seeing the building as a psychological structure so understanding those buildings and then integrating those buildings into our into those into our daily lives so hello i'm very excited to be joined today by soner haci from bead um soner it'd be great if you could just give yourself a brief introduction as to who you are and what you do at feed that'd be great sure sure thank you scott for having me as well and i'm sonar b from beat and i'm one of the co-founders in beat so what we do is basically we are developing technology that is analyzing human behavior in commercial buildings and then integrating that behavioral analytics and into building separations starting with the like hvac system and then moving into space optimization so that those buildings are becoming more and less like an adaptive intelligent buildings excellent so i know we've uh we've spoken before and there's an article on the website about your technology which uh you know if you haven't if any of the viewers haven't seen it i'll put a link in below so go and have a look at it um the whole point of these videos i'm trying to do is really trying to understand kind of the human behind these wonderful technologies trying to understand what it is that drives you that makes you tick and what kind of impact that you're trying to have with what you're doing on the world around us so you know it'd be really good to understand from your point of view why is it you do this you know there's a million things you could be doing with your time how did you find your way here and what do you hope to achieve with this yes sure i mean i totally agree so i mean most of the people are thinking like doing this especially in those times these times that we are inside being an entrepreneur and doing trying to do those startups is really like difficult and crazy uh but my point of view is always like before we started beat i was also working in a really large corporate uh like that was uh focused on like that has like huge different fields as well but i was more on the other all the building technologies and energy management division so and i was always responsible for emerging markets new market entries and at that time i was always seeing that as you know like the bigger those corporates and companies get the uh the speed of innovation and being really agile is is fading away so and and you will really really would like to do something and change something and but also do something that is also affecting uh like people's life in in our case i was always like uh focused on buildings like commercial and commercial buildings not like too much to do with residentials but uh at that time i was always like um thinking like like how we can use and see uh those buildings in a different way as well not like only trying to make those buildings smarter uh but more integrating those buildings into our daily life so that was really fascinating to me but you know like as you said as i said like the bigger the company gets the bigger the more difficult it gets to convince executives to do something to change something and and that was the reason why i said okay i got my experience i know and right now i need to do the next step and move uh to the other side of the table and then uh like start something really developing something uh that is not like a next version of x but more in new uh new technology that is changing the whole infrastructure so and that is why we why why i started with my friends beat and and right now i am really happy of course it is always difficult but as soon as you see that you change something and especially in those in these difficult times then you somehow you somehow say that okay look we can continue making that because it's really working but also it's also changing a lot of things as well that's really interesting and uh yeah i really enjoy you know hearing about some of the use cases that you're you're bringing to mark in some of your insights um but let's just go back on to that you know you wanted to do something that impacted people's lives you wanted to integrate you know um take the data from building so not just kind of smart buildings but intelligent buildings yeah um in doing that how how is that going to make people's lives better in that case we are uh focusing on two verticals one uh the buildings itself and especially in the first part uh we are uh we need to like understand the effects of the buildings in smart city projects and applications that meaning that we need to understand first of all like how those buildings affects the city life uh especially like public transportation so that is what we are really focused on and like i can give you an example we were working with a couple of municipalities on really small size uh like pilots and the idea was how we can integrate those usage patterns and occupancy patterns into public transportation like taxi drivers bus routes and optimizing those routes so that we can reduce like those traffic but also optimize the time that we are using from commuting to from one building to another and because everyone was really like isolating buildings from those kind of applications but if you can integrate that analytics and then create those connected systems that can really make a difference and but secondly uh also the buildings itself so what we were especially call it also showed us like we need to understand how we use those buildings without depending on human input so we need to understand like okay how the usage patterns are we need to optimize the space usage but also connecting to that we need to optimize the comfort levels and reduce their energy as well because right now uh the biggest problem in those energy vests are are caused by those commercial buildings and like either overcooling overheating buildings using unnecessary big systems so that is also for example causing another problem because you don't know actually how how the buildings life cycle day cycle would change before you invest in those kind of technologies and that is the reason why we are saying that we need to concentrate and focus on making those buildings more intelligent instead of trying to make them more smart and so that you take those buildings will become like a a living ecosystem instead of being like left as a concrete structures that will never change uh and those are the ones that are that we are really focused on like basically to optimize the sustainability but also reduce the carbon footprints as well because that all those are connected with itself so if you can see those buildings as a source of data instead of like as as as like concrete structures then it will change and affect a lot uh especially people's lives uh but also recently as you as you know like the health and uh and and also like preventing overcrowding that's bad yeah really really really uh fascinating so you know what i what i take from that is what you're working on is you're working on a solution and solutions that can you know help all the way from reducing congestion reducing energy consumption uh giving people back time but also improving health through understanding the air and the environment that they're sitting in um yeah it sounds so from the technology linking the technology to things like the united nations sustainable development goals i think there's so many ticks in so many boxes there it sounds like a sounds like a no-brainer to me it's gotta do it um exactly so it's like that needs to change yes yeah absolutely so um yeah from from your personal inspiration what was it was it the was it the kind of your corporate experience that made you think you know what we need to do is we need to really understand what these buildings are like or was there some other aspects that kind of led you to this particular focus with in my case it was like um my interest in buildings like because i was also really fascinated about fascinated about architecture and uh like designing buildings and not like how they call it like more adaptive design like that is i think what is really fascinating because i was seeing that okay look like we are creating like autonomous robots we are creating like these really like autonomous factories but we are not doing anything on the building side but at the end of the day we nearly spent like right now it is even 100 percent like our lives inside those buildings and and even there is a research that is called into next year and they generation as an indoor generation and that is actually happened right now but that makes it much more important to understand those buildings but not uh to see the building in a in a like creating a new technology but more seeing the building as um as a as a psychological structure so understanding those buildings and then integrating those buildings into our into those into our daily life so that was really fascinating team like uh like thinking like okay maybe two buildings can speak with each other like share data like we as humans share data and we call that like sharing our experience with other people with our children and with our friends so that they don't do the same mistakes so that can happen the same way uh that we see buildings as well and that is i think what is really fascinating me like and that is also the reason why we are right now speaking with uh really different different like academic people as well like from psychology moving into sociology and then uh like integrating their point of view into our technology as well so that we can create those let's say 360 weave of a building and then not only as i said trying to like monitor something or trying to remotely open or close something but more uh changing those buildings into into really living ecosystems wow and then if if there was somebody listening to this who wanted to get involved or you know follow your your career or how you got into this what would you suggest where would you send them or point them towards to get some inspiration or some ideas of how they could do something like this too yeah i in my case especially if you like there are two points like for the younger generation like students i i really recommend them to work in a corporate for for some time not maybe their whole lives but to see and to understand how those big companies are working and so that they see uh in the uh the way the business is done on that professional level and then i strongly suggest that um not to focus only on just one type of technological solution but more see it on a wider perspective as well as i said like speak with for example like artists and go and speak with uh with like other uh academical stuff and even like speak with doctors speak with physicians like get their feedback about what you are doing especially for example in in building technologies real estate it's not only concrete structure construction like smart technology it is more like really a sociological effect that you that at the end of today that is our environment where we are living where we are like speaking and connecting and this kind of stuff so uh that is i think also what the future will bring like these uh in this connecting uh those different kind of verticals and together uh and create a really like um um a human kind of technology in focusing on building so i mean the the feedback that you are get getting from those different uh people is really really important so that you understand what to develop but also you understand how that your approach is seen in other professions as well so that is definitely i would suggest to do that's really interesting because you bring up a topic that again is is one of these things that is coming more and more into the conversations i'm having this idea that you know it's not just technology for technology's sake it's technology and human you know some call it humanity 5.0 yeah some call it human-centric technology um but yeah i remember the first i think it was a mobile world congress where one of the keynote speakers was a professor of ethics and for me that was the first time i had seen this murderer of soft skills and hard skills coming together in a such a pivotal moment but what you're talking about here is not just ethics and ai but it's it's a lot more than that how do you bring the human in technology together to create something more powerful and more usable i think yeah maybe from your from your side it's a question for you it's um what you're trying to do is create these wonderful wonderful kind of descriptions and living buildings now um quite often we see technology getting in the way of the greater good what are you trying to how do you go about making sure that technology isn't just isn't you know the enabler but also the barrier so humans can really get the most out of what you're doing i mean um in our case it is uh you should really like bring the technology in in a level that people can engage with it and that is really important so that you don't do something or develop something that is working in totally another level like purely high-tech deep tech and people are not really like engaging with it and at they know today that's also causing the uh the fear against those technologies so but if you can bring it on the level that even like tenants or like employees or uh building owners can interact with it so and it can also like uh let's say like prepare the building for them for example like it's the building can think and then give feedback without like giving uh concrete inputs as well so that is i think what is really important and then that can also like bring down all these barriers as well and like not only like the fear of uh like losing your job or losing your position but more uh seeing the technology in a way that you see your colleague you see your friend so like okay that is something that is helping me that is something that is uh like more and less like a human way of technology like okay that is for example i don't have a good mood today it can change the environment i don't have like uh let's say i have problems in this kind of thing it can like prepare the building for you and i think that is really important to to lower those barriers as well and and that is not not only by the way like in building technology it's also like happening in healthcare as well for example especially because of it you bring up a couple of other points i want to dive into quickly maybe so with kovid we've seen this mass migration out of big buildings and kind of working from sellers basements corner of a room um what you're talking about isn't just the big buildings that's a piece of it isn't it but i've heard you mentioned things like tenants and other places as well so is your business adapting to that change do you see that change continuing or staying this way what's your opinion i mean what we are definitely we are adapting so for example right now we are focused on uh like small and medium-sized buildings a little bit more that cannot afford like buying or investing in really expensive and big uh building management or building automation system but also they don't have uh those big teams that can like manage and operate those buildings but what we are also seeing is especially in those big side like lockstars buildings like um of course like the biggest part is you know like office buildings and uh what we are seeing and experiencing is that uh they are changing like how those buildings are used like okay converting office buildings into living spaces or co-living spaces but in again in order to do that you need to understand what was the usage transcend patterns like okay maybe the first 10 floors were used really like on a high level but the rest was not used so that you can decide as an investor okay i can leave the first 10 floors and then convert the other floors into living spaces and this kind of stuff but in order to make that decision you need to again understand and speak with the building so that the building can tell you okay look that is my my station right now you can convert it like this and this kind of stuff without depending uh like as i said like an online on a human input in those kind of uh like decision processes but also what we are seeing is especially uh that is also i that will also happen in in the near future like uh creating those smaller uh like parks like throughout the city like instead of you trying to go to in in the in a building or go back you can just like call it like you like you call an uber you can just open your app and then find a pot and then go inside the pot do your meeting and go on so that will be i think also the next norm like uh you know like in some countries they are creating those decentralized diagnostic parts so that instead of going to the hospital uh you have these decentralized uh like smaller part hops and this kind of stuff but that will also happen in office and meeting structures as well like uh having these like you can take it and book it in turkey for 30 minutes and then you can hop it and hop out so that is i think really also the future as well creating those uh decentralized systems and then uh making it more more much more efficient for for the people itself but also making it more uh let's say uh reducing the risk a lot more as well now you're on to another big topic decentralization yeah yes we're covering a lot here so um so on that topic of decentralization maybe slightly outside of what you're looking at um but let's let's let's see so there's with everybody now distributed or descent i mean i think we're really more distributed rather than decentralized i think there's a big step to go towards that um i've heard a lot of people talking about how you know one on one hand the employer's responsibility um for being the health and well-being of the employees doesn't stop at the boundary of the office now people are working from home they still have a responsibility to make sure the air they're breathing is safe make sure they've got the right lighting calling heating ergonomics um so on one i'd love your opinion on that and then two the other piece is there's also conversation around how employers may um need to encourage their um their staff who work remotely to gather in groups to get together to socialize and have these kind of hubs these or even you know specific sector hubs so what do you think on those two points i mean one thing is definitely of course it will not like uh okay everyone everything will be right now uh distributed and people will stay at home never no one will go back to the office that will definitely not happen so it will be step by step uh but what is what will more happen is exactly as you said like uh instead of like calling back like i don't know like 500 1 000 people back to the offices and these kind of but more uh creating those uh let's say mobile uh hubs or parts as i said like you can say that okay look we have like throughout the city it is even like it will be also like really really effective for business travelers as well that that is that that somehow started like instead of you trying to find a meeting room or a co-working speaker space you can just have this one like book one of those smaller parts in the city and then you can walk through to the pot and go in do your meeting do your your office work and then go out so and i think uh that can also help as you said like bring those people a game back together but not on a mess but more okay like that is your department you have like a couple of parts throughout the city here even you can use for example the parking spaces like uh like from a shopping mall from a supermarket and put like three or three or four different parts in it and then you can say okay like uh you can meet up here and let's say every friday we will meet up in this kind of with four people with five people and then do the face and again contact with your colleagues or with your potential customers and that is more and more happening i mean uh because as i said like the the offices will stay but it will be more let's say like more effective use and but it will be more used for the people that really need an office space like if you are really doing something even they are right now out of office as well but still like like if you need laps or if you do like really like high hands-on development this kind of stuff they will need those office spaces but the rest especially like um having these mobile meeting points that will that will really come and i think that will also uh disrupt definitely the office space like like uber disrupted the the really traditional taxi business and this like and it changed to cool infrastructure and that is also uh happening in especially in the office uh space as well is there is there anything we haven't touched anything interesting that you know you would like to share with us oh like in our case uh it is what we are right now experiencing is especially uh i mean in in as i said like we are right now really focused on integrating buildings into into different verticals so meaning that uh like as i said before like integrating buildings into smart city applications but also integrating buildings into insurance industry for example like optimizing their claims process integrating buildings into healthcare and and reducing like uh overcrowding and optimizing uh the buildings and like uh preventive overcrowding and and that showed us especially the importance of the data that we are creating from those buildings and i mean that is also what we are why we are calling like we are converting buildings into their data sources in order to understand them and and i think that is becoming more and more important and how you create data and how you use the data and that is what we are seeing what we are focused on for the following couple of years excellent excellent well thank you so much sona and um if anybody wants to get in touch with you what's the best way of getting in touch with you so the best way is i am definitely a lot on linkedin you can just connect me but also you can send just an email like to sonar beat.digital and i always reply and happy to connect as well excellent i'll put the links just below all right thanks so much for your time and if you've enjoyed this video please make sure you subscribe to the youtube channel and hit like thank you again son you
2021-03-03