Measurement company Bumbee Labs has been approved by the Swedish Data Protection Authority for its method of measuring people flows in public spaces via Wi-Fi. The approval is unique and makes Bumbee Labs a world leader in flow measurement in, for example, city centres and shopping malls.
Bumbee Labs also recently began a collaboration with Urban ICT Arena in Kista, where future technologies are tested in live environments. The project was initiated by Ericsson, IBM, KTH, Stockholm University, Swedish ICT, the City of Stockholm and the County Administrative Board.
“Urbanisation and digitalisation are very challenging for society to handle. Bumbee Labs shows that new technology makes it possible to map and analyse visitor flows based on facts, which in turn allows much wiser decisions to be made. It is about where housing is planned, how public transport is planned and how retailers design their stores so that they perform well,” Staffan Liljestrand, CEO of Bumbee Labs, tells Realtid.se.
Bumbee Labs’ measurement method makes it possible to follow exactly how, where and when people move in the urban environment. This gives property owners and retailers a better idea of how to make a specific area more attractive, and an indication of the value of a property or a retail space.
Urban planners have also shown great interest in the method as they look for ways to keep city centres alive at a time when more and more retailers are moving to shopping malls. Knowing how potential customers behave is also very useful for individual retailers, who largely have to adapt to new buying behaviours, above all through e-commerce.
The method was developed by the company’s founder, Staffan Liljestrand, who has a background as a statistician and mathematician.
Liljestrand is optimistic about the future:
“We have worked on the method for over eight years, and it feels fantastic that the approval is now in place and that we can really put our foot down to grow the business. We see great interest from a wide range of directions, everything from cities to property companies.”
Agreements are already in place to cover the hottest areas in Stockholm, and measurements are under way in several mid-sized cities in Sweden.
The company has also recruited Karl Samuelsson, who will be responsible for expanding the business. He most recently worked at IEC in Sports, where he was Managing Director for Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and has previously held various management positions at MTG.
“The idea is to ensure as quickly as possible that the networks go live in the major cities in Sweden, and then turn our gaze towards international expansion. We already see great interest from the UK and France, but have also had approaches from Asia and the Middle East. The accuracy of the measurements and the ability for our customers to follow changes in the flows in both the short and the longer term is incredibly exciting,” Karl Samuelsson tells Realtid.se.
Read the full article on Realtid.se.