Stuttgart. Porsche is taking another step forwards with its digital transformation: Through its subsidiary Porsche Digital, the sports car manufacturer is now involved with Stuttgart-based technology company home-iX. The B2B start-up specialising in smart living solutions was set up in 2016 by former Porsche employees Mehmet Arziman and Heiko Scholtes. One of the company’s focus areas is car-to-smart home solutions for original equipment manufacturers in the automotive industry.
For the moment, Porsche Digital holds a minority share in home-iX. The founders of the company are also receiving support in the form of a collaboration model comprising office space, strategic coaching and mentoring. Porsche Digital has already commissioned the start-up with a pilot project. It will be about concrete solutions how smart home, cars, mobile devices and digital assistants can be connected.
For Porsche Digital CEO Thilo Koslowski, the partnership with home-iX emphasises “the fact that we are consistently pursuing our digitalisation strategy. We are developing our ecosystem and establishing new value creation models for enabling profitable growth and the ability to compete.” According to the Porsche Digital CEO, smart living is “a crucial milestone on the road to a digital lifestyle.” The terms “smart living” and “smart home” refer to an environment in which household and mobile devices – from an air-conditioning system to a car – interact and can be managed centrally. Every day processes are automated and intelligent networking delivers efficiency, convenience, reliability and productivity – both at home and on the move.
A neutral interface within the smart home market
home-iX is developing a “Smart Living as a Service” platform and a B2B marketplace for smart living services. The company sees itself as a neutral start-up established to integrate the solutions offered by existing providers, rather than competing with these providers. “Our platform functions as a secure interface on the smart home market”, explains CEO Mehmet Arziman. Offering an alternative to the existing circumstances of the fragmented “smart X” markets such as smart energy or smart grid, home-iX is seeking to bring better compatibility to the smart living industry. As a result, traditional industries such as the automotive industry that create their own customised smart living solutions for end customers will find it easier to access these markets. The home-iX CEOs believe that uniting the various providers is an essential requirement when it comes to creating a user-friendly and comprehensive smart living ecosystem.
Porsche Digital is the Porsche AG competence centre for digitalisation. The company defines and implements new value creation strategies and innovative digital product ranges in close cooperation with all Porsche AG departments. Porsche Digital identifies and evaluates trends and invests in start-ups, thus securing access to relevant technologies. It sees itself as an interface between Porsche and innovators all over the world. The company has sites in Ludwigsburg, Berlin and Santa Clara in Silicon Valley, and further locations such as in Asia are planned.
