From The Inside

There’s no question that real estate in cities around the world is, well, expensive. Of all the line items impacting a business, real estate is one of the most pressing – and one over which companies often have the least amount of control.  

In 2002, a film starring a certain Tom Cruise which was based on a 1950s short story, the future was imagined as a somewhat dystopian police state that featured an extreme lack of privacy. It’s not hard to see how plots like that of Minority Report can influence how people perceive indoor “tracking” technology and what it actually entails.

From Collision to Queens University and the upcoming DC5G, our CEO James Wu has enlightened audiences across North America about how we’re dramatically changing the way indoor space is used – and the powerful benefits it brings to companies. 

Anyone who’s worked in an office can attest to the fact that meetings can sometimes be a waste of time. But as it turns out, trying to find space to even hold a meeting can be wasteful on a far greater level. Client calls that go long and delay the next meeting; three people taking up a 15-seat boardroom; unannounced issues that require private space to chat – the reasons are varied and often frustrating.

Satisfaction in any company’s product or service often boils down to one key factor: ensuring an excellent experience. Looking after all the details that lead to happy people –  while simultaneously managing deliverables and operating costs – is both tricky and critical to a company’s success. Yet knowing what and where to tweak and improve can be difficult to discern on a day-to-day basis – and relying on customer feedback alone can prolong percolating issues, or be misleading altogether.

Tech titans like Google and Apple have made significant investments in mapping and navigation. They’ve taken their expertise in location data and started applying its value to the indoors. And over the last few years a number of startups have emerged to provide insights around indoor location data - primarily in retail. All claiming to have built breakthrough solutions. But yet, indoor data isn’t ubiquitous. Adoption of indoor location to create Smart Buildings remains highly customized and consultative. 

Parades through the streets of Toronto and St. Louis brought a celebratory conclusion to the NBA and NHL seasons. While millions of basketball and hockey fans watched on screens, stadiums that hosted this stretch of playoffs welcomed sell-out crowds that streamed through their gates. 

Raj decides that today he’d like to work in the west wing of the office – it’s quieter so he can focus on a major report that’s due. Tomorrow, he plans to work near the cafe for his brainstorm session, taking advantage of the camaraderie that tends to percolate there. Later in the week, he’ll telecommute from the road while visiting clients in communities across the region.

This past week has been a blur! The global tech community had their eyes on Toronto as Collision marked its first year in our gorgeous city. Hosted at the Enercare Centre, the conference hosted the likes of Prime minister Justin Trudeau, Seth Rogan talking about Houseplant, Joseph Gordan-Levitt from HITRECORD, and more. Designed to be the perfect intersection between tech, investors, government, and media, Collision didn’t disappoint!  

For thousands of years, people have flocked to stadiums and arenas to see exciting live events, and in those thousands of years—virtually no major updates have been made. Whether an ancient Roman at the Colosseum or a loyal Cubs fan at Wrigley Field, the experience is more or less the same. You arrive at the venue, find your seat, then and watch the action in front of you unfold.

We're celebrating a very exciting milestone: the closing of our seed funding. We raised $3.2M USD from some amazing investors who see our vision to make indoor location ever-present in built spaces.  BDC Capital led this investment through their Women in Tech fund. This is one of the world's largest VC funds dedicated to women-led technology companies, and it is committed to investing $200 million over the next five years. We're excited to have their support.  Check out the press release below to find out more about our funding and how we're working with Fortune 500 companies around the world. 

 One of the questions we often get here at InnerSpace is why did we create our own sensor, why not use beacons? It’s a great question…

Companies that provide engaging workplaces are rewarded with happy, productive employees. There is no doubt that how and where we work is changing. The evolution of the modern workplace is being driven by demographics, the growing gig economy, and technology trends that are making smart buildings even smarter. Helping to push the changes forward even faster are companies we call workplace innovators. From global brands like IBM, Microsoft and LinkedIn to Alley, a leader in the emerging area of co-working office services, these organizations offer workplace solutions that lead the way in helping people to do their best work. IBM, for example, has embraced co-working and occupies an entire WeWork building in downtown Manhattan for 600 employees.

Indoor location data and IoT applications are revolutionizing how commercial real estate is managed to reduce operating costs and improve tenant experiences. The “smart buildings” of a decade ago look practically antique when compared to commercial real estate today. In the past, networked HVAC systems and single-building management systems helped lower operating costs. It was about being “green.” But nowadays, building managers and tenants expect more value from facilities management solutions.

Smart technology used inside smart buildings can eliminate wasted time and improve collaboration. But it also engages employees by providing better workplace experiences. Organizations that take productivity seriously, know smarter machines are key to unlocking greater returns from human capital. So says Michael Schrage, a prolific author on the subject of innovation and a research fellow at the MIT Sloan School’s Center for Digital Business. We agree: smart technology enables people to work smarter and more efficiently. Applied in a smart building context, it gives people tools to carve out the time and space they need for their work within a busy office setting.

How workplaces and workspaces are changing to meet the needs of a mobile, connected workforce.

PRESS RELEASE: INNERSPACE HELPS TO ELIMINATE THE WAIT!

The InnerSpace sensor is the first of its kind in the IoT/indoor location market. It captures a massive amount of data including location, positioning, and 3D data so that we can provide businesses with traffic metrics, patterns, and predictive modelling. This data - and its fancy math - mean we can use the information to fundamentally change how buildings operate and how people work.

The number of businesses undertaking Smart Building initiatives is growing. So it’s no surprise that the Smart Buildings market is expected to hit $31.74 billion by 2022. There are a multitude of benefits - driving down utility costs, reducing unused real estate foot print, improving employee productivity, and more. We’ve only just scratched the surface.

In 2017, Forbes cited this study, stating that “happy employees are 20% more productive than unhappy employees”. It further stated that stock prices of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work for" rose 14% per year from 1998 to 2005, while companies not on the list only reported a 6% increase.

Today we introduced the full InnerSpace platform - sensors, inFINITY, and workplace solutions - designed to improve business operations. Indoor location to-date, has largely been focused on wayfinding and retail marketing, but we know the technology has bigger ambitions. 

Location-based technology has played a vital role in changing the way we operate. With Google Maps and Waze, the days of people walking or driving around with paper maps are almost gone. People can travel to a foreign place or country with fewer worries about getting lost. New customers can find businesses and services anywhere in the world. Furthermore, location mapping has helped create new business models like Uber, Tinder and Pokemon Go.

You could think about labor and real estate as your highest business costs. Or, you could think of them as your biggest assets. Indoor location can unlock that potential to improve your operations and create new products and services. 

Startup life is notorious for the ups, downs and curveballs. One of the best ways we've been able to remain steadfast throughout is by working with incredible incubators. Over the last two years we've worked with 500 Startups, the IBM Innovation Space, and most recently Creative Destruction Lab. 

In December, Apple excited mobile tech enthusiasts and frequent flyers by introducing its airport navigation feature. Available for a select number of airports around the world, the solution combines maps and indoor positioning technology to show users where they are, what’s around them, and how to get where they need to go.

Indoor maps and location data has never been so in-demand. In sectors as varied as retail, health care, and warehousing and logistics, decision-makers are recognizing the incredible value this information provides. Applications include wayfinding, labour optimization, asset tracking, and more.

For those who don’t work in rescue services, it’s not always clear what to do in an emergency. But there’s one action that’s ingrained in all of us: call 911.

At InnerSpace, the applications for indoor mapping and location data never cease to amaze us. The last year was full of new discoveries—and opportunities. We’ve evolved, achieving a more complete understanding of our users and the value of our technology.

What’s the first thing you picture when you hear the words “campus dining?” For many, the answer is long line-ups and bland food.

For any company, committing to an office space is a big decision. The selection and design process demands a lot from incoming tenants. Luckily, recent innovation can simplify the steps involved.

The demand for warehouse space has exploded in recent years as eCommerce continues to grow. But it's not just about the space. Customer expectations have evolved, which means warehouses need to operate more efficiently and extend services that reflect the customer journey. Often, this means embracing innovation and establishing new processes quickly.

On the surface, the retail crisis seems relatively simple. The rise in eCommerce has eliminated the costly real estate, staffing, inventory and franchising issues that plagues brick-and-mortar stores. Analysts cite overstocking, a lack of brand loyalty, and declining foot traffic as the leading causes of declining in-store sales.  It isn’t a pretty picture.

In 1998, a group of healthcare professionals stood in front of a map of the hospital where they worked. They unspooled a ball of blue yarn, and used it to trace the path that a typical cancer patient would take to receive chemotherapy.

The merits of Slack are many. Making business decisions quickly, increasing transparency, sharing information - and building your culture. One day a great discovery was made. Our CTO Matt posted a photo of his rather large cat. This quickly devolved into a cat-sharing stream and we discovered that everyone at InnerSpace is a cat person - that's right, we're bucking the dog-friendly-startup trend and making it official. We are cat people. 

This is "Johnny." He's the InnerSpace Sensor that digitizes indoor spaces - instantly and in real-time. Using WiFi, Bluetooth, LiDAR and a variety of other technologies, when combined with our proprietary algorithms, Johnny is a powerful solution that:

Deloitte recently released their 16th edition of Predictions for the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) sectors that included their predictions for indoor navigation. As a technology company focused on cracking the code that enables this market to scale, Deloitte's thoughts are a strong proof point we are on the right track.

InnerSpace is gaining momentum to drive a fundamental shift in the way that people experience, understand, and create their indoor spaces.

We’re thrilled to let you know that InnerSpace has been selected by 500 Startups to join its next cohort. For the next few months we’ll be down in the Valley making new connections, exploring its grey matter, and enjoying the vitamin D.

InnerSpace showcased the future of commercial real estate technology with other industry leaders during the CRETech New York symposium this past Thursday evening. Event host CRETech is a information firm committed to being the best source of emerging and innovative commercial real estate technology. Over 30 technology firms attended the event hosted at One World Trade Centre, 63 floors above beautiful New York City.

The saying ‘work is something you do, rather than a place you go’ is ringing increasingly true for many of us, particularly for those who work in office-based roles in the service sector. In fact, research by the TUC based on ONS data suggests that 4.2 million of us, or 13.7% of the workforce, now regularly work from home and another 1.8 million people would like to do so given the opportunity.

We are thrilled to be part of the Plug and Play IoT and Health accelerator program in Silicon Valley and welcome you to join us on June 23 for our pitch and demo at Plug and Play's Internet of Things and Health & Wellness EXPO. We will be one of nearly 40 of the most disruptive startups in Silicon Valley.

Behind the black tarps that cover its entrance, construction workers with drills, hammers and paintbrushes in-hand work furiously to put the finishing touches on Saks Fifth Avenue’s first Canadian location.

Reposted from The Huffington Post

Imagine you could use your Smartphone to figure out where you are and search for where you want to go when you're indoors. That was the message to consumers back in 2010 when it was announced that indoor maps were arriving to our phones. 

Low capital cost, low operational cost, high location accuracy. With beacon-based indoor location, you get to pick only 2.

“Indoor location technology has been around for a while. What new problem are you solving?”

While there is a lot of spending on IOT technologies to help retailers build the stores of the future, the lack of a single, turn-key product prohibits any solution from scaling across a retail chain. That is why we still can not use our Smartphone to find products in a store despite the significant efforts by retailers to deliver this desired experience. We believe the platform that can deliver on that experience MUST be turn-key and have the flexibility to enable use-cases far in to the future.

At InnerSpace, we’re on a mission to digitize the indoor world and enrich every interaction inside. For the past year, we’ve been busy building a new platform built on our network of devices for mapping indoors. Today, we're ready to share what we've been working on!