Donna Galle

5/5 (1)

Most of us, if not all, have gotten to the point where we see the internet and cell service as one of our basic needs. It’s hard to imagine a life without it. Unfortunately, natural disasters can damage cell towers severely, leaving enormous areas without connectivity. That is what Hurricane Maria did to Puerto Rico, where 85% of the population is left without cell service.

“Project Loon” – Google chose this name because loon is another worth for crazy, because the idea might sound a bit odd, and it is short for Balloon.
Initially Google came up with Project Loon with the ultimate goal to provide an uninterrupted internet connection world-wide through balloons. However, the balloons can also be used to provide cell service in emergency situations like natural disasters.

This is how the balloons work:

They go to a height of 20 km in the stratosphere, a sphere where turbulence and wind speed are relatively modest compared to other spheres. The balloons travel by moving into different wind currents by ascending and descending. Using the data of NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) software algorithms determine the height at which the balloons need to float.
Under the balloon hangs a small box containing the needed components such as batteries that safe solar energy, radio aerials, and a small computer so the balloons can communicate with one and another. In order to be able the communicate with the balloons, aerials on the ground will need to be placed.
It’s not the first time project Loon has been useful in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Earlier this year the balloons proved themselves valuable in Peru, after the country was hit by heavy floodings. There is one big difference however, Project Loon was already cooperating with Telefonica in Peru and testing the Balloons there. Once the Flooding happened, the programme was scaled up quickly. In Puerto Rico however, the balloons have never been used before. Therefore I’m interested to see how fast Project Loon will be able to provide sell service in Puerto Rico again. What about you?

References:
BBC News. (2017). Alphabet balloons connect flood-hit Peru. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39944929

Sondermeijer, V. (2017). Google stuurt telecomballonnen naar Puerto Rico. [online] NRC. Available at: https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2017/10/07/google-stuurt-telecomballonnen-naar-puerto-rico-a1576398

X.company. (2017). Project Loon. [online] Available at: https://x.company/loon/

5/5 (6)

In lecture 2 we discussed companies’ ability to implement new technologies and what is needed to successfully do so. Kane, G. Et al. (2015) brought forward some very interesting insights, pointing out that shifts in corporate mind-sets in order to successfully compete in the future. However, what if a company is able to successfully implement a ground breaking technology, but the environment is not?

Yes, I am talking about companies such as Uber and Airbnb
The billion dollar ideas, building on the concept of a sharing economy. Both are among the most fastest growing start-ups in the world (Stone, B. 2017).

Their advance so quick and effective, it almost seemed as if many governments had no proper reaction up and till the point that both companies were grounded and widely used all around the world. Only now, the enormous impact of this new era of technology is becoming truly visible, especially in the big cities. The highly successful business models are disrupting industries at a very high pace. However, their impact on society goes beyond the impact they are having on specific industries. Amsterdam is slowly being swallowed up by Airbnb. Investors buying up properties to rent out on Airbnb, with permanent residents being driven away from the city centre by the over heated real-estate market (O’sullivan, F. 2016).
In London, citizens are becoming more and more dependent on Uber when it comes to transportation, with Uber having over 40.000 drivers and 3.5 million users in London alone. However, this immense increase in the use of Uber seemed to go hand in hand with increased criminal offenses and fraud in certificates (Butler, S. 2017).

Governments seem to react once the damage is done. However, since these companies have been able to operate under very loose regulations the past few years, it has become considerably difficult for government to get the situation under control. New regulations in Amsterdam haven even led to Airbnb calling for protest against the Amsterdam municipality (nos.nl, 2017). London has been left in chaos since TFL has decided not to extend Uber’s licence to operate in London last week (Butler, S. 2017).

Information technology is most probably going to give birth to many more disruptive business models. Governments should pay more attention to anticipating these business models, and accompany society with proper regulation. This is easier said than done obviously, 5 years ago who would have thought that a platform for renting out your home to complete strangers would grow to this extend.

‘Airbnb roept op tot prostest tegen gemeente Amsterdam’, NOS, 23th of May 2017,
https://nos.nl/artikel/2174631-airbnb-roept-op-tot-protest-tegen-gemeente-amsterdam.html

Butler, S., Topham, G. (2017) ‘Uber stripped of London licence due to laack of corporate responsibility’ , The Guardian, 23rd of September 2017,
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/22/uber-licence-transport-for-london-tfl

Kane, G. C., Palmer, D., Phillips, A. N., and Kiron, D. (2015). Is Your Business Ready for a Digital Future? MIT Sloan Management Review, 56(4), 37.

O’sullivan, F. (2016) ‘now London and Amsterdam Are Capping Airbnb Apartment Rentals’, Citylab, 2nd of December 2016,
https://www.citylab.com/equity/2016/12/airbnb-london-amsterdam-vacation-apartment-rental-regulations/509396/

Stone, B. (2017) ‘ The 99 Billion Idea’ , Bloomberg Businessweek, 26th of January 2017,
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2017-uber-airbnb-99-billion-idea/

Puerto Rico, there are a few balloons on it’s way….

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Is your environment ready for a digital future?

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