Right now, a lineup of Finnish companies at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is proving why Finland remains a technological superpower. While Nokia already stole the show by announcing a beautifully convincing reboot of the Volkswagen Beetle of cellphones, the 3110, there’s plenty more to get excited about. Here’s our line-up of cool companies, showcasing their top tech at the Finland Pavilion, who we think are worth a closer look.
What’s going on with developed countries? Well, our populations are getting older, with reproductive activities tapering off at unprecedented rates, even in newly middle income countries. VideoVisit is among the frontrunners tackling the questions of caring for elderly populations, having already deployed a system of virtual home care services for the City of Helsinki. At MWC, VideoVisit will explain how these services have reduced costs for home care by 85%.
Are you a dog person? If you are, you’re probably aware of the unique genius of dogs as companions who are bred and trained to understand us, work with us, and even just chill with us. One could even say dogs are the first purpose-built artificial intelligence humans “constructed”. Yet, most of us aren’t quite inside our dogs’ heads, and since our canine fellows can’t speak, important aspects of your dog’s well-being could go unnoticed. Sense of Intelligence challenges this with their upcoming wearable sensors that will connect your dog to the internet to provide you with indicators of feelings, activity and health.
The Internet of Things is coming, whether you want it to or not: compute capacity is dropping in price to the point where you can justify putting networking capability in anything. Some will argue that IoT is part of the requirements for maintaining a leaner, more efficient global human civilisation under 21st-century challenges. Luckily, IT consultancy powerhouse Tieto is already here, standardising on development platforms that can make products happen in a responsible and supported manner.
Have you ever cursed at your home computer and wondered how big companies can pull off the stunt of making tens of thousands of computers and mobiles work with their own systems, at least most of the time? The answer lies in products from companies like Miradore that help IT departments in automating, collect real-time inventory of and keeping running heaps of computers. From a desktop and server management suite to a free cloud-based Mobile Device Management tool you can get started with today, Miradore has IT covered.
What do sports, retail, healthcare and security have in common? From now on, they share at least the potential for disruption through cool and novel ways to track persons and objects in different environments for analysis. With a small Bluetooth location tracking token that can be installed in everything from shopping carts to hockey pucks, Quuppa makes the presence of the Internet of Things unmissable.
Enterprise Resource Planning doesn’t sound like the type of software you’d use for fun. Well, it probably isn’t, since ERP software helps organisations plan how people and other resources are utilised, along with keeping track of what is done and how. However, FastROI specialises in mobile-ready planning solutions, especially in healthcare, daycare and social work. The company’s apps help professional helpers in fields such as home care get their work done in style while spending more time with clients and patients than filing paperwork. This isn’t just some small startup: FastROI’s software is already in use in major institutions across municipalities and private care alike all over Finland.
Have you ever thought about how your work life might be a tad less stressful without trying to fit all communication within e-mail? Well, millions of other people have, and as a result, different tools for intelligent team collaboration are growing in popularity. Joiqu puts a new spin on this approach with an interactive, cross-team workspace application oriented around project management in a direction most people probably won’t recognise as an intranet, no matter which device is in use.
Ever wondered where the sector along with public safety, medical and other critical societal functions go to buy tech gear? Well, to companies like Bittium, hopefully. Previously known as Elektrobit Corporation, Bittium offers 30 years of experience in developing specialised, secure and reliable networking and computer gear. Examples of products include hardened Android smartphones, comms secure software for these designed to work without reliance on ‘public clouds’.
Those of us who’ve ever done the switch between mobile platforms know what a mess it can be to transfer the data and crud we build up on devices throughout our digital lives. Piceasoft aims to ease this transition, allowing mobile carriers, retailers and repair shops to sell consumers exactly the phones they want by providing on-the-spot help with data transfer. Likewise, the solution can be used to ensure secure, full erasure of customer data on old phones, allowing phones to be repurposed, in an auditable manner, without comprising upcoming EU data protection requirements.
If you want to keep your information private, you’re in for quite a ride in today’s computing environment. The world is packed with bad options for cloud storage and small business or home file servers you can get, but these generally don’t pass closer inspection on the privacy and security side. Varaani provides hardware with all the file sharing capability you’d need, with a focus on keeping your data redundantly backed up and available in a minimalist ‘hybrid cloud’. Photographers with terabytes to store may be interested as well.
Thomas Nybergh is a Digital Producer and writer for Ink Tank Media. Passionate about user-centred design and culture, he’s spent a decade working at the crossroads of technology and marketing. He can be found sharing his thoughts on Twitter.
