May, 2016
I went to Tallinn, Estonia for a week in the end of May.
There were two reasons for visiting.
First, I wanted to meet with my partner in Tallinn face-to-face to discuss details of the demo for the IoT TECH EXPO. We could have a good discussion, and have a dinner.
Second, to attend “Latitude59”, the flagship tech event of Estonia. I’m interested in the ecosystem of Estonian startups. The Estonia government has a CTO and promotes digital policy, and they use blockchain technology in their national ID system.
What I was most interested in was the work-style of Estonian startups. Most of them work remotely. Some engineers are working in the country which they want to live, it is almost a long trip.
On a personal note…I really liked tallinn restaurant Rataskaevu16. this restaurant is top of TripAdvisor.
The food is really good — traditional bread and seafood. Moreover, I was really surprised by the hospitality of the staff, so I went here twice in a week.
Takuya Beppu (RT) in conversation with Leah Stuhltrager (THE WYE)
LS: What was the conference and why was HIGH MOBILITY an exhibitor?
TB: The IoT Tech Expo is a showcase of the most cutting edge technologies from more than 100 exhibitors that also provides insight from over 200 speakers sharing their unparalleled industry knowledge and real-life experiences. This event is the leading series of global IoT events.
And the reason why we were an exhibitor is we wanted to show a new demo for the car industry experts and developers.
LS: What was it like to be an exhibitor (and not just a viewer)?
TB: We could explain our product and make a connection, actually we even met a guy from HONDA’s R&D Europe team.
LS: What was it like to talk to people who came into your booth?
TB: Most of people who came to our booth were car industry people or developers, and they really excited by our demo.
The also asked about the kind of supported platforms and security.
LS: What did you notice about the other exhibitors? (what worked well? what did not work?)
TB: I’ve noticed the trend of IoT. There were more than 100 exhibitors, and I found there were many B2B IoT solution providers — IoT means very wide range, so there are many types of opportunities in this business.
LS: What would you suggest to do even better for the next booth at a conference?
TB: To be honest with you, this demo has been a complete success.
But for one thing, I want to try improve the demo environment. This time, we used a laptop (Chromebook) and display, but it is a labor to bring these tools along.
So, I want to use a stick-type computer instead of laptop — it looks like a USB memory stick, really small and light. It makes it easy to execute a demo.