Energy management is now becoming more and more topical in the world and, particularly, in Ukraine. Meanwhile, computerized system developers continue to offer various options to simplify routine processes. This also applies to the energy management of electric devices as part of the overall concept of rational consumption of electricity.
One of such technological solutions is the Ecois.me system. The principle of the device’s operation is rather simple. You should place it near the electricity meter and connect to the Internet. The device independently finds out how much energy you consume and in what way, sends the data to the designers’ servers, where they are analyzed and displayed in real time on your smartphone or computer. In other words, if you went out of your house and forgot, for example, whether you had switched off the light, you can easily check this on your smartphone.
The idea of this project belongs to four Ukrainians – Ivan Pasichnyk, Nazar Mokrynsky, Oleksandr Diatlov, and Anton Diatlov. Eighteen months ago these guys’ idea won the Tesla Camp hackathon of energy innovations. A year later they received 80,000 euros from the German company Deutsche Telekom, and a part of the team has been developing the device for about nine months in Krakow at one of the investor’s innovation development offices.
The team recently presented Ecois.me at CeBIT, the world’s largest international exhibition in information and telecommunications technologies, in Hanover, Germany, and won the Utility Day pitch session, receiving a prize from RWE, Europe’s largest supplier of energy-saving devices.
The Day has spoken to Ivan PASICHNYK, an Ecois.me founder, about the current state of the project, the plans of putting the device into mass production, and the particularities of launching energy projects.
Ivan, would you tell us at what stage of development is the project today?
“We have decided to contact Kickstarter [website that deals with funding creative projects. – Ed.] later in April, so we are almost entirely focused on this. We made this decision because in any case we must manufacture a product for Kickstarter, and this will further motivate us to make it faster and with a higher quality.”
You won 1,011 euros at Utility Day in Hanover. It is just a token amount for a project. What is the importance of this victory?
“We went to CeBIT because public utility companies were represented there. When we only began to work, we identified these companies as our chief partners. But it is rather difficult to reach decision-makers. And we received a CeBIT prize from a company with which it is possible to make a partnership deal.
“The main thing is that we came into the spotlight, told the organizers about our designs and business proposals, and received positive signals in response. We also came to know that they were developing a system similar to ours, and, for this reason, they evinced interest in our project.
“And it is really a token award. In a certain system, it is the coded number 11. But this money allowed us to offset expenditures on participation in this exhibition. Anyway, when you are doing a startup, you have a limited amount of money which you must stretch out for as long as possible until you begin to attract investments or earn. Incidentally, this money may be a monthly remuneration for one more developer.”
Are there analogues to your system in the world?
“Naturally, we have rivals – mostly in the US. There are some European projects. Energy conservation is a very ‘hot’ topic today.
“But our device differs from most of the similar ones in that it can monitor absolutely all the appliances in an apartment or a house, whereas our rivals can only spot a certain number of devices without a pulse power unit inside. In other words, they can find out when, for example, a TV set or a phone charging unit has been switched on or off.
“On the basis of all these data, we can send a message through the attachment we have also designed. It is a warning, such as ‘you forgot to switch off the light.’ Or suppose you have children who play Xbox games – you can program the device in such a way that when the Xbox is switched on, you receive a relevant message. So, you know that your children are at home playing Xbox and you will have to check their homework in the evening.”
Is it possible to switch off the device remotely through the smartphone?
“This is in fact a task for a smart house or the Internet of Things. We are only developing an energy management system which will allow you to keep an eye on everything and receive warnings about too much energy being consumed. But we are negotiating with the developers of Internet of Things about integrating the latter into our system at a later stage. This can be, for example, smart sockets or indoor temperature control systems. They can be bought additionally and operated by means of our system.
“We planned this principle of work from the very outset because it is very difficult to cope with, say, smart houses. You may have about 100 functions, 70 percent of which you do not use but you have already paid for them. But here you can just see what and how is being utilized.”
Where will your product be on sale first of all?
“We first thought of working with Western Europe through public utility suppliers. Incidentally, negotiations are already underway. As for Kickstarter, the people from any country, who have ordered our product, will receive it after it is manufactured. Statistics shows that most of the people who order devices via Kickstarter are from the US. And when we make the first devices, we will begin to work with electric power providers in various countries, including Europe.”
And when will Ecois.me reach Ukraine?
“So far, it can be also ordered via Kickstarter. Now that we are in Ukraine, I often meet various people, tell them about what we are doing, and see their reaction. I try to find out what interests them and under what conditions this can be bought.
“In general, we are planning that, after [dealing with] Kickstarter, we will be able to manufacture the product by the end of August and begin to send it to users somewhere in the early autumn. But this is a very optimistic forecast. The end of autumn is more realistic.”
You said you are inquiring about how to “pitch” the device in Ukraine. What is needed for this and in what do the interests of Ukrainians differ from those of the European consumer?
“If you draw a comparison, you will see that you can position your project in Europe or the US as energy management with a system that will save money – only then it is a service that cares about the user and keeps him informed about changes in the electric power system.
“Ukrainians also consume a great deal of electricity, but they do not pay for it at market prices. For example, my parents spend about three dollars a month, or 36 dollars a year, on electric energy. The device will save about 9 percent. It is a little more than three dollars, while the device will cost at least 150 dollars a month. So, we should put more emphasis on the fact that this device can also offer other services to its user.”
There are a lot of initiatives in Ukraine aimed at changing the rules of the game on the market, including that of IT. What do you think should be changed first of all?
“There is a lot of work to do. Look at America again – IT is rather heavily taxed there. But, at the same time, they have an adequate ecosystem. Taxes are higher even in Poland, but there is a rule of law there. Over there, one can say: I own a company and my intellectual rights are protected. It’s not the case here. It is a major problem. Besides, the authorities keep making statements that scare away investors.
“But I don’t consider myself an expert in this field. There are a lot of experienced people in the government and parliament now, and I think they are better informed about this and know how to improve the situation.”
Then why do you think Ecois.me failed to find an investor in Ukraine?
“When we were starting, we had no connections in the energy circle and did not know where to apply to for investments. Moreover, very few worked in hardware at the time. Business accelerator investors were saying they had no expertise in hardware. They were not exactly willing to invest in what they did not know much about. The situation is changing now – there emerge people who are ready to invest.”
