ProColombia Touts Medellin-Based Ubidots in ‘Successful Cases’ Report

ProColombia – the national government’s export promotion agency – on March 16 touted Medellin-based, high-tech-sensor maker Ubidots as an outstanding example of successful international business development.

“India irrigation systems, water levels in England, and handling of intelligent lamps in Germany are some of the processes that Ubidots monitors from Medellin,” according to the latest ProColombia “Casos de Exito” report. 

“An incursion into the Internet of Things — which allows tracking of all kinds of elements from a mobile device — was the bridge for this paisa company, created by an electronic engineer and a mathematician.”

Ubidots has now “reached international success, to the point today their service is used in more than 30 countries on five continents,” according to ProColombia.

The Ubidots monitoring technology “allows decisions in real time to analyze information stored in the cloud regarding [for example] commercial trends [or] temperature or function of equipment ranging from business machinery to household appliances,” according to the agency.

“Users can configure actions or get customized reports, such as receiving a text message when the temperature of a refrigerator is above a permitted level.”

Three years ago, Ubidots approached ProColombia to “explore the possibilities and needs of the international market” for such devices.

“With ProColombia, I had the opportunity to understand the demand for new products in [commercial] ecosystems [via ProColombia-organized visits to companies in] Silicon Valley, Toronto and Montreal,” said Ubidots founder Agustin Pelaez.

Pelaez also participated in the fourth edition of MassChallenge in Boston, which in 2013 featured more than 1,500 projects from developers coming from 40 countries, according to ProColombia.

At MassChallenge, Ubidots was recognized as one of the five best innovators. “That experience allowed Ubidots to meet software developers and get the tools to adapt their product to the international market and approach customers such as IBM,” according to the agency.

“Now the company servers process more than 2 million daily data [inputs] from sensors worldwide. Technology giants including IBM and Microchip are part of the more than 3,000 registered users,” according to ProColombia.

Various hospitals employing Ubidots technology now measure temperature and relative humidity via sensors in refrigerators and also in surgical operating rooms — thus enabling quality control of medicines and blood plasma, as well as ensuring sanitary conditions, according to the agency.

Over the next three years, Ubidots aims to promote “smart lamps” in the 28 countries of the European Union; track solar eclipses; check the process of fermentation of beer; and work with a U.S.-based commercial developer of novel dog collars that permit real-time electronic tracking of wandering pets, according to the ProColombia report.