What does V-Accelerator do?
V-Accelerator is a laboratory that pushes tech boundaries to solve problems through commercial solutions. The most important focus of the labs is to turn collaboration prototypes into products and revenue. The labs allow prospective partners to use a comprehensive development and support infrastructure to fast track hardware and software initiatives.
What kind of partners are we looking for?
– Disruptors that collaborate.
– Innovators that are looking at the same market verticals that we care about. - Partners that can provide a fresh perspective to transform the industry.
What we are not looking for?
– A ‘me too’ vendor or start up that doesn’t have a defendable advantage
– People / teams / businesses dabbling for research purposes
What V-Accelerator provides
Partners will have access to an awesome facility that stimulates creative thinking.
Access to fantastic hardware, software and development staff is just the beginning. The labs program takes the successful partner through an agile and design led thinking methodology that ultimately turns prototypes into revenue.
The labs provide a perfect environment to showcase your product to the industry and prospective customers.
What partners will get out of the labs
A successful ‘graduate of V-Accelerator’ will turn their existing product, idea or prototype into a revenue generating solution. The nature of the graduate solution could be in the form of a collaborative product, a joint marketing agreement or even a business funding through a network of investors.
Things that excite us
At V-Accelerator we are passionate about solving problems in these areas:
Safety & Security
Vodacom has partnered with Link and ADT to build services that help make people safer in their homes and neighbourhoods. Services include affordable panic buttons linked to security, ‘find me’ assistance and tracking of loved ones.
Home Automation
Home Automation is getting smarter and this is just the beginning of an explosion of services expected in this sector. Sensors are being launched everyday at affordable prices. Phones controlling various home sensors will be very much a part of our daily life. We are particularly interested in the ‘everyday’ business cases such as water, electricity, safety & security.
Municipal & Government
We already provide a number of unique software services to municipalities that are making their operations more efficient. We are passionate about making it easier for the public to communicate and deal with municipal issues. Platforms such as Link are providing the public a much more efficient way of getting things done. For example, the public can log faults (e.g. burst pipes, potholes) get updated on the progress and feedback, all via the app.
Smart buildings
IoT enables employees to connect with each other and their surroundings more easily to enhance both collaboration and productivity. All facets of the buildings that they occupy become ripe for reconfiguration to generate a more relevant and effective workspace. This provides opportunities for significant cost-savings for owners and tenants alike.
Utilities
We are a well established player in smart metering. The next wave of innovation within the utilities sector will include the use of predictive analytics to provide further efficiencies. Drones that collect sensor data from meters and make decisions in real time are on our radar.
Retail
Retailers are using IoT to revolutionise the shopping experience by building in-store engagement, enhancing their marketing, monitoring footfall and maximising supply chain visibility. Technologies such as facial recognition, beacons, digital signage, supply chain tracking, RFID and wifi analytics can tailor experiences for consumers in-store.
Agriculture
The world will need to produce 70% more food in 2050 than it did in 2006 in order to feed the growing population of the Earth, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. IoT, big data and smart farming are set to become the future of agriculture.
Healthcare
IoT is transforming the healthcare sector, through remote patient telecare. It is improving the effectiveness of clinical trials and ensuring cold chain integrity. By implementing IoT, the healthcare industry – and hospitals in particular – will benefit in several ways, including improved treatment outcomes, improved management of diseases and drugs, as well as a better experience for the patient.
Technology that excites us tremendously
At V-Accelerator we are passionate about solving problems in these areas:
5G
5G is the next big thing to transform the wireless industry. 5G ‘slicing’ allows Vodacom to accommodate different types of traffic depending on the market requirement. In other words it can differentiate between ultra low latency applications such as drones, or vast low power, low bandwidth applications for M2M. With much higher data rates we are poised for another revolution in wireless.
IoT
Today the rise of IoT brings new opportunities and threats to your business. IoT development can serve as a differentiator, add value to your customers, drive product & service efficiencies, and improve overall business functions. A lack of IoT understanding and development in your business will leave you behind.
Platforms like Link, ThingWorx and RMCS
These are groundbreaking platforms available for partners to collaborate on through V-Accelerator.For example we can duplicate the messaging, chatting and channels of Instagram, Whats App and Text: with a big advantage …. you can control your group with true in-group ‘private’ messaging. This can be customised with channels for multiple applications both in commerce and even for smaller groups such as schools, sports clubs etc. Get in touch if you have an application.
Messaging & Chatbots
These areas deserve all of the hype and exposure they get. They continue to streamline many processes and applications in the world today. V-Accelerator has a comprehensive suite of software, products, and experience in these areas. When combined with the private messaging capability and channel capability, the chatbots can provide a powerful solution to communicating more securely, with-in a vetted group and with the avoidance of unnecessary chats – just select the channels you want to follow within your group.
NBI-IoT
Today, about 6.5 billion things are connected to the internet. Whilst this sounds like a lot, less than 1% of the all the things that could be connected, are connected. So why aren’t they? They’re either too remote, too inaccessible or simply too many of them to make it economically viable to do so. Until now…
Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) is a new technology standard designed to broaden the future of IoT connectivity. Ratified by the 3GPP, a telecoms standards body which works to develop future generation wireless technologies, NB-IoT has been deployed on the Vodacom network in South Africa.
Drones
Drone technology will soon become part of our everyday lives. Monitoring problems with crumbling infrastructure such as potholes in roads, neighborhood policing, cleaning windows on skyscrapers, verifying insurance claims and spraying crops on pesticides. We haven’t scratched the surface yet and we are very excited at how drones will increasingly contribute positively to our daily lives.
Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Agriculture
Understanding and making sense of these goliath technologies is already having huge impacts on society – both good and bad. We’re on the good side and believe that the operational efficiencies created through these technologies will ultimately move society forward.
Tracking & GPS
Global positioning systems have had as much impact on society as the internet itself. Social media platforms have integrated GPS software to allow for geotagging and location posting, assets and vehicles are being tracked, drones can avoid straying into flight paths and the list goes on. Essentially, GPS technology is making the happenings of the world detectable, capable of being tracked consequently mistakes become more preventable.