eSmart Systems started its operations 1st of February by 6 industry veterans with an average of 15 years of international experience delivering IT-systems to the energy industry. We have now grown to over 20 people, moved to brand new offices and are very proud to have hired our first female employee.
Growing so fast have been a challenge. We have to ensure both quality of our operations and that we do not grow faster than our cash flow permits. Many years of experience ensure that we avoid many of the common pitfalls, and our partners have provided great help during this process.
One of the first major tasks for eSmart was to find the right partners. eSmart was started with the idea that the Smart Grid revolution and the changes in the IT-technology sector over the past decade requires new IT-systems built from scratch. The systems has to deal with the huge amounts of data and intelligence required in Smart Grids, but also has to enable businesses to take advantage of the new IT-revolution (see http://labs.esmartsystems.com/2013/10/24/the-nexus-of-forces/). Our goal is to provide disruptive technology and to be the number one challenger to traditional energy IT-system vendors, and a small startup cannot do this alone.
Innovation Norway has been a great supporter. They have helped us visit Silicon Valley twice this year in two separate arrangements. First during the TINC spring’13 where we worked hard to find the right technology partners in California, and later during the crown prince and princess delegation to visit companies in Silicon Valley and strengthen the contact between Silicon Valley and Norway.
Perhaps most importantly, Innovation Norway awarded us funding for our IRD-project (Industrial Research and Development Project) to build our platform and our first commercial products. The project is a collaboration between eSmart Systems, Innovation Norway, Fredrikstad Energy, Sogn and Fjordane Energy and Big Data Energy Services. It is evident that working closely with our partners is very important, and the success of our products is closely linked to the success of this collaboration. During this first year, we have had workshops, innovation workouts and weekly meetings ensuring the quality of both product specifications and product deliveries.
We look forward to release our first product in 2014. We have already started with the first marketing activities, and look forward to a hectic year where sales and customer acquisition will be a major activity in addition to continuing the great product development job.
Happy holidays, and hope to meet you sometime during 2014!
