Innovating Independent Living Business Models for Internet of Things in Ambient As- sisted Living Rashmi Narayanan Kannankutty Delft TBM Master of Science Thesis Innovating Independent Living Business Models for Internet of Things in Ambient Assisted Living Master of Science Thesis For the degree of Master of Science in Management of Technology at Delft University of Technology Rashmi Narayanan Kannankutty September 19, 2014 Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management · Delft University of Technology The work in this thesis was supported by Almende.B.V. and Distributed Organisms B.V. (DoBots), Rotterdam. Their cooperation is hereby gratefully acknowledged. Copyright ⃝c Technology, Strategy and Entrepreneurship All rights reserved. Delft University of Technology Department of Technology, Strategy and Entrepreneurship The undersigned hereby certify that they have read and do recommend to the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management for acceptance a thesis entitled Innovating Independent Living by Rashmi Narayanan Kannankutty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Management of Technology Dated: September 19, 2014 Chair(s): Prof.dr. C.P. (Cees) van Beers, TU Delft Supervisor(s): Dr. L. (Dap) Hartmann, TU Delft Dr. Ir. Mark de Reuver, TU Delft External Supervisor(s): Anne van Rossum, Almende.B.V. Alexander Marchesini, Almende.B.V. “ To my grandma, Thangam — who will remain the brightest presence in my memory “ To my grandpa, K S Narayanan — who introduced me to perseverance and squeals of laughter “ To my uncle, Manoj mama — who continues to be my strongest source of inspiration“ Acknowledgments “We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.“ — John F.Kennedy The past year has been by far the most challenging, interesting and exciting period of my life. What began as an initial soul search for a meaningful and interesting master thesis topic led me to the inspiring startup DoBots and the company Almende. I was introduced to the Internet of Things (IoT), which was so new yet so full of activity that it kept me on my toes for the entire duration of the research. I would like to thank Almende for providing me an opportunity to intern, for the liberty to mold the topic to my liking, for the exposure to Dutch work culture and for supporting me from the start till the finish of my research. I thank Anne van Rossum for introducing me to LaTeX and for being a patient guide, Alexan- der Marchesini for ensuring time and again about my field research needs and whereabouts like a true guardian and Chloe Potlof for being my Dutch voice support throughout the re- search. I thank Peet van Tooren and Hans Abbink whom I have reached several times for clarity on the technological and market offerings of the company. To my colleagues Judith Engelsman, Jan Geert van Hall, Peter Kradolfer and Andries Stam, thank you for patiently responding to my endless mails for establishing industry contacts. I thank my first supervisor Dr. Dap Hartmann for the course on Turning Technology into Business which gave me the first impressions of entrepreneurship and served as an inspiration to pursue this thesis topic. Thank you for encouraging me at every stage of this exploratory research, for answering my mails promptly and for providing the much needed practical guidance to my study. I thank my second supervisor Dr. Mark de Reuver whose pointers towards theoretical contributions and a strong research focus forced me to define boundaries and think academically during my research. I would like to thank Prof. Cees van Beers who agreed to chair my defense and reminded me the importance of rigor in research. As a committee you always encouraged me and stood by me in times of uncertainties and I am truly grateful for the support. I thank all my industry informants Adrie Lesuis, Adem Simitci, Cees Blok, Conny van Pad, Dennes van de Graaf, Edwin Oude Middendorp, Florian Visser, Fred Kloezeman, Henk Her- man Nap, Igor Stalpers-Croeze, Jan Peter Larsen, Kostas van Goor, Mark Verhart, Marleen de Mul, Maarten de Boo, Jeroen Filbri, Jeroen van der Heijden, Suzanne Harkoe, Tim van Innovating Independent Living Rashmi Narayanan Kannankutty iv Acknowledgments Dam and Stephan Roijers who provided me the knowledge to comprehend the rather com- plex care market and helped in figuring out my IoT puzzle. It was their tacit knowledge that helped me in arriving at conclusions. Dear Ben van Lier, Erik Fisscher, Hendrie Scholte and Nick Ray, I particularly thank you for spending more time on my repeated mails and queries. I would like to specially acknowledge the support of Jeroen Kemperman who provided the much needed external eye to my research. Thank you for keeping me motivated during the most crucial phases of my work. This report would not have been possible had it not been for the best gifts of my study life at TU Delft, my close friends. I thank Laura Coman, my soul sister and best friend for standing by me as family throughout this study. Astrid, Reno, Roel, Jose and Siddarth, thank you for being my Dutch translators and my rocks of support, encouraging me every time I hit dead ends in the research. Saving the best for the last, I thank my parents Vinodini and Kannankutty (Amma and Acha), my little (big) brother Anuj, my grandfather Narayanan and my uncle Rajeev for loving me so much that they let me go. I deeply appreciate your unconditional love, support and for your eternal belief in my choices, abilities and dreams. Everything I am today, I owe to you. Rashmi Naryanan Kannankutty, Delft University of Technology Rashmi Narayanan Kannankutty Innovating Independent Living