European Digitalization Foundation

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  Example: digitized Dispenser

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  Example: Heroe Area of digitized Dispenser

Inspiration

Data and information are very often available in an unstructured form, originating from different sources. Researching and locating relevant data and information can cost an immense amount of time and resources. An unclear origin of the data, storage of data in multiple locations, and data breaches lead to loss of information, as well as data privacy and security issues. The solution is a European digitisation platform that allows an easy-to-integrate, fast and cost-effective solution for the creation of digital twins for both real and virtual objects.

What it does

Each product becomes digital. It gets a unique code. This code is linked to the product visually or as an electronic signature. With this unique code, every product gets its own digital twin. All necessary or available data is linked to this digital twin. A "single point of information" is created. This digital twin can be shared with people all over the world without ownership of the data being handed over.

How I built it

We have developed a web app based on HTML, CSS, Javascript, and node.js. Bootstrap, Heroku and mustache were used as tools. We use Azure's AI services to identify the items. Speech recognition was implemented using the Web Speech API, and we used the Geolocation API to identify the location.

Completely digitised objects are transmitted to IOOT via an interface.

Challenges I ran into

All current code systems are market- or sector-specific, so it was a significant challenge to design the codes so that they are both machine-readable (e.g. with RFID chip, QR code, DataMatrix or barcode), and at the same time also human-readable (i.e. via text, voice input, braille or with sign language). In addition, we have managed to make the codes flexible for future extensions.

This is the only way to ensure that the codes work without restrictions and hurdles for everyone involved.

For the management of the digital twins and the connection of different data sources, we had to find a solution in which the data is exchanged directly between the database and the user device, in order to avoid the disadvantages and vulnerability of central databases.

To ensure that people like to use our technology, we had to make it easy to use and, above all, the process of initial recording (onboarding) had to be simple.

Our EUvsVirus challenge was, therefore, to build the most efficient, AI-supported onboarding process that solves exactly this problem and thus enables everyone involved to collect and share data quickly and efficiently.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

The solution we have developed is a fast-to-use, low-cost digitisation tool. The components of the digital twins are based on technologies and open standards for the digital linking of the offline world. The easy handling and transparent overview of the linked data save costs, time, and human resources.

We are particularly pleased that many startups and also established companies with whom we have spoken want to use our tool for new business models, and to simplify and accelerate their existing processes.

What I learned

Our interviews with potential users have demonstrated one thing: new products will only succeed in the market if they have a significant and obvious product benefit for the target group. The best technical solution is useless if haptics and ease of use are not the main focus. With these learnings, we offer users a tool with the following significant advantages:

• Very fast to use.
• Cost efficient.
• Easiest onboarding process.
• Great clarity via an integrated dashboard view of the digital product twins.
• Standardised interfaces for further processing of data.

What's next for the European Digitalization Foundation?

On the one hand, it is a technological solution that has been developed. However, in order to achieve worldwide acceptance, a standardisation of the methods used is also necessary. For this reason, Europe-wide and worldwide acceptance points must be found to support us in establishing this technology. We are looking for support from possible partners from industry, politics, and institutional providers.

Built With

• a-lot-of-coffee
• azure-cognitive-services
• bootstrap
• css
• heroku
• html
• javascript
• mustache
• node.js