Arrow Electronics Boosts Collaboration between Hong Kong Startups and Mainland China Technology Industry via Internet of Things Innovations Showcase in Shenzhen

HONG KONG, CHINA - Media OutReach - March 15, 2017 -Arrow Electronics, Inc., (NYSE: ARW) today held an Internet of Things (IoT) Innovations event in Shenzhen, China to connect Hong Kong innovation startups with technology companies in China. As part of Arrow's vision of guiding and connecting innovators, entrepreneurs, customers and suppliers in the IoT design-to-production journey, the event attracted over 500 attendees from all sections of the IoT ecosystem in Hong Kong and China. 

Simon Yu, president of Arrow's components business in the Asia-Pacific region took a group photo with the startup representatives and has shared his thoughts on the ideas from them and appreciated their innovative products.

According to "Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Hong Kong and Shenzhen Report 2016-17"¹ released last month by the business school professors from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Baptist University, the entrepreneurship in Hong Kong and Shenzhen was at a 206% and 284% increase from 2009 to 2016 respectively.  The report findings indicated that both districts have the utmost potential to emerge as a key entrepreneurial innovation cluster hub.

However, the incubation of some ideas lags behind due to the limited resources of engineering expertise, as well as large-scale yet affordable production capabilities in Hong Kong.  Meanwhile, on the other side of the river, Shenzhen is not only a global mass-market electronics-manufacturing center, but also a vast electronics market for IoT consumer innovations and enterprises solutions. With its many years of experience in providing end-to-end IoT product lifecycle solutions in the APAC region, Arrow is bridging the two cities by creating a point of convergence for some of the brightest IoT startups, entrepreneurs and enterprises to advance IoT development.

"Arrow has long supported technology innovation in Hong Kong and China. Our engineering expertise and IoT industry reputation, especially in the greater China area, can definitely assist IoT startups in removing key barriers and connecting them with the ecosystem players on their road to innovation entrepreneurship and social impact," said Simon Yu, president of Arrow's components business in the Asia-Pacific region.

Arrow's IoT Innovations event provided an exchange platform for IoT businesses in China and Hong Kong to collaborate. In addition to startups and entrepreneurs, Arrow invited more than 50 local and international technology manufacturers of all sizes.  IoT solution providers and systems integrators, design houses, and global technology suppliers included Analog Devices, Cypress, Honeywell, Infineon, Intel, Nexperia, NXP, ON Semiconductor, Qualcomm, and STMicroelectronics, among others.  

During the collaboration showcase session, leaders and specialists shared their opinions on the enhancement of over 100 products and solutions presented on site, such as Heartisans, Woofaa, and Cwlinux.

Guiding IoT Startups Forward

Heartisans, a startup producing life-saving wearable devices that monitor the heart conditions of heart disease patients, is among the first to partner with Arrow. "Our key innovations are a machine learning algorithm that is capable of determining the risk of a cardiac arrest five to 10 minutes in advance, and measuring blood pressure without an inflatable cuff with pulse transit time. Arrow's engineering expertise and consultation from proof-of concept, to hardware components selection to system integration enable us to significantly reduce product development cycle time and cost.  A solution showcase like this is an incredible platform to connect us with exciting manufacturing capabilities in bringing our products to the hands of consumers," said Tim Lui the co-founder of Heartisans.

Marc Chow, whose company Woofaa is developing an indoor electronic air quality monitor that can be a part of a sensor network for wireless real-time monitoring, control, and data analysis, also shared his views on the collaboration with Arrow: "I have a building engineering environmental background but I know very little about electronics engineering.  Arrow gave us a lot of guidance on fields across wireless connectivity, sensing, systems integration, and data management and connected us with a vast network of IoT technology partners and resources.  Their support has assisted us in overcoming hardware design challenges and accelerated our product development process.  Arrow's event was an invaluable opportunity for us to engage face-to-face with some of the world's leading IoT experts and vendors and we look forward to collaborating with them on our next IoT idea," Chow showed the finished product during the presentation.

End-to-end IoT Offerings

Success in IoT takes more than innovative ideas and designs and remarkable production; it also requires a sound IoT ecosystem to further drive IoT development.  "STMicroelectronics offers a unique portfolio of everything from analog and mixed-signal components, connectivity, microcontrollers, power and energy management, and sensors to help develop applications for IoT. Combined with Arrow's end-to-end IoT capabilities and solutions, we are well positioned to help tech companies and startups create the kind of smart IoT devices that bring us a greener, safer, more convenient and enjoyable lifestyle," said Salvatore Settinieri, STMicroelectronics' vice president of Distribution for Asia-Pacific region. 

Among the latest IoT solutions and tools on showcase is Arrow-built DragonBoard™ 410c, which is based on the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 410 processor.  It is a high-performance and low-cost development board designed to support rapid software development and prototyping. It is ideal for creating embedded computing and IoT products, including next-generation robotics, cameras, medical devices, vending machines, smart buildings, digital signage and gaming consoles, among others. With the addition of IBM's Watson IoT Platform, DragonBoard 410c developers can quickly create, deploy, and manage applications in the cloud--without having to deal with any complicated, underlying infrastructure.

For more information about the event, please visithttp://iot.arrow.com/

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¹-http://www.cpr.cuhk.edu.hk/en/press_detail.php?1=1&id=2455