California’s Kii inks MoU with Government of Andhra Pradesh to accelerate IoT

BENGALURU: Kii, the California and Japan located Internet of Things (IoT) Solution Enablement Platform provider, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of the State of Andhra Pradesh (AP) in India in a multi-pronged effort to primarily enable development of local IoT ecosystem, both in terms of current innovation as well as in terms future IoT talent supply. The association will also enable adoption of IoT driven smart buildings, smart villages and smart cities initiatives across the state.

The MoU between Kii and the State of AP was signed on July 20, 2016 in Vijayawada in presence of the Minister of Information Technology and Communications of the State of AP, Palle Raghunatha Reddy, and other dignitaries including Masanari Arai, CEO of Kii, J A Chowdary, Special Chief Secretary and IT Advisor to Chandra Babu Naidu, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

The MoU lays out collaboration between Kii and the State of Andhra Pradesh in the following key areas:

Smart Buildings: Kii will help enable the State of AP start adopting IoT in the Smart Buildings context, starting with the International Institute of Digital Technology (IIDT) buildings in the City of Tirupati. The collaboration is expected to roll out to other public buildings going forward, beyond the IIDT buildings.

IoT Centers of Excellence (CoE): Kii will set up IoT Centers of Excellence (CoE) in the cities of Visakhapatnam and Tirupati. The CoE in Visakhapatnam is geared towards enabling the local startup and IoT community on the innovation front – and the CoE in Tirupati to be set up at IIDT is geared towards doing the same, especially for the strong academic community in the city. Kii's CoE at IIDT in particular enables IIDT students in the IoT track to get real world hands on experience with platforms, technologies, best practices and solutions, preparing the students to hit the ground running upon graduation, thus enabling a steady supply of IoT expertise for the state of AP. Both the CoEs feature Kii's platform as well as several IoT solutions, devices and applications, along with expert help to expedite IoT best practices enablement.

Smart Cities and Smart Rural Pilots: Kii will work with the State of AP and different city and rural municipalities, including Visakhapatnam and Tirupati, to execute smart city pilots in areas such as smart agriculture, smart energy and beyond, driven by the unique requirements and demands seen in the state of AP.

The MoU between Kii (a Japanese Corporation) and the state of AP also aligns in the broader context of the Japan Government's interest and commitment of support in social and economic development of Andhra Pradesh.

Commenting on this MoU, Nara Chandra Babu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, said, “The Internet of Things is a key enabler for the Digital Andhra Pradesh vision and I believe that for the state of Andhra Pradesh to lead digital transformation, we need to act on both near-term and long term initiatives. I am happy that Kii as a partner is helping us on both fronts.”

Miyake Yasujiro, Counselor, Embassy of Japan in India, said, “We're pleased with the partnership between Kii and the State of AP on the IoT front, since it demonstrates further collaboration from Japan regarding our commitment to contribute in social and economic development of the State of Andhra Pradesh as well as India as a whole.”

Masanari Arai, CEO and Co-Founder of Kii, said, “We're excited and honored to support Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu'svision of digital transformation of Andhra Pradesh. We truly believe that our technology and investment will help bring sustainable IoT based innovation to AP, with smart building and smart city initiatives delivering results for today and the CoEs enabling results for tomorrow.”