technician. Leveraging IoT
capabilities in this way has allowed the company to develop ambitious goals. “We want to provide 20
million people with electricity by 2020,” says Baker-Brian. By the end of 2015, he adds, the company
will reach about 400,000 customers.

Transportation poses yet another critical challenge in

many less-developed countries. Matternet
(https://mttr.net/) , a company based in Palo Alto, Calif.,
is testing a drone delivery network in Bhutan with the
goal of circumventing that country’s weak
conventional transport system. Bhutan has only 3
physicians for every 10,000 people, and many
Bhutanese who live in mountainous areas find it hard
In Rwanda, a user tests the TV component of a solar
to obtain the medical care that they need. Matternet grid product. (Photo courtesy of Bboxx)
uses quadcopter drones to bring payloads of medical
supplies to remote villages. The drones transmit their location in real time, and each drone carries up
to four pounds of supplies and can travel over a range of about 12 miles. To extend the reach of its
drones, Matternet plans to build stations where they can land and recharge their batteries.

Serving hard-to-reach markets | Companies that use IoT technology can sometimes find radically
new ways to bring goods and services to underserved markets. Take insurance. Many farmers in poor
countries have no financial protection against accidents or extreme weather conditions. Because they
often work land in areas that are difficult to reach, insurers cannot easily validate their claims in the
conventional way—that is, by employing inspectors who make on-site visits to assess damage. As a
consequence, insurers are often unwilling to assume the costs and risks of taking on these customers.

A project called Kilimo Salama (https://kilimosalama.wordpress.com/) (which means “safe agriculture” in

Swahili) aims to solve this knotty problem. Kilimo Salama—a partnership of the Syngenta Foundation
for Sustainable Agriculture (http://www.syngentafoundation.org/) , UAP Insurance (https://www.uap-group.com
/Home/Global.aspx/) , and Safaricom (http://www.safaricom.co.ke/) began in Kenya in 2009 and subsequently
expanded to Rwanda. The project provides crop insurance to farmers who would otherwise be unable
to buy it. The Kilimo Salama system uses a network of weather sensors that connect to a database via
cellular and satellite technology. The sensors record climate data every 15 minutes, and the system
matches that information to other available weather data. If the data indicate that a specific farm has
been subject to adverse conditions, such as drought or excessive rain, the farm’s owner automatically
receives a payout. The system bases that payout on variables such as the difference between actual

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rainfall and the seasonal rainfall needs of a given crop. There’s no need for an insurance adjuster to
inspect the farm or to determine the amount of loss.

IoT platforms can also significantly increase access to essential services such as health care. Many poor
countries suffer from a severe shortage of qualified medical workers. But through technologies that
enable remote patient monitoring, even people in rural areas can gain access to specialized medical
treatment.

The Supporting LIFE project (http://www.supportinglife.eu/) —a consortium of health care experts from
eight countries—seeks to reduce the child mortality rate in Malawi. (The under-five mortality rate in
that country is 133 per 1,000 live births.) The initiative assists health care workers who have limited
training with the diagnosis and treatment of children who suffer from diseases such as malaria,
infantile diarrhea, and pneumonia. Using a combination of smartphone technology and wireless
body-area sensors, local providers enter patient data into a mobile app and immediately receive advice
on how to detect and manage such conditions. Providers can also send patient information to a central
database; by doing so, they help to generate accurate real-time disease statistics for a given area.

Boosting productivity | Less-developed countries are often resource-poor. But IoT technology allows
people in those countries to get more out of the resources that they have. Networks of smart sensors,
for example, can enable farmers to achieve higher yields from their land. Crop Performance, based in
Cambridge, England, deploys such networks to track air and soil temperature, precipitation, relative
humidity and wind speed, and soil moisture-holding capacity. The Crop Performance system sends
these data via wireless network to farmers so that they can manage their crops remotely. “Growers can
leverage IoT networks to inform spray recommendations for irrigation, nutrients, and crop protection,”
says Stephanie Race, CEO of Crop Performance. By enabling farmers to monitor location-specific
irrigation and fertilizer use throughout the growing season, the system results in lower input usage and
increased profit per acre.

IoT technologies can also make the use of transportation assets more efficient. In developing
countries, delivery and logistics companies have to deal with an array of hazards: theft, driver
inefficiency, data-entry errors, vehicle breakdowns, and the like. But efforts are under way to reduce or
eliminate these problems. An Atlanta-based company called Roamworks (http://roamworks.com/) , for
example, is bringing IoT-based fleet management to Tanzania. The Roamworks solution enables
trucking and logistics firms to link fleet data to legacy enterprise systems. Through cellular and
satellite technology, moreover, customers can keep track of fleets in remote parts of the country. Using
a mobile app developed by Roamworks, managers can reschedule shipments and monitor driver
behavior in real time; they can even immobilize a vehicle in the event of theft.

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Despite the formidable challenges faced by the world’s poorest nations, the Internet of Things is
already igniting economic development in several of those countries. To replicate these early successes,
entrepreneurs should keep in mind the three Ns of making an IoT project work: needs, networks, and
novelty. First, they should start with a needs-based view of market potential and avoid the temptation
to focus on products or services that companies are already comfortable with selling. Second, in order
to unlock capital and other resources, they should tap into networks that link businesses with local
community organizations, development agencies, and governments. And third, they should embrace
novelty—both in the technologies that they use and in the business models that they adopt—as a
means of thriving in difficult environments.

Ladan Davarzani is a research fellow at the Accenture Institute for High Performance in London.

Mark Purdy is managing director of research and chief economist at the institute. They are co-authors of “The Growth
Game Changer: How the Industrial Internet of Things Can Drive Progress and Prosperity,” a report issued by Accenture.

The authors would like to thank Brian Aitchison and Xiao Chang for their assistance in developing this article.

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