Last week’s IoT13 has presented me with something of a problem: how to summarise the deluge of debate, interesting facts, novel new ideas and the occasional oddity on the stage (yes, I’m looking at your shirts, Mark). Then it struck me – surely that’s what Twitter is for?

So here it is, our pick of the days comments from Twitter (although it doesn’t seem to have adjusted to BST terribly well, rather like the weather at the moment). We’ll be posting a more detailed breakdown, session by session, as we have video and powerpoint available, but for now, here is the 27th June in your own words:

7:34    On my way to Cambridge for a day of Internet of Things! #IoT13

8:15     Extraordinarily, Jean Luc Picard has appeared at #IoT13 http://t.co/lF2PEz4dhN

8:40    Interesting stories of weekend hacks turning into actual business by @andysc: http://t.co/HfTAolrjyQ and http://t.co/BwF0xTbUR1 #iot13

8:42     Transition from “code on devices” to “tools on platforms” — @andysc #iot13

8:56     The @electricimp guys just gave @MarkLittlewood a big red klaxon. BAD NEWS. #IoT13

8:59     Nice to see @unioncy treading the fine line between ‘forking hell, Millenials’ and ‘I think I want that’. #IoT13

9:12     BT focusing on transport in East of England – good luck there mate! #iot13

9:18     Lightening round 5 minute talk at #IoT13  I can’t even order breakfast in 5 mins but apparently I got the #IoT talk out!  #GreatFun

9:41     Playing on fun energy harvesting playground toy at #IoT13 http://t.co/2NCsZqcXIT  http://t.co/6Vn8qYCNq9

10:02     #iot13 #dontmentionthestandards

10:09     Mind buzzing with ideas at #IOT13

10:20     Lovely to see a tech panel which is 75% female at #IoT13

10:25     The web became successful because it was open most of the IoT projects have a closed mindset, we need to enable bottom-up innovation#IoT13

10:28     #Smartcities don’t look like the future. In fact, they’re invisible to people #iot13 #vine #NoAffordance https://t.co/qX3pl2qgvs

10:41     Lovely Wild West analogy at the #IOT13 Smart Cities panel. Q. What should we be making right now? A. “Levi’s, shovels and picks.”

11:06     Future proofing and innovation are in conflict with each other #iot13

11:11     The last thing anyone wants to be is a network manager in their own home – Nick Hunn #Iot13

11:20     Mean time to kitchen drawer for new tools and gadgets. Engagement issues in the physical world too. Not just apps.  #iot13

11:21     Fear, self-loathing & redemption as 3 motivational narratives for consumer IoT adoption – interesting #IoT13

11:26     #iot13 make privacy simple – then I’m sure ppl will opt in

11:33     For real IoT in action, @IotShirtMonitor is monitoring the loudness of @MarkLittlewood’s shirt at #IoT13

11:37     #iot13 what a great business idea and excellent presentation – Good night lamp – http://t.co/Q5k8MCuhG5 @GNLteam

11:41     I heart chirp.io, way more fun than boring bluetooth by @animalsystems @goodmachine @ideoforms #iot13 #cute #iot http://t.co/V583FcUB4O

13:01     RT @IotShirtMonitor: Having checked the tweeted photos.  MARK your shirt is too loud. #iot13 http://t.co/DQ1V4Xf4aB

13:24     Hacker Hustler Hipster. Every startup needs all three. Great Nike visionary. #iot13

13:24     #iot13 #thankgodfornike

13:52     Good observation on #iot13 panel session: IOT will be key enabler for mass personalisation of consumer services.

13:58     RT @ajncreate: ‘Privacy, its a risk / reward tradeoff’ #IOT13

14:26     Really starting to get sick of cloud shaped logos #IoT13

14:27     Anyone want to take part in possible RedGate Down Tools IoTathon @galbraithsimon is your guy. #IoT13

15:08     Yes! An interactive audio drumkit poster! #iot13 @ Robinson College http://t.co/zuX35tALTb

15:23     Hey did I just get called a Darwinian hopeful monster? #IoT13

15:25     Really good to hear economic perspective from William Janeway putting IoT in context of marginal costs, tech bubbles and recession #iot13

15:25     RT @andysc: I wonder if #connectedmousetraps will become the new #internetfridge at #IOT13 ? 😉

15:38     if you’re on your own with a great idea, you might still be crazy… if you already have a team, less likely #IOT13

15:56     RT @MrBeautifulDodo: The “money panel” at #iot13 was brillant. Lots of insights about the start-up economic ecosystem

16:14     Interesting insights from @hfiennes   founder of @electricimp on why its a US rather than UK startup #IOT13

16:21     So the winning business model for #iot is to make it cheap enough that people don’t know they’re buying it. #IOT13

16:38     Stan Boland thinks there is a ‘super-saturated solution’ just waiting for a crystal to form (and he has a history of multi-£m exits) #iot13

16:46     at 9am we were mocking internet fridges, 5:30 and were talking about internet connected shampoo, I blame the coffee! #IoT13

Thank you all for coming and contributing to a really memorable day – if you have photos, blogs or other things to share, just get in touch and we’ll pass them along to all those who were there.

We’re already thinking about IoT14 and want to make it better. If you have views that you’d like to share with us please get in touch with Hermione@thebln.com

IoT Hero of the week.

We have a lot of time for Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino (I suggest you call her, ‘Alex’), founder of Good Night Lamp but one woman force of IoT nature. Alongside getting her startup off the ground, she runs the IoT Meetup in London, set up the Internet of People – an IoT Consultancy, appears regularly on panels advising the government and anyone else who is interested in the Internet of Things.

I think it is fair to say she probably knows more than anyone about what it is like trying to get an IoT startup off the ground and here she shares her thoughts on the IoT startup ecosystem.

What does it mean to be an IoT Startup? I particularly like the slide (page 9) about the four types of IoT startup. Many of the startups in the ecosystem haven’t worked out which type they are but it strikes us that this is the first step to getting your idea off the ground.

If you are a startup in the IoT, you should also take a look at Steve Blank’s piece on the four types of entrepreneurship:

• Small business/lifestyle entrepreneur
• Scalable startup entrepreneur
• Corporate entrepreneurship
• Social Entrepreneurship

Each class of entrepreneurship requires entirely different sets of skills and support to make it work.

Congratulations, Alex, you are our IoT hero of the week.

Look forward to seeing you at the Internet of Things Forum (#IoT13), next week, 27th June, in Cambridge.

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A few people have asked me recently who is coming to IoT13, so I thought it would be helpful to post a sample of the delegates for the day. You want to meet exciting new tech businesses? We’ve got a lot of them. Talk to some of the larger corporate players in the area? They’re coming too. Meet with investors and hear their views? They’ll be there.

Here are job titles and companies of a sample of the almost 200 attendees:

Director	3ev
General   Partner	Acacia Capital Partners
Director	Adept Communications Systems Ltd
Director	AlertMe
Partner	Amadeus Capital Partners
MD	Analysis UK
VP WW   Sales	Aria Networks
Research   Entrepreneur	ARM
Associate	Aster Capital
Principal	Balderton Capital
Technology   Correspondent	BBC
CEO	Berg
Founder	BleepBleeps
CEO	Brightmove Media
Head of   Semantic Technology	BT
Investment   Manager	Cambridge Enterprise
Founder	Chirp.io
Director	Ciseco
Head of   Technology	Clean Energy Prospector Ltd
Technical   Director	ClearViewIP Limited
CTO	Clickslide
Vice   President	Climate Change Capital
Partner	Cloudsoft Corporation
Director,   EMEA	Cogniance
CTO	Concirrus
CEO	Concirrus Ltd
CEO	Ctrl-Shift
CEO	Datownia
Partner	Delta Partners
CEO	DesignSwarm
CEO	DFJ Esprit
Strategy   Leader	Digi International
Director	Dynamic Devices
Developer	Eastpoint software
VP   Wholesale and M2M	EE
CEO	Electric Imp
VP,   product	enModus
CEO	Erlang Solutions
Co-founder   & CMO	EVRYTHNG
CTO	Ewgeco
CFO	FirstCapital
Partner	four40 Ventures
Director	General Information Systems
Founder   and CEO	Greenpeak
Partner	Gresham Private Equity
Master   inventor	IBM
Associate	Index ventures
Senior   Associate	Invoke Capital
Managing   Partner	IQ Capital
CEO	Isotera
Chairman	Leap Technologies Ltd
CEO	Libelium
Origination	Lyceum Capital Partners LLP
Director	Machina
Co-Founder   and director	Makespace
Investment   Director	Martlet Ventures
Technical   Evangelist	Microsoft
Investment   Director	MMC Ventures
Founder   & CEO	Moixa Group – Design & Energy Holdings
Policy   Advisor: Innovation, investment and growth	NESTA
Founder   & MD	Net Media Planet
CEO	Neul
Global   Director, Strategic Planning	Nike Inc
Partner	Octopus Ventures
CTO	Onzo
Prof of   Computing	Open University
Principal   Analyst	Ovum
Director,   International Sales EMEA	Participatory Culture Foundation
Founder	Playground Energy
Chairman	Plextek
Chief   Technology Officer	Progress Software
Director,   Product Management	Qualcomm
Cloud   & SMB Marketing Director	Rackspace
CEO	Red Gate Software
Editorial   Development Director	Reed Business Information
Director   of Investment	Restoration Partners
Managing   Director	Rivo Software
Global   Segment Director – Government solutions	Schneider Electric
CEO,   Creative Director, Founder	Sensory Design and Technology Ltd.
Director	Silent Sensors
VP	Silicon Valley Bank
Co-Founder	Soldersplash Labs
CEO	Stealth Education
Director	Stream Communications
Founder	TapTo
Founder	The Kernel
EMEA   Head	ThingWorx
Group   Commercial Director	TIMICO LIMITED
Partner	Trinamo
European   Director	Twilio
CEO	Twingz development
Cleantech   Sector Specialist	UKTI
Group   CTO	Ultravision
Strategy   Director	Undercurrent
Global   Director, New Business Unit	Unilever
Co-founder	Unioncy
Principal   Consultant	Virtual Technologies
Managing   Director	Warburg Pincus International LLC
IT   Service Manager	Which?

I think we can pretty much guarantee that there will be some useful and profitable networking on the day. In fact, we are so confident that you will enjoy and get full value from IoT13 that we will refund the price of your ticket if you attend and don’t feel it was worth the money.

To get the full picture of what is happening on IoT13, you can find the programme for the day on the microsite here. If you want to go straight to registration, you need our ticket site on Eventbrite here.

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We need more white men in technology. The Apps for Good Awards, June 2013.

June 11^th 2043

“We need more white men in technology and have to make more efforts to make sure that London and the South East are supported more. It is simply not fair that the technology industry is so dominated by women and the Wick technology cluster is still sucking talent from across the United Kingdom.” said a 73 year old Mark Littlewood.

“As a young man, I never thought about what was then an almost entirely male dominated industry, why should I? Everything was easy for us and it didn’t seem that strange to me at the time that so many industry events were filled with rather boring people wearing rather boring dark suits, white/blue shirts and the only possible way of being able to know where in the pecking order people were was to ask them what kind of company car they drove. Sure it was very boring but there were good times too. We used to get drunk and celebrate hitting our quarterly sales target for selling the latest piece of useless enterprise software. Unless we missed them. Unless we missed them. Then we were fired but we all knew we could walk into another sales job with another big software company because they only hired those white men with proven enterprise sales experience so it was a bit of a closed shop.

“I rebelled against the status quo, by wearing shirts that weren’t white and often went without a tie. (Remember, it wasn’t until 2019 that scientists in California were able to prove that wearing ties restricted blood flow to the brain and made men make bad decisions). Later, particularly after the birth of my daughter, I started to feel very uneasy about the whole assumption that it was only men that could write code and run technology companies. She was a super smart kid who was really into technology but didn’t understand why so many technology companies and events only had men at them. I tried to help but it was hard work.

“Today, the pendulum has swung the other way. White men are a minority, albeit not a persecuted minority as the industry seems much more accepting of anyone, regardless of background but it does worry me that the traditional doers in the technology industry are so badly represented. We need to do something.

“Looking back, the tipping point for me was an event I went to in 2013. It was held in South Cambridge, (known by many at the time as ‘TechCity’), and I went to an old car park, or church, I can’t remember exactly. There were a bunch of school kids there who were going to, ‘pitch their apps’ (remember apps!?). People I trust said they would be good but I knew they were only kids so I reminded myself they were children, not grown-ups with proper ideas and I shouldn’t be too mean to them when they rambled on about their ‘entrepreneurial journey’ and described their useless ideas about how to trick people into clicking on adverts for stupid products that no one would want. (This was a very popular idea at the time – remember, it was 30 year ago!).

“I walked into the room it was buzzing. I hadn’t even had a chance to open the event programme before I was approached by a girl offering me fashion advice. (That wasn’t unusual for me in those days, still isn’t actually though most people I know in real life gave up a long time ago). She and a bunch of her best friends had come up with an idea for an app with some great ideas for helping girls choose outfits. Charming, enthusiastic, articulate, intelligent, open, the team Dynamic App Company from Hillcrest School made a huge impression on me with their friendliness and offer of helping me to style my wardrobe. they were a bit like an intelligent, functioning, version of the Spice Girls who were doing something useful with their lives.

“Then it struck me. Women were not represented in the tech industry in any meaningful way at the time – less than 5% of VC backed companies had a female CEO for example at the time and a lot of VCs would pat themselves heartily on the back for ‘beating the average’ if they had one investment in ten with a female founder in those days. This was a room full of more girls than boys. And the girls were good. Very good. Brilliant in fact. The girls were leading the teams.”

“Normally, the protocol at that sort of event in those days is you turn up, grab a drink then hang out with a couple of other men you knew to talk about ‘deals’, the latest venture capital fund raise, your new car that sort of stuff but this was different. I don’t think I spent more than a minute speaking to anyone I already knew, I was sucked into an endless whirl of meeting amazing people who had brilliant ideas and had sat down, come up with a problem they wanted to solve and worked out how they would solve it. This was weird (the culture at the time often measured the success of an idea by how much money it made the venture capitalist that had funded it). These people were really young kids with problems. Not the sort of problems that couldn’t be solved, the sort of problems that they just matter-of-factly knew were there, worked out a way of tackling the problem and got on with it.

“It was stunning. Try as I might, I simply couldn’t talk to all of the teams. There was a queue of people who wanted to talk to them all and I missed some out. Every team I talked to left me feeling excited, happy and enthusiastic. Hopeful that some of these ideas – almost all of the ideas – would actually make the world a better place for someone.

“Did you know that some dyslexics find reading words easier if the words are in a particular colour? Neither did I till some 13 year old kids from Stratford Upon Avon explained one of the ideas behind Xcite – an app they had come up with as one of their team was dyslexic. Another team from the same school had an ace instrument tuning app. A team from Bentley Wood High School had a brilliant idea for an app that helped young carers. Nelson Thomlinson School had great ideas to help people with learning disabilities. The enthusiasm of the Westfield Junior School team who wanted to bring Manga to Britain was breathtaking.

“I remember wishing there were a couple more hours so I could talk to all the teams. Then we had to sit down and listen to the talks from the organisers, the sponsors and hear ‘pitches’ from all of the teams. They had one minute each. In the days before teleportation, this was called an elevator pitch. Lord knows I have sat through a bunch of those in my time. They are tough things to do and usually people get them totally wrong and leave you with no idea about what the ideas is. Trust me. I worked out I had seen over 5,000 pitches from companies in the previous 10 years and 90% of them left me none the wiser about what the ideas was or why it mattered. They were usually designed to be boring.

“I can honestly say that I left that evening thinking that they had given the best set of ideas presentations I had ever heard. (Not in a patronising, give them a break they are kids kind of way. In a, these guys have some serious Silicon Valley (remember that!?) hustle but are actually trying to solve problems tha people care about kind of way. Most importantly, every company described the problem they were trying to solve and the job that they wanted their app to do.

“And then there were the kids from Wick. Four teams competing across 6 categories of app. Two of their teams won their categories – it could have been more if they weren’t competing against another team from, err, Wick.

“It was only a matter of time before the industry changed. After all, even Larry Ellison, one of many technology sexists of the time with all his billions couldn’t pay to keep all those kids, (and therefore out of the technology industry Man Club), at school forever.

“I loved the idea of getting more women, more diversity into the technology industry but now things have swung too far the other way. Granted, the industry is more open, more innovative, more thoughtful, more useful to humanity but those investment obsessed white men of the 80s, 90s, and early decades of the 21^st century have a place in it too. It was inevitable that the new wave of innovators and game changers would not be white men when everyone had a chance to shine. We should support their reintegration into the technology ecosystem. They weren’t all bad.”

Apps for Good, mentors, teams and school kids, thank you, on behalf of everyone I know who wants a better world.

Some pictures from the Apps For Good Award presentation evening.

I wish I had a picture of everyone there as some of those people are stepping out to make the world a seriously better place. An inspiring and humbling evening for me and for many others. A night that would change the world of technology for good. Forever.

You can follow me on twitter if you want. Just unfollow me if I am boring or tweet too much.