"Abitat SIT has 20 years of experience on Geographic Information System (GIS) and geo-coding services (geo-coding converts addresses into geographic coordinates to be placed on a map): with a turnover of more than 2 million Euros is one of the leader in the Italian market and has created the product Way!Link, addressed in the current project.
The project “One Way , Your Link!"" answers to one main issue: according to international statistics 30% of the on-line addresses referring to physical places are wrong, thus provoking confusion for postal and delivery services, people, customers, etc. Furthermore, it considers other societal challenges, which currently affect our everyday life:
- Brugmann Hospital, Brussels (BE): > 250,000 sqm , around 20 buildings ; it is difficult for the patients identifying the correct venue without asking to hospital personnel ;
- Capanna Margherita (Italy): the highest hotel in Europe (4554 m. above the level of the sea) ; according to the new National Regulation it needs to exactly specify its GPS coordination to receive a better support in case of natural catastrophes ;
- Mr. X (independent professional with a VAT number) and the company XYZ recently changed the address of their own businesses from a city centre to a technological park, with several buildings inside and with a unique civic number. As a consequence, they are not able to properly receive their posts and clients have difficulties in finding them ;
- Islands: in Karpathos, a remote Greek island, there are no street names, therefore it is difficult to find the correct places, either bar or hotel, unless they are properly registered on-line.
In the past internet had the same problems too: websites had IP coordinates which they turn to be domain name (e.g. 74.125.53.100 = google.com). Way!Link is a similar solution for physical location: a short, unique, address tag links with the users wherever they are, like a domain name for the WWW. Our tag is called GeoLink: the users put it into the system the way they want (they create the GeoLink) and the system associates the coordinates to the venue they want to reach.
The overall objective of the project are the following ones:
Patent
Through the project we want to trademark our product at EUIPO Office as well as patent our technology (EPO)
Market Study
Delivery a market research to identify the best sales strategy for the new product, with particular focus in the European Union. The aim is to identify the most effective channels to reach our clients in different countries, starting with the EU. In particular, we plan to identify which of our already existing partners are willing to support us through their network and/or direct investment.
Risk Analysis
We need to investigate different risks associated with the business plan, e.g. a)Failure to encourage the consumers to invest in the technology, b) Dissatisfaction among users and switch to competitor products, c) Higher market penetration by the major competitors.
All the technical risks are considered low to medium risk and can be managed due to the expertise of the company. Although there are currently no major competitors, this may change as success in this project will inevitably generate further interest.
Business Plan
By integrating the above-mentioned objectives in the phase 1 study, we will develop a solid business plan for the commercial exploitation of our new technology. This will include market opportunity (size, growth, needs), value proposition, commercialization strategy, IP strategy description, financial projections and further impact.
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