IoT Sensors for Impact
Frontier Technologies Livestreaming pilots using Internet-enabled sensors for impact delivery
Since the programme’s launch, 10 pilots have used Internet enabled sensors as part of proposed technical solutions aimed at delivering social, environmental and humanitarian impact.
On this page you’ll discover evidence, insights and stories about using this frontier tech for across diverse use cases.
Reviewing the potential of Frontier Technologies: key enablers, barriers and opportunities in three use cases
We conducted a review to understand what has been proven by Frontier Technologies pilots, on the potential for these solutions to work within different contexts, and unlock impact.
Through talking to FT pilots, as well as reviewing wider initiatives, we surfaced some of the key enablers and barriers of testing and scaling these technologies, as well as some outstanding areas of opportunity for further work. Due to the sheer diversity of sectors and use cases for which sensors are currently being deployed, we narrowed the scope of our enquiry to three key use cases:
Improving access to clean water
Disaster Risk Management (of natural disasters)
Improving agricultural productivity for smallholder farmers
You can learn more about two of these use cases by watching our short films below
What we’ve discovered about how IoT sensors are being used in International Development:
Frontier Technologies pilots (as well as other FCDO funded initiatives) have been able to validate the potential for sensors to play a catalytic role in supporting each of the use cases outlined above. However, for each the use of sensors remains at a nascent stage of scale, and significant barriers to scale remain.
Even with significant advances in sensor technology, cost and durability of devices remain a barrier to scale. Upfront capital costs act as a particular blocker, even where it’s possible to demonstrate longer term cost savings.
Sensors require a joined up approach to implementation, that looks beyond simply implementing technologies, but also towards developing and testing the business models required to support sensors at sustainable scale. Without this, issues such as effective maintenance of sensors remain a key barrier to sustainability, particularly in areas which are remote and hard to reach. As the case of eWATER demonstrates, service based approaches to implementation, where sensors are deployed as part of a wider service, aimed at addressing end user needs, can unlock the transparent and sustainable funding needed to implement and maintain sensors for impact.
User-centered approaches to designing and implementing sensor based solutions are critical if pilots are to effectively use sensors to support end-users to make real-time, real-life decisions. In particular, user centered design is required to ensure data generated by sensors is effectively translated for end users, in a format that is digestible, and informs the decisions they need to make.
Outstanding opportunities for future pilots to explore
Across the use cases explored through this research, a common thread was the potential for AI, and particularly predictive analytics to unlock catalytic value, if used effectively alongside sensor based solutions. In the case of WASH systems, natural disasters, or farming, AI shows potential for informing preventative interventions before something goes wrong (e.g. a WASH asset breaks, a disaster strikes, or inappropriate farming practice leads to soil erosion), through effective analysis of real time and historical sensor (and non-sensor) data. Testing the possibilities of AI remains at the cutting edge of IoT sensor implementation for impact.
IoT sensors can have catalytic impact, when they support decision makers to make decisions based on comprehensive real time and historical data, that otherwise would not have been available. While sensors have enabled a revolution in access to information, more work is required to deliver solutions that effectively translate data into actionable insights for decision makers. As the example of the BIPAD Portal in Nepal demonstrates, where sensors are already deployed within a given ecosystem, there’s value in innovators focussing their efforts on building solutions which can effectively join-up this data, and translate it, based on the needs of decision makers.
While many projects have started with a focus on testing IoT sensor technology, more projects need to start with a demand-led approach - where technologists work with stakeholders, such as government service providers (e.g. Ministries responsible for the provision of clean water), in order to identify their needs and challenges, before identifying how IoT sensors, and associated solutions, can be used to address these needs, and improve service provision. To date, most sensor interventions have been supply rather than demand led.
To see pilot level learning from relevant Frontier Technologies pilots, please see profiles on our website:
Using climate change scenarios to inform community-based adaptation and planning in Nepal
Machine Learning for Classifying Road Conditions in Tanzania
IoT-enabled Household Battery Distribution via Micro-Retailer Networks
Validation of Low-Cost Sensors for Optimal Insect Protein Production
Harnessing Sensor Technologies to Improve Beekeeping Productivity in South Africa
Democratising Deep-Sea Discovery for Developing Nations
For further reading on IoT for Development, see a recent report published by GSMA on their website here.