Green Stream

What makes our solution innovative:

Remotely monitoring actual roadway flooding rather than extrapolating from tide gauges provides more actionable information for the general public and for emergency and transportation authorities. 

 Situational awareness for authorities and for the general public – where is it flooded now and how deep is it – is a giant step toward improving safety by avoiding preventable incidents, and responding effectively during flood events. 

The low cost, low footprint end-to-end solution is easy for municipalities and agencies to deploy and integrate with their systems. The end devices are easily installed anywhere and can be easily relocated.

How technology is integral to our solution:

The convergence of multiple IoT technologies makes our solution possible.

• The availability of low-cost, low-power electronics reduces the size of sensors making it possible to deploy them inconspicuously on urban infrastructure.
• Proliferation and falling cost of wireless communications allows sensors to report flood status in real-time.
• Affordable  cloud computing allows the capture, storage and reporting of sensor data in real-time. It allows development of machine-learning models that provide localized flood prediction services. 

Our solution goals over the next 12 months:

1. Be the preferred flood resilience partner for customers, environmental consultants, and the public.
2. Grow and manage a sensor/communications network in flood-prone cities and counties.
3. See evidence that our solution has helped protect property and improved safety during flood events.
4. Have a talented, engaged workforce and closely collaborating partner network.
5. Continuously improve/certify hardware, firmware and back end software.
6. Identify and monitor variables that can predict flooding.
7. Collaborate on and contribute to predictive models.
8. Have enough revenues and funding to support goals.

Our vision over the next three to five years to grow and scale our solution to affect the lives of more people:

• Build/participate in an ecosystem of organizations collaborating on R&D, data analytics, sales, marketing outreach and distribution.
• Continue to develop sensor technology to support multiple wireless communications protocols.
• Sell to national (NOAA, FEMA, USACE) and international government agencies (UNDP) to deploy large scale.
• Sell to businesses and property owners through third party dealers.
• Fund with grants and investors.
• Build and empower talent (especially tech and sales). Professionalize management.

• Use machine learning to make predictive models adaptable to local variables.

http://www.greenstream.com

The key characteristics of the populations who will benefit from our solution in the next 12 months:

• Urban
• Rural
• Suburban
• Lower
• Middle

The regions where we will be operating in the next 12 months:

• US and Canada

How we will reach and retain our customers or beneficiaries:

We target buyers by identifying government decision makers in flood prone regions. We introduce ourselves and our solution directly and through networking. Solution is pilot-tested with a small purchase.

We partner with other providers on proposals.

Beneficiaries build demand for solution with free access to the dashboard, and phone app. We will build this audience through outreach.

We retain customers by helping them build their warning systems and predictive models, working to improve their performance metrics. We work with their stakeholders. We stay in touch and help them build and publicize their success stories.

How many people we are currently serving with our solution:

We are 8 team members with diverse skill sets, all interested in the Solve challenge and opportunity to make a positive impact on the world. Some of us are entrepreneurs and want to make our living by developing this solution. Some are academic experts interested in expanding research. Some are young engineers learning and applying skills to tough world problems.  We care about environment and are pro-socially motivated to solve problems for our fellow humans. We find it rewarding to build an inexpensive technical solution to an expensive environmental problem.

How many people we will be serving with our solution in the 12 months and the next 3 years:

We aim to build a core staff of 8-10 people this year, eventually 20-30, complemented by a Business Advisory Council and wide network of partners.

The Solve challenge and our work provide an exciting opportunity to make a positive world impact. We will use people’s ideas and talents and ensure each person has a line of sight to the end results. We value learning and in this field, learning is constant. We aim to pay market rates and share success with all employees.

To achieve this, we must ensure good governance and business continuity.

How our solution team is organized:

How many people work on our solution team:

How many years we have been working on our solution:

The skills our solution team has that will enable us to attract the different resources needed to succeed and make an impact:

• Electrical Engineering – hardware & software
• Systems Engineering
• Enterprise IT systems design, develop, scaling
• Hardened Marine Systems
• Mechanical Engineering
• Software Engineering
• PhD Oceanography
• PhD Physics
• Data Analytics, Data Science, Big Data
• Machine Learning
• Business strategy and leadership
• Marketing
• B2B and B2G solution selling
• Entrepreneurial experience

Our revenue model:

Product sales in the early years help build the network. Data and communication fees accumulate and provide recurring revenue. Configuration and software services generate service income. Devices will be distributed via third parties to commercial customers. Accumulated data sets and observations will bring future revenue opportunities.

Revenue model for the next 12 months:

Product Sales:

• Sale of Sensor Devices: (ours, plus reselling third-party device within the ecosystem)
• Data Streaming Service: Recurring accumulated revenue for our devices and third-party devices , grows with network. Includes firmware updates and firmware maintenance.
• Cloud Service Licensing:  Back-office services such as event notification service and visualization service.
• Extended Warranties
• Hardware installation
• Cloud Services Setup and Enhancement
• Integration and interfacing with customer and third-party systems

Consulting Services:

• Hardware installation
• Cloud Services Setup and Enhancement
• Integration and interfacing with customer and third-party systems

Why we are applying to Solve:

We believe Solve's innovative approach and ability to bring together an important network can accelerate our solution. Funding is important, and we also hope for:

• Introductions to business mentors, advisors, customers.
• Technical assistance with sensor and communications technology advancment.
• FCC and LoRa Alliance certification
• Support identifying locations for proof-of-concept and pilot deployments.

The key barriers for our solution:

• Funding – early stage needs to accelerate team growth, build out product/service and serve customer demand. Grant funding and/or the right investors could provide much-needed help.
• Strong talent and partners for IoT product/service innovation is scarce in our region. We hope to connect with researchers/students/potential employees with strong skills.
• Lack of incubator/accelerator/mentors with knowledge of IoT technologies in our region. Help from outside could spark growth of expertise in our region.

The types of connections and partnerships we would be most interested in if we became Solvers:

• Peer-to-Peer Networking
• Organizational Mentorship
• Technology Mentorship
• Connections to the MIT campus
• Grant Funding