At the end of last week, the HUB 4.0 innovation space opened in Kyiv. It is a venue that is unique in many ways: it brings together the areas needed to create and develop innovations.
Today, HUB 4.0 comprises open space and coworking areas, an education center and a conference zone, as well as the Innovation Gallery. During the opening ceremony, 10 Ukrainian developments were presented at the venue. Among them was SKBX, a personal server for storing terabytes of information.
IoT projects were given a special place. The Helko dumbbell will "keep an eye" on your workout and share your progress on social media, the DiGi24 device is designed to control a smart home, and the Titanovo genetic panel will decode your DNA and "tell" your coffee machine how much caffeine is safe for your heart. Also on show were a concept for a servo-driven recumbent bike, the UniExo robotic exoskeleton, the LucidCatcher gadget for lucid dreaming, the Onipko rotor wind turbine, the SafeBand "smart" bracelet and the Boteon robotic watch.
The creators of HUB 4.0 describe supporting and promoting high-tech developments as perhaps their main mission. The space is named by analogy with Industrie 4.0, the European concept of the future, which is built on cyber-physical systems and the "Internet of Things" integrated into both manufacturing and our everyday lives.
"Humanity has gone through three industrial revolutions: steam engines, the first electricity, and computers and the internet. Today the world has begun the transition to the era of intelligent systems. A little more time will pass, and concepts such as the 'Internet of Things' and 'machine-to-machine communication' will become commonplace. Amid the rapid development of high technology, it is important not to forget to improve ourselves — our knowledge and capabilities. We believe HUB 4.0 will become a place where innovations and new ideas are born," says one of the project's creators, Honored Economist of Ukraine Kateryna Yurchenko.
Cybersecurity in such a world is like a lock on the front door. "It is a key business process, just as important as finance and sales. Especially in an era when engineers have become criminals and cyber espionage targets not only systems but each of us. Our main tools for fighting back are awareness and continuous learning," says guest lecturer Michael Goedeker, founder of the German company Auxilium Cyber Security GmbH.
At the HUB 4.0 education center, the project's creators promise a rich program of lectures and seminars based on proprietary and licensed curricula. The center of intelligence and knowledge is located next to the conference zone, on the third floor. Here, at the opening, we were greeted by five Einsteins — counting the mural on the wall. Four of them gave us a tour of the space.
In numbers, HUB 4.0 is 1,500 m², 4 coworking spaces, 3 conference rooms and six months of non-stop work to bring the idea to life. There is also a business incubator where startups will be developed. It will open in February 2016.
"We have created a space for professional growth and for keeping knowledge up to date. The creative and intellectual potential of the capital will be concentrated here, and innovation will start to develop. After all, HUB 4.0 is above all about people who are already changing the future today. A tremendous amount of effort, energy and intellect has been invested. But what residents see now is only the first stage of what we have planned. Step by step, HUB 4.0 will be filled with new achievements from the high-tech world in order to create a platform for developing innovations and a comfortable workplace for residents," said project creator Valeriy Omelchenko, chair of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine's Committee on Informatization and IT of the 7th convocation.
According to Yuriy Syvytsky, a member of the board of the IT consortium Intecracy Group, who also attended the opening, the main value of HUB 4.0 and of the coworking spaces already operating in Kyiv lies in the opportunities they offer for quality networking for business and for implementing projects. The ceremony ended with the symbolic starting of a clock that will record the new history of creating and developing innovations.
Source: AIN.UA