QIAN WANG INTRODUCES THE ENERGY DASHBOARD AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT OF MPC GEOTABS TECHNOLOGY

I am Qian Wang, I joined the hybridGEOTABS project in February 2016 as a research specialist at Uponor after my PhD in KTH Royal Institute of Technology. My research focuses on Low-temperature heating and High-temperature cooling technology. In current hybridgeotabs project, I am exploring the business model development in different European countries, as an approach for promoting the MPC GEOTABS for different buildings typologies. The approach assesses the strategies from both technical and business perspectives for future large-scale implementation and optimal design/installation of hybridGEOTABS system. One of the aims of the hybridGEOTABS project is to design an innovative Energy Dashboard (ED) and implement a prototype in a cloud-based loT (Internet of Things) platform for GEOTABS.

The Energy Dashboard incorporates measurement and sensor data from the individual modules, algorithms for performance evaluation, monitoring and diagnostics, and a user interface for providing the information to user segments. The prototype dashboard will be developed on an existing commercially available IoT platform that can be easily commercialized and adapted in the future for other building applications and communication applications.

The approach starts by identifying the end users/customer segments of the Energy Dashboard. Three key segments were identified: residents, energy managers and public owners.  The approach was initiated by an innovative method that engaging the users and crowd the co-creation process, namely open innovation. The co-creation process comprises certain strategies, such as gamifications, voting and crowd reaching, in order to get maximum feedbacks and fulfil the gaps between market needs and current Energy Dashboard solutions. Some key outputs of this process were presented in the images above.

Another part that we are exploring involves investigating the conceptual framework and generation of business models for MPC GEOTABS technology. The investigations are done by compiling technical, political, economic, social and environmental analytical frameworks of MPC Geo-TABS [1]. The key elements of the business model Canvas are identified and analyzed in this application. Theoretical bases of business model generation are verified by substantiating arguments and potential profit analysis for stakeholders via four demonstration buildings. The focused building types/cases involve office building, schools, elder-care houses and multi-family house. Methods to verify the proposed value propositions in the business model are given special interests. The pilot results provide an early-stage guidance and added value for the future large-scale commercialisation in EU building market.