Sri Lanka’s Ape’ SmartHome system wins Eco-Innovation Award 2016

Innovative Smart Solution’s (iS2), Ape’ SmartHome system creator W.M. Jeremy Fernando was adjudged the winner of the Merrill J. Fernando Eco-Innovation Award 2016 in the Energy Prototype sector at a recently held ceremony. The award was in recognition of outstanding achievement in eco innovation and commitment to the sustainable development and growth of the energy sector in Sri Lanka.

The judging and evaluating of submissions made under the energy sector was done by Shiranee Yasaratne, Advisor, Biodiversity Sri Lanka, Dr. Nilwala Kottegoda, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and 

Prof. Ajith De Alwis from the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Moratuwa and Project Director of recently-instituted Coordinating Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation (COSTI) Sri Lanka.

“It’s truly gratifying to have our hard work and achievements rewarded as innovators thrive when the system to which they belong supports inventiveness and creativity. We have already achieved so much in the past few years and the next step is to find  business partners and commercialise this award winning technology and bring back electronic manufacturing to Sri Lanka,” Jeremy Fernando, Chief Executive and Founder of iS2 said following the recently held award ceremony. 

Dilmah Conservation, the organisers of the Merrill J. Fernando Eco-Innovation Award 2016, commenting on the Energy Prototype Award said that with the consumption of non-renewable forms of energy having resulted in a large number of serious issues such as global warming for example, the need for conserving our energy resources, discovering alternative greener energy sources, and consuming energy in a sustainable manner was critical. 

“The Merrill J. Fernando Eco-Innovation Award Energy Prototype Award thus focused on innovations with regard to energy efficiency, sustainable renewable energy and smart green technologies, with hopes of driving Sri Lanka towards a more sustainable future.”

The innovative company, iS2 manufactured the first version of the product line in 2013 in Sri Lanka and deployed them for testing in local and overseas beta sites between the period from 2013-2015 and the feed-back from both local and overseas sites has been extremely satisfactory. Use of Power Line Communication (PLC) for transmitting data has been in practice in Sri Lanka by CEB for over 40 years. However, using PLC for home and industrial automation is unique feature of the product. 

“With Ape’ SmartHome products, iS2 is able to deliver highly efficient and reliable home automation solutions to a wide market segment, which is currently limited to the effluent and super rich,” W.M. Jeremy Fernando said. “This technology could also be used by CEB/LECO for automatic meter reading and street light control systems, which will help the country as a whole to save energy by reducing wastage and managing the National Grid better.” 

Ape’ Smart product line includes touch switches and digital plug sockets with smart communication established using PLC technology. However, the product line has been designed as electronic touch switches and digital plug sockets, which could also be used without smart communication in any home or building. As a replacement of the 100 year old mechanical toggle switches and plug sockets, Ape’ electronic touch switches and digital plug sockets can be used in any new or existing hotels, homes or buildings, catering to an immerging market segment world over.

Innovative Smart Solution is an electronic design and manufacturing company, established in 2012, with the primary objective of manufacture household and industrial automation products in Sri Lanka. The core product line of iS2 is unique in the market as they are embedded with Power Line Communication (PLC) as the communication medium, compared with wired or wireless technologies. iS2 has gathered sufficient market and end-user feedback over the period of 2013-2016 and the product line has been redesigned. The prototype of the second generation product line has been completed in 2016, which is now ready for commercial manufacture. The company is presently looking for business partners to commercialise the award winning technology and bring back electronic manufacturing to Sri Lanka.