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IOT firm PAQSmarks the dawn of a new age pioneering futuristic solutions for managing the environment in India
IOT firm PAQSmarks the dawn of a new age pioneering futuristic solutions for managing the environment in India
Amidst near lethal levels of pollution in air, people are clueless about what can they do to protect themselves and their loved ones from the invisible killer surrounding them.
They can only dream of having a personal air envelope, a safe zone as it were; and the air conditioner, the air purifier or even the ubiquitous fan, all operating through IoT to maintain this protective air envelope as you move from one room to another.
Or stepping outdoors, they can only imagine that an app could guide them through the city so they can be at the least polluted areas, at the least polluted time.
An app that would help them decide the best time and place for their child's picnic or birthday party; and even help them find the least polluted park for their parents to walk in. An app that would send alerts and advisories whenever the quality of air exceeds the limits of their personal preferences.
Thanks to the pioneering work done by a technology start up – Personal Air Quality Systems Pvt Ltd – PAQS, this power to manage the air you breathe is already here.
Born of the inescapable truth that 'Air pollution impacts health', PAQS chose the technology route to mitigate the impact of air pollution. The vision of creating the finest hyper local data network, with accurate and reliable measurement is the cornerstone of the PAQS' solution.
This data is worked upon to generate meaningful and actionable insights; enabling PAQS to develop pollution forecasting models.
With this information, civic authorities and municipalities, urban city planners, health care professionals or even a concerned parent can use this information at a city level to reduce pollution or at a personal level to plan a family outing.
Why is this of importance now? News of air pollution is dominating the headlines, the world over. India alone is home to 10 of the top 20 most polluted cities. A recent reportcites a staggering 2.5 million deaths in 2015 linked to air pollution in India; the country contributes 1 in 4 pollution deaths worldwide.
The silent killer was found to be the main cause of deaths due to heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Air-pollution linked deaths encompass deaths due to ambient air pollution (outdoor air pollution comprising of gases and particulate matter), household air pollution; and deaths as a result of ambient ozone.
Elaborating on the number of deaths in India, the report revealed the number of deaths in India from ambient air pollution was 1.09 million, while deaths from household air pollution from solid fuels were 0.97 million.
PAQS was founded in 2013 with a vision of "empowering individuals and masses through technological convergence of mobility, wearable gadgets, cloud computing and analytics in areas of health and environment" – as quoted by Vaidyanathan, the founder.
The firm thrives as a pioneering leader in the B2C air monitoring market place with its groundbreaking solutions catering to diverse platforms.
The firm owns a state-of-the-art office, with well-equipped R&D and Testing facilities at Electronics City, Bengaluru. Being home to a robust team of highly qualified scientists, professionals and visionaries, the firm has successfully deployed the largest number of environmental sensors in the country, including in several Smart City projects.
Many organizations in private and public sectors including corporate giants like Cisco, Wipro, L&T, PWC and many more have put their trust in PAQS' proactive solutions and have secured their place in the company's rich list of clients.
PAQS' business model offers distinctive solutions across three different platforms in line with their wide applicability in the market.In B2B space, it targets Smart cities and offers Environmental Sensors (ES). In B2C space, PAQS has tapped the market with MyAir, MyAirMyHeath; and Smart Inhaler & App.
MyAir– Popularized as 'a wearable gadget that empowers you to set your personal preferred air envelope', MyAir monitors indoor air and helps the consumer to balance and adjust surrounding environment by providing him alerts.
The whole system works through a smart device, a mobile app and a cloud based data backend. The device senses the properties of the air around the individual and sends it to phone app; the app interacts with the backend data stored in the cloud in real time.
The wearer gets all the vital information on temperature, humidity, weather, dust, allergens and levels of CO2. The app allows setting personal preferences and to define a personal comfort zone – with alerts when pollution levels are outside of the defined comfort zone levels.
PAQ Smart Inhaler solution has won many accolades for its exceptional capabilities that make it far more than just an inhaler. It is a boon for those suffering with asthma and respiratory diseases.
The product is being embraced by healthcare communities as a 'new generation life saver'. The solution includes the My Air app for reminding time of the dosage and quantity; prediction of hostile environments; alerts on under dosage of medication.
Speaking of how PAQS stands tall, Vaidyanathan apprises us, "Pioneering an entirely new domain has been a differentiator in itself. Besides, PAQS' core team has been deliberately brought together to achieve a Thought Leadership position in this category.
We respect innovation and IP and have applied for multiple patents in India and abroad. We want to guide this category which has such an impact on our Nation.
At an organizational philosophy level, while we develop and sell products and software solutions, we are clear that we are not a product or software vendor, or even an integrator offering end to end solutions – we will create industry and category best practices in the environmental pollution domain.
With over a million lines of code written in house we are mindful of the Nation's security by ensuring no data crosses our borders. We manufacture our totally Made in India product, here, in Bangalore. This gives us the ability to continually upgrade our products to suit the varied operating conditions that a vast country requires."
A successful serial entrepreneur, Vaidyanathan brings a deep industry expertise and holds multiple patents to his credit in US, Australia and India. He has always been a disrupter in the industry. In his immediate preceding venture HMX, (HMX Systems Pvt. Ltd., – now, a division of A.T.E enterprises Pvt. Ltd.,) Vaidyanathan, pioneered Green Air-Conditioning in India.
Through a patented Heat exchanger (USA, Australia), he had created an innovative Industrial Air conditioning System that found wide acceptance across the country.
Upon scaling the company he sold it to A.T.E group and exited the same. A graduate of the most prestigious computer engineering college in India, Vaidyanathan holds a PGDM from, Bangalore. He has been awarded the Amulya Award from the Government of Karnataka.
Under his stewardship, PAQS has bagged several prestigious awards. The firm received Urban Venture Challenge Award in October 2016 and Urban Venture labs IoT Startup Award in September 2016.
PAQS is an awardee in the recent Elevate 100 2017 – A Government of Karnataka initiative to recognize the top technology startups in the state.
MeenaBadami – Co Founder&Director @ PAQS; has been associated with Indian Centre for Social Transformation as Program Director; assumed leadership roles at Juniper, NetApp, Novell and more
NatrajGujran –Atechnocrat with over 2 decades of experience handles Software Architecture, Development & Security; MS (Software Engineering) from Carnegie Mellon
Dr. Sudarshan Rao -Specialist in Communications & Research; handles Product Characterization, Sensors & Analytics; brings profound expertise rooted in 3 decades of experience in renowned organizations; PhD in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Rutgers University
DrRagoth Sundararajan– Atmospheric sciences specialist with PhD from Uppsala University, Sweden and was a researcher at MIT for 6 years. Handles data quality, data analytics, data modelling, weather and pollution correlation aspects at PAQS aerospace engineering and atmospheric modelling
Lt. Col (Retd) Srikar KN – Heads Smart Cities business, Projects & Service; handled key accounts & large projectsin Ericsson, Tech Mahindra & Sterlite Technologies
Aasim Mistry -an engineer with more than two decades of experience in business development, marketing of Web Site development and SEO; handles Smart Cities and Healthcare Business
Rajiv Rastogi -an Engineer and MBA from IIMB; brings three decades of experience in Advertising, Mass Communications and Media; handles B2C Segments, communications at PAQS
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