13 September 2012. Bosch and the HSG inaugurated the innovation laboratory “Bosch Internet of Things & Services Lab – a cooperation of HSG and Bosch” in the presence of Benedikt Würth, Minister of Economic Affairs of the Canton of St.Gallen. The think tank’s mission is to find and test business models for the internet of things and services. In addition, work will be done on the development of internet-based products and services. “The internet of things and services will revolutionise great swathes of the economy over the coming years,” said Dr. Siegfried Dais, Deputy Chairman of the Bosch Board of Management.

At present, five doctoral students are working in the research institution in the HSG’s Central Institute Building. By 2013, the think tank will provide jobs for ten HSG and Bosch employees. In operative terms, the laboratory is supported by Bosch Software Innovations GmbH. Initially, research will focus on networked mobility and the smart networking of buildings. The first results were presented in September 2012.

New business models for networked life
The HSG’s technology management institutions are currently cooperating with 50 different companies in the field of the internet of things and services, or IoTS for short. “We have been working on the fusion of the digital and real worlds for more than ten years. We want to play a creative and responsible part in this development,” explained Prof. Dr. Elgar Fleisch. The scientific head of the Bosch IoTS Lab and Director of the Institute for Technology Management (ITEM-HSG) emphasised: “Since we cooperate with many enterprises and since the big questions are not specific to any one of them, academic freedom is one hundred per cent guaranteed.” At the Bosch IoTS Lab, Bosch and HSG employees will in future jointly work on new business models in the fields of networked mobility, networked energy/smart grid, networked city, networked industry and networked life.

A bike as a mobile advertising area
Paul Rigger and Thomas von Bomhard, for instance, are working on a project to use bicycles as mobile advertising spaces. The displays are mounted on the sides of bicycles and can be controlled through the internet. Thus it will be possible, for example, to display advertising messages that are appropriate to the areas through which the cyclist is riding. Kristina Flüchter is also working on a bicycle-related topic. She is investigating the commercial and technical requirements for running a fleet of e-bikes. She is working on the assumption that hotels, leisure facilities or transport services in tourist regions might well be interested in the joint operation of e-bikes.

Focus on networked buildings
Dominic Wörner is working on a smart heating control system, which is capable of processing weather forecasts from the internet early on and of controlling the heating system on that basis. Markus Köhler, too, is working on the networking of buildings. Both researchers are looking into the question as to how the owners or users of a building can be actively involved in order to save power or water.

Picture: Photocase / Juergen W