​Markus Lampinen: Indeed, the lifetime value is one important aspect of a product. How are you maintaining your car? Are you driving it too fast, and so on and so forth. 

But then, we get into this very delicate balance as well: the data should benefit you as an individual, not the insurance company alone. At the end of the day, for example, when it comes to different types of collectibles, tracing the entire value chain (where everything came from, who actually owns it, etc.) becomes important, especially for maintaining the value and also secondary transactions. 

This fits into a broader conversation about what is authentic, especially in the digital environments powered by applied AI and deep fakes. We have Barack Obama thats now trying to sell you some skin care product. How do you know that something is authentic? 

But our focus is very much on reimagining the whole of the consumer experience using data. There are incredible applications as we move forward. For example, cars generate a lot of data. So do you as an individual. What if you could just enter into the car which already knows that, am I a five star driver today? Or that I am only a three star driver today? If you slept really poorly of if you had a little bit more than one drink…? We're not talking about sharing it anywhere, but using your own data for your own benefit. 

That’s where there's this interplay between all the data that we have and all the things around us. How can we tie them into a unique importable experience going forward? It's a very, very big theme, of course, but that's kind of something that we look at as an inevitable trend.

Alex Bond: I think people are just starting to wake up to be protective of that. I’d like to finish with one more question: what does it mean for insurance? I'm an insurance guy. What about applications for the insurance sector?

Markus Lampinen: Sure. Insurance emerged as a very clear secondary market for personal data use-cases. Let's take an example. After today’s summit here in Doha, I'm traveling to Switzerland where we're working with our partner that has a sensor embedded into both the left and the right ski boot as well as the helmet.

So you can actually get your triangulate the skier and their position to maybe help them improve. Now, performance athletes may care about the angle of tilt on their 760 turn on the mountain. But most skiers don't. 

But if you start essentially hitting this type of data on skiers, could you create individualized insurance per skier per day in dynamic conditions? Could you give them incentives to ski safer based on those? These are some things that are currently really hard to price dynamically. But if you started having this type of data, could he actually create almost like reverse marketplaces for these types of products? Could you do this on, let's say, a resort by resort basis? You can also use it as, let's say recommendations for routes on different types of ski resorts. You can also use it for insurance products as well. 

So that's been very much our foray into thinking about starting off in a very, very clear value prop for the individual, but then realizing that there's this entire ecosystem. 

Alex Bond: Markus, you've been very generous with your time. Thanks for being a guest.

Denim as a Decadent Symbol of Liberty 
​
Let’s travel back in time. During the Cold War, jeans were considered a symbol of capitalism. Denim was banned behind the iron curtain and jeans-wearers were enemies of the communist state. 

International fashion trends, however, could not be stopped at the iron curtain, and Levi’s jeans have become the most sought-after item for the youth in the East: a part of the West many of them dreamed to obtain.

One of the most famous commercials of all time was Levi’s advertisement “1984 Russia.” It told a story of a young man returning from abroad to a Soviet airport. The security personnel opened his suitcase to check for any illegal goods, but they are momentarily distracted and the man returns home with his most prized possession. The traveler would risk everything for his Levi’s.

​CES 2023

In January 2023, more than a hundred thousand participants gathered at CES to witness what’s hot in the consumer electronics market. The Prifina team, together with other technology innovators, representatives of large and small companies from all over the world, government officials and private capital investors spent four days navigating huge convention halls and testing the latest gadgets and technologies. 

Many countries had pavilions, but South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and France appeared to have the most representatives at CES 2023. As expected, CES conference halls were lit by unprecedented size screens showcased by suchLG, Sony and other companies. Automobile companies introduced their new-futuristic-autonomous-electric car models. Also, it was possible to witness how fast robotics technology is developing (e.g., one company showcased a robotic arm capable of performing dental implant operations).

One of the largest beverage companies from Japan, Suntory, introduced new technologies allowing one to insert a 3D shape into a drink that remains unchanged until it touches lips. John Deere brought an impressive tractor that appeared to have two wings, each of which had eighteen cameras that could distinguish crops from weeds and spray pesticides only in the places where the weeds grow (est. price ca. $800,000).

After having spent four days among thousands of tech companies, we, the Prifina team, have identified three main trends:
(a) sensors are coming to every aspect of our daily lives,
(b) all devices that we will use will be sensorized, and
(c) new types of AI assistants are emerging to empower individuals in various daily situations.

​Trend 1: Sensors Everywhere

The first trend is that sensors are entering every aspect of our lives. In fact, out of 3200+ technology companies, more than half had something to do with sensors - most of the exhibitors were in the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) categories. 

At CES, we saw many companies from around the world that produce the most diverse sensors for various consumer and enterprise applications. For example, the Dutch company Mantiscope presented a sensor that measures liquid content. This sensor, which is just a few millimeters in size, can detect the content of a person's sweat or other liquid (such as wine). 

South Korea had a separate pavilion where several dozen companies presented semiconductors, paper-thin flexible screens, and millimeter-sized sensors. This excellent stand reflects the South Korean government's plan to invest $500 billion in the semiconductor sector by 2030.​

Trend 2: Sensorized Products

Nowadays, the prices of electronic sensors are so low that almost all consumer products presented at CES are sensorized. In other words, it is now clear that sensors are coming into every object and device we use daily; each of us will generate more and more data. Such user-generated data will help us make better decisions in the most diverse life situations.

For example, sensors are already being integrated into materials and clothing that collect diverse biometric data - body temperature, heart rate, distance walked - and the environmental factors around us, and the location of a human or a sensorized product. Such sensorized products will soon appear everywhere - in fashion and exercise clothing, home appliances, workplaces, and public spaces.

At CES, it was also possible to see how quickly sensors and their accompanying applications are improving: consumer sensorized products (e.g., smart watches, smart rings, etc.) have integrated sensors whose accuracy is almost equivalent to medical devices used in hospitals. Competition in sensorized product markets is also heating up - during CES, there were multiple sensorized products created for every life situation.

Each sensorized product also has an application that presents certain results generated based on data collected by sensors. Often such sensorized product apps also have integrated artificial intelligence prediction models that can not only show data about a specific factual situation but also make predictions and possible future trends (e.g., how the health will evolve) and recommendations on how a person can adjust the behavior.​

​​Trend 3: Empowering Consumers With Data

With the increasing amount of consumer data, it is important to figure out how such data could be used to empower consumers in their daily lives. We witnessed that most companies showcasing at CES understand the need to create certain algorithms that create additional value from data generated by sensors. 

Many companies at the CES are creating AI solutions for specific real-life problems. Many of them were concentrated in the health-tech sector, where medical-grade sensors are implemented in consumer products that are tailored for remote patient monitoring. 

Such breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud computing open opportunities to create new applications of these technologies. At Prifina, we see that two separate consumer-grade and medical-grade product categories will merge in the near future. 

At Prifina, we also see that the real challenge - and the opportunity - is to build products and ecosystems centered around individuals. This will lead to better customer experience, deeper engagement with sensorized products, and the next era of personalization, which will be based on personal data.
​
Paths Forward

The Prifina team made a lot of meaningful connections with companies from around the world who are eager to explore Prifina’s personal data platform to improve their products by connecting more data sources. 

Adding new sensors to products around us allows us to create new experiences, such as quantifying confidence with different clothing or analyzing dehydration during exercise to optimize hydration and recovery. We are excited about this coming year and will keep you updated about some of the fascinating use cases we are working on.

More about CES from the Prifina Team:

• “CES 2023: Sensors, data and energy efficiency rule the show”
• “CES 2023 shows how technology has changed healthcare” 

The Consumer Electronics Summit will once again take place on January 5 to 8, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada and is expected to feature over 100,000 attendees over the course of a few days. The event will feature ​consumer electronics, sensors and different innovation in technology and consumer goods. 

Last year CES featured many sensorized products and we also wrote a recap from last year's event which can be found here.

At Prifina, we specialize in providing a personal data infrastructure and platform, allowing individuals to connect, collect and unlock value from their own data to create more meaningful experiences. 

Prifina makes it easy for consumer companies to add sensors and eliminates costs related to building a stand-alone data infrastructure. In Prifina's platform, the user owns the data; and Prifina makes it easier for the brands to build services and apps on user-held data. 

With Prifina, partner companies can find new opportunities to empower their customers by collaborating with us to embed a sensor into their products. As a result, individual customers can get an elevated experience utilizing data from the newly embedded sensors. 

Sensor data can also be combined with other personal data sources in the individual's Prifina account, such as sleep, activity, stress data from wearables such as FitBit, Oura ring or ambient data such as pollution, temperature or noise.

The Prifina team is excited to be on the ground at CES and explore new partnerships with companies that are pioneers in various domains of sensorization. Our team specializes in consumer value from sensor data. Together, we can empower individuals with new experiences and services.

You can connect with the Prifina by emailing paul[at]prifina[dot]com.
We look forward to seeing you at the CES!