These past few days eSmart Systems have had several high profiled visits. The Prime Minister of Norway, Erna Solberg, and Minister of Research and Higher Education, Iselin Nybø, visited the Simulation Center in Halden May 28^th. This was followed by a visit from Norway’s first Minister of Digitalisation, Nikolai Astrup, June 3^rd.

The main objective for their trip to Halden was to gain a better understanding of the many innovative projects concerning smart energy, digitalisation and AI.  

The Minster of Digitalisation did also attend the opening of Institute for Energy Technology’s new cybersecurity and digitalisation lab.  Read more about Institute for Energy Technology (IFE).  

Key to success 

The Ministers received a brief introduction to eSmart Systems, Smart Innovation Norway and Nordic Media Lab. They got to experience first-hand applied AI by testing the Connected Drone product demo, which also included how eSmart Systems train machine learning algorithms using simulation.

Innovation is the future  

It is clear that the innovative work and solutions developed in Halden are fully in line with the Governments aspirations.

During this year’s Conservative Party Conference speech, the Prime Minster gave a special mention to eSmart Systems and Smart Innovations Norway’s innovative efforts. Watch video here.  

Read more eSmart news here.

eSmart Systems recently launched a new app called Mobile Ground Station (MGS). The app allows utilities to use their own DJI drones, collect inspection data and have it analyzed in the Connected Drone software.

MGS has been tested for the past 9 months with various customers, and the launch is linked to the major upgrade on the Connected Drone software (version 2.1).

I am very enthusiastic about this – in the Connected Drone software the users may follow drone operations in real time.  If you have one or even several drones flying you can sit at your office and monitor the operation in real time

says Lie

Imagine that you have an outage scenario and need to coordinate the efforts out in the field with the operation center. You can start the desktop client and as soon as one of the drone operators starts a mission in the app you will see where the drone is. When they take pictures, you will instantly have those ready and analyzed in the desktop client. We believe that this will reduce the time it takes to identify outages significantly

Lie continues

Typical use cases

According to Lie, the typical user of MGS is related to how the utilities operate. Some utilities fly drones themselves; others use external drone operators. MGS support both these set ups. The two typical use cases for the app are planned powerline inspections and field workers searching and trying to identify the cause of an outage.

An added benefit of using Connected Drone is the product’s ability to strengthen the Utilities’ knowledge about the various components on their assets. eSmart Systems works with operators both in Europe and in the US, and the usage scenario is the same – you install the app on your device, and with a DJI drone you can use the app to effectively collect data. 

How to get started?

The app is a part of the Connected Drone software. Customers can download the app from Apple’s app store and notify eSmart Systems who will setup a user.

Thursday April 25, eSmart Systems signed a letter of intent with the United Nations Smart Sustainable City Network to establish Northern Europe’s first United Smart Sustainable City Lab (USSC Lab).

eSmart Systems was one of 11 players signing the agreement, and the main program objective is to promote sustainable development and projects in cities at a global level, supporting cities in transition and developing countries to develop smarter and more sustainable urban solutions. In Norway, the USSC lab will be in Ålesund, at the Offshore Simulator Centre at Campus Ålesund.

Envision a future of sustainable societies

eSmart Systems has also joined the United Smart Cities Program, which is a program based on the core values from the UN’s sustainability goals.

In addition to public actors and innovation environments, private sector partnerships are key elements of the United Smart Cities Program. According to UN, United Smart Cities has initiated and developed an extensive pool of companies (covering 12 sectors) to support participating cities in discussions of applicable and smart technology and to support in the development of projects.

In addition to eSmart Systems, these 10 players signed the letter of intent, April 25:

Sparebanken Møre, ÅKP, NTNU in Ålesund, Norwegian Maritime Competence Center, SINTEF, Offshore Simulator Center, Next Digital, TAFJORD, Smart Innovation Norway, Møre og Romsdal county municipality.

For the third year in a row Abelia and the Norwegian tech network ODA has listed Norway’s 50 most successful tech women on the International Women’s Day (IWD), March 8. This year, as in previous years, we can find an eSmarter on the list.  Our very own Chief Operating Officer, Tina Skagen.

I am proud to be named on of Norway’s top 50 tech women again this year. I want to share this with all my colleagues in eSmart Systems, both men and women. Diversity is a driver for innovation, and the diverse, dedicated and driven team at eSmart is what makes us a great company in every sense

said Skagen

Role models in the tech industry

Haugli and Næss believe that increased recruitment of both women and men to technology professions requires three things: Good role models, development opportunities and a good working environment. He also believes that good gender balance has an effect on the bottom line, in that it makes the company more attractive in the labor market and in that diversity internally increases the possibilities of adapting solutions to a multitude of customers externally.

The 75 employees in eSmart Systems represent 11 nationalities. 21 % are women. The company has a wide span in age, industry experience and educational background.

Research proves that diverse teams come up with better solutions. With the challenges our world faces today we need the best solutions. It is true for eSmart Systems as a company and the competitive edge of our solutions, and it is true for our society and planet

said Skagen

About Tina Skagen

Tina holds a M.Sc. in Strategy and Management from Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. In 2008, she completed the Norwegian Entrepreneurship Program in Boston as a part of her master’s degree. In 2015, she participated in the program Innovation Management in a Global Business Perspective at the Norwegian Business School. Over the past years, Tina has held positions as Business Controller and Project Manager at different Norwegian corporations.

In February, eSmart Systems was accepted for the INVIDIA Inception program. The program propels AI startups with powerful GPU tools, tech and deep learning expertise.

The Inception program it’s a virtual accelerator program that helps startups during critical stages of product development, prototyping and deployment. Every startup gets a custom set of ongoing benefits, from hardware grants and marketing support to training with deep learning experts.

Being part of the program gives eSmart Systems access to NVIDIA’s global ecosystem – a network of deep learning experts and thought leaders. The deep learning community is using GPU-accelerated platforms for training and inference, and Inception members can get early access to state-of-the-art technology and try out the latest software.

On February 13, Tina Skagen, COO of eSmart Systems had the honor of giving a presentation at the Norwegian government’s summit on higher education and job relevance.

The background for the summit is a parliamentary report initiated by the government on job relevance in higher education. In the meeting, both SME’s and large corporations were represented, as well as universities and colleges and policy makers.

This was a great arena to talk about the importance of a strong relationship between the business community and universities, and how it impacts Norwegian companies’ competitiveness internationally

said Skagen

Her presentation focused on the importance of talented graduates and a continuous innovation ability for Norwegian companies to create and retain a competitive advantage in an international arena.

eSmart Systems is an AI company. We need graduates with expertise in AI, but also candidates with combined knowledge of energy-specific domains and machine learning. Increased flexibility in the education that allows more interdisciplinarity on masters, for example, we believe is something that will contribute to the master students’ relevance in working life

said Skagen

During the summit, Skagen seized the opportunity to invite Minister of Digitization Nikolai Astrup to Halden.

We would like to showcase the unique environment in Halden with eSmart Systems and the business cluster NCE Smart Energy Markets. We believe that this will be of great interest to Norway’s Minister of Digitization in the important work he will do for Norway in this field

said Skagen

Austin, Texas, January 28, 2020 – eSmart Systems, Xcel Energy and EDM International announce the first phase of a strategic initiative to deploy AI-based Collaborative Intelligence for 3,300 miles of Xcel’s transmission lines to dramatically improve inspection processes with the goals of improving asset information, reducing operational costs, decreasing failure rates, and extending asset life.

The Collaborative Intelligence approach will allow Xcel to adopt eSmart’s AI-based analytics into their existing business processes, to analyze imagery data of transmission assets collected by Xcel’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and manned helicopters and validated by EDM’s subject matter experts, to prioritize transmission line operations, identify defects, and update asset information in Xcel’s asset management systems.

Collaborative Intelligence

The Collaborative Intelligence approach efficiently and reliably combines the human intelligence of EDM’s T&D subject matter experts with AI-based analytics by eSmart Systems to analyze aerial images captured by Unmanned Aircraft Systems and manned helicopters. This project is seen as a key linchpin transitioning from today’s manual grid inspection practices to a process that uses the optimal combination of humans, AI and aerial images to more efficiently inspect grid systems, reduce failure rates, and extend asset life.

Xcel Energy’s work on unmanned aircraft systems with our numerous partners demonstrates that collaboration benefits customers, the economy and the environment,” said Kent Larson, Executive Vice President and Group President of Operations for Xcel Energy. “Our company is an industry leader in using UAS technologies for transmission and distribution line inspections. We look forward to working with eSmart Systems and EDM to improve the safety and reliability of the energy grid.

Read also:

• Meet eSmart Systems at DistribuTECH 2020
• eSmart Systems Strengthens North American Team
• eSmart Systems secures USD 34 million investment for international expansion

eSmart Systems today announced a successful capital raise of 18 MUSD. Equinor Energy Ventures leads the round joined by Nysnø Climate Investments (Norwegian sovereign wealth fund) and existing eSmart shareholders, including Kongsberg Digital.

eSmart Systems is a pioneer in developing AI-products based on machine learning technology that automatically identifies and extracts relevant information from image and IoT-device sources.  This includes, for example, power grid infrastructure inspections with automatic detection of grid anomalies and peak load predictions based on smart meter data.

Positioned for international expansion 

The funding provides substantial strength to accelerate development of eSmart’s AI-technologies and their application to the energy industry. A potential second closing will be considered.

For the last 4 years, eSmart has worked intensively to develop applied AI for the energy industry based on its industrial-grade, scalable cloud AI-architecture.

ABOUT 

ESMART SYSTEMS. eSmart Systems provides AI driven software solutions to the energy industry and service providers. Their cloud born platform is designed to handle and exploit IoT, Big Data and Analytics in real time. Among eSmart Systems’ customers are the world’s leading transmission and distribution system companies in Europe and US, as well as prominent utilities and energy retailers.

EQUINOR ENERGY VENTURES. Equinor’s 200 MUSD venture capital fund was launched in February 2016. With a team in both Europe and North America and a long term approach, the fund is dedicated to investing up to 20 MUSD in attractive and ambitious growth companies in renewable and low carbon energy technologies, supporting Equinor’s strategy of growth in new energy solutions.

NYSNØ. The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund geared toward climate investments is set up as a commercial company that invests in technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Nysnø invests alongside private investors looking for profitable, climate friendly investments.  Established in December 2017, by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries, Nysnø´s investment mandate is described in the national budget for 2018. Nysnø is based in Stavanger, Norway and has been operational since mid-2018.

KONGSBERG DIGITAL. Kongsberg Digital is a provider of next-generation software and digital solutions to customers within maritime, oil and gas, and renewables and utilities. The company consists of more than 500 software experts with leading competence within the internet of things, smart data, artificial intelligence, maritime simulation, automation and autonomous operations. Kongsberg Digital is subsidiary of KONGSBERG (OSE-ticker: KOG), an international, knowledge based group delivering high-technology systems and solutions to clients within the oil and gas industry, subsea, merchant marine, defence and aerospace. KONGSBERG has 7.000 employees located in more than 25 countries, creating a total revenue of NOK 14.5 billion in 2017.

ADVISORS

To eSmart Systems:

• Financial Advisor: DNB Markets
• Legal: Advokatfirmaet CLP DA

To Equinor Energy Ventures and Nysno:

• Financial and tax due diligence: Deloitte – Nikolai Maldan
• Legal due diligence and negotiation: Haavind – Kjetil Hardeng and Andreas Vik.

To KDI:

• Legal: Thommesen

Dang Ha The Hien, Data Scientist at eSmart Systems, defended his PhD degree at the University of Oslo, Department of Informatics, November 23^rd, 2018.

The thesis “Big Data Analytics for the Future Energy Systems” provides a deeper understanding of the current power grid system, its transition to the smart grid, and the role of big data analytics in the process.  After a well-executed dissertation in Oslo, Hien was congratulated by colleagues from eSmart Systems and representatives from the university.

About the the thesis

Big data Analytics for the Future Energy System

We are living in a world that is being shaped by algorithms, especially learning ones. Every one of us is experiencing the ever-increasing influence of learning algorithms on our daily behavior. For instance, 35% of Amazon product sales results from its recommender system, 75% of viewer activity in Netflix is driven by its recommendation engine, 70% of all trades in American markets is the result of algorithmic trading, and 40% of the prices of the 10,000 top products on Amazon is determined by a pricing engine that learns to set the product price based on customer demand, competitors prices, and other factors. The world will continue to be transformed by programs that are not written by us, but by learning machines that are trained on Big Data. With the appearance of these big data technologies, together with the recent development in networking infrastructure and sensor technologies, the human society is potentially witnessing the most significant change in the electricity value chain since its beginnings: the emergence of the future energy system, or better known as the smart grid.

This thesis provides a deeper understanding of the current power grid system, its transition to the smart grid, and the role of big data analytics in the process. By showing that the amount of data generated by a household in a smart grid is roughly equivalent to a Facebook user, or 0.3MB per day, the thesis emphasizes the big data challenge as well as how big data technology is needed to fuel the organic growth of a smart grid. This recognition leads to the proposal of Graph of Virtual Actors, a Big Data Analytics architecture for IoT (Internet of Thing) applications like smart grid. Furthermore, to demonstrate the potential of applying big data technologies in smart grid, the thesis proposes and experiments various novel and effective methods for automatic short-term load forecasting and automatic consumers segmentation.

Facts

• Faculty: Mathematics and Natural Sciences
• Department: Informatics
• Area of Expertise: Data Analytics – Machine Learning
• Supervisors: 
  • Professor Olaf Owe, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo
  • Associate Professor Jan Roland Olsson, Østfold University College

The Faculty of Economics and Management at University of Oslo has appointed the following adjudication committee to evaluate the thesis:

• Professor Erik Dahlquist, Mälardalen University, Sweden
• Professor Mohan Lal Kolhe, University of Agder, Norway
• Senior Researcher Lizeth Tapia Tarifa, Department of informatics, University of Oslo

Read more at www.uio.no