Mission
Acute Technology intends its products to become the preferred solution for the smart-grid industry globally to address data security and privacy challenges and demand for value-added services, such as telehealth.
Opportunity
The global energy sector is digitising. The smart grid market has a five-year CAGR of 23%, reaching $16b in 2015. Drivers include increasing demand, climate change, legislation, increasing fuel prices and energy security. Energy retailers, and laterally distribution network operators, are undergoing a revolution and require new services for attraction, retention of customers and to create new revenue streams. Ageing populations with long-term health conditions has created a demand for such new services. But networking the smart grid poses security problem that need solutions. Smart meters pose privacy problems that need to be resolved. Between 2014 and 2020 the UK smart meter programme will roll out a ubiquitous, always-on network into every home in the country (26m domestic communications hubs). This will include a wireless home area network (HAN) that can be reused for value-added services, such as telehealth. The UK has a comparatively high-quality process but stakeholders need help addressing data security and privacy and delivering value-added services. The UK will become a template for Europe with four of the big-six UK utilities being European owned.
Profile
Founded in 2005 and privately funded. Acute Technology applies smart card technology to new domains such as energy, health and transport. Project Hydra is a collaborative R&D project in the area of telehealth and smart meters. The project has two objectives 1. Demonstrate how the smart meter telecommunication channel can be used to move data from personal health devices in the home and 2. Demonstrate how smart card technology can be reused to provide the necessary privacy and security in smart meter systems. The Trusted Driver Project uses smart card technology to deliver privacy in pay-as-you-drive road pricing. Instead of exporting location data from the vehicle to a central server, the road pricing charge is calculated within the vehicle, using Java Card software running on a secure microcontroller.