Homes and
other properties contain an increasing number of IoT sensors and smart devices
that provide data relating to their environment. Cozify wanted to demonstrate
how that data could be used to create comfortable indoor conditions for people,
and save money while doing so.
Cozify is a Finnish startup that develops hardware and software for smart homes and buildings. Their flagship product, Cozify Hub, is a wireless consumer appliance that connects smart devices supplied by various manufacturers into a unified whole. For professional use, the company recently launched Cozify Pro—an advanced version of the hub.
“We see
ourselves as an IoT platform company,” says Kimmo Ruotoistenmäki, the CEO and co-founder of Cozify. “Our
strength is that we are standard-neutral, aiming to connect with any
conceivable smart device out there. The system is easy to set up, even for a non-professional.
Furthermore, you can build your own smart applications on top of our platform
and make use of real time data from different systems.”
From Smart Homes to Smart
Buildings
Cozify does
not limit itself to consumer applications. First apartment houses were Cozified
in 2016. Also, Senate Properties, the Finnish government’s corporate real estate
company, has used their expertise on smart building projects. The experience
encouraged Cozify to start a new experiment, with partial funding from the governmental
KIRA-digi program, in May 2018.
The experimentation
project, called “Real Time Use of Data Produced by Properties,” took place in
an existing office building in Kuopio, a town in central Finland. The
Kallanranta building houses offices used by Senate Properties and a few other
tenants.
The
hypothesis of the experiment was that real-time IoT and building automation data
can be used to control old heating and ventilation systems to create optimal
indoor conditions for users. Many old building systems cannot adapt to varying
user needs. For example, they have timers that turn the ventilation on and off
at predetermined hours, and not when the premises are actually in use.
Another big
problem with building-related systems is that they are separate entities that
don’t communicate with each other. A conference room or hotel room reservation
software knows when spaces are occupied and by how many people, but that
information remains within those systems. Recent cost-effective IoT devices can
provide real-time data, but don’t connect easily with legacy systems.
Enhancing User and Owner
Value by Integration on Sensors
Cozify
installed new IoT sensors at the Kallanranta office. On their platform, they
integrated the sensors for a conference room reservation system with those for existing
HVAC systems. As a result, when a certain conference room was in use, the
indoor quality was ideal for the number of people in the room. The temperature
and lighting could also be optimized accordingly.
“We had no
doubts whatsoever about our technology,” Ruotoistenmäki assures. “We got help
from Granlund, an energy specialist, on how to interpret the data that we
collected. We have also teamed up with Platform of Trust, a company that
connects built environment data providers and data users.”
The experimentation
turned out to be a success. The office users enjoy comfortable workplace
conditions. In addition, the experiment corroborated what the company already knew
from earlier projects: heating and cooling costs would be reduced as a result
of adjustments made with real-time data. The experiment still continues and may
be expanded based on the data gathered in the following months. Moreover, the technology
is not restricted to heating or ventilation. It enables solutions that require both
controlling and monitoring of existing building automation systems, IoT devices
and other back end systems.
Going Global
Cozify has collaborated
with banking and insurance companies in Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland,
and the UK. During a recent KIRA-digi visit to Singapore, the company’s
platform attracted the attention of potential partners. As a result, Cozify has
started a development project aimed at the real-time and predictive control of
ventilation and cooling in tropical climates. The system will control existing
chillers with data from sensors, weather forecasts, and other sources. The ROI
of the solution will be substantial.
“Our
solution is very cost-effective to deploy and maintain: up to 90 percent more affordable
than traditional competing systems,” says Ruotoistenmäki. “The user can set up
and control Cozify with a mobile device. For large properties, we offer
browser-based software. However, our goal is total automation in which you
don’t need a dedicated user interface. The building itself is the user
interface.”
For more information, send email to
kimmo(at)cozify.fi.
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