How Inventors and Ad Agencies Are Starting to Shape the Internet of Things’ Next Phase
In February, ad agency R/GA will launch its IoT Venture Studio UK,
a joint partnership with the British government to work with
startups through a new accelerator program in its London office.
The initiative selects companies across various IoT verticals and
provides them access to branding, technology, funding and clients.
In return, R/GA gets a glimpse at innovations in the space to
possibly integrate into clients’ efforts.
Nick Coronges, global chief technology officer at R/GA, says the
agency sees the program as a portfolio that lets it “place
some bets” across the IoT spectrum. While the companies have
not yet been announced, they’re expected to focus on
financial services, retailers and connected homes and
workplaces.
“It’s a little bit like electricity, where it’s
not so much about IoT but the different applications of it,”
Coronges says. “Now we don’t talk about electricity,
but the products that come from it. We won’t talk about IoT;
we’ll talk about the things people are building on top of
it.”