Colin Gounden and Joe Babiec Present at Energy Impact Partners Roundtable in NYC

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In late July, VIA CEO Colin Gounden and VP, Strategic Initiatives Joe Babiec gave a presentation on VIA’s Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC) application at the Energy Impact Partners (EIP) Roundtable in New York City.

The event’s attendees, which included a mix of EIP’s utility partners, asked thoughtful questions about TAC implementation, as well as the application’s software and security details. One question that stood out to Colin and Joe was more related to specific use cases for TAC:

“Given TAC is able to share data privately and anonymously across companies,
could TAC then also be used for benchmarking the performance of assets, like power plants and wind turbines, in addition to advanced AI applications?”

The short answer is yes. In fact, we are currently developing a specific application on top of TAC to do just that. Companies today already spend a lot of money on third-party consultants to aggregate their data and generate anonymized comparisons of operating performance and physical asset performance. TAC offers a near real-time, cost effective way of sharing those same metrics.

To learn more about how VIA is helping the energy industry solve its biggest challenges, watch this interview Colin did during Iberdrola’s Innoday in May.

So, You’ve Updated Your Privacy Policy

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If you’re like me, your inbox has been flooded since late April with emails announcing updates to privacy policies and terms of service. Consumer brands like Yelp and Etsy, social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram, and, it seems, everyone in between all sent emails. It’s no coincidence. The newly implemented General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) means any company operating in the European Union (EU) needs to update its existing privacy policies to comply with this legislation. And as it turns out, that’s quite a lot of companies.

While it was specifically passed in the EU, GDPR has far-reaching implications for companies around the world. The policy addresses consumers’ growing need for transparency and privacy, which, at first glance, seem to be competing interests. But WIRED offers this helpful explanation: GDPR “gives people the right to ask companies how their personal data is collected”, stored, and being used, and to “request that personal data be deleted. It also requires that companies […] get your consent before collecting it.”

Consumers’ growing need for greater data privacy, security, and anonymity, as well as transparency from companies that collect data, extends to the energy industry. Smart meters are a great example of this: EU Member States “have committed to rolling out close to 200 million smart meters for electricity and 45 million for gas by 2020″, at which time it is “expected that almost 72% of European consumers will have a smart meter for electricity while 40% will have one for gas.”

In theory, utilities could leverage the massive volume of consumer data collected by these meters for AI initiatives that seek to improve predictive maintenance and energy efficiency. However, utilities don’t own this data, consumers do. And the EU wants to safeguard it. So, how can utilities balance consumers’ rights to data privacy, security, and anonymity, while leveraging this wealth of new information to improve service reliability and efficiency?

At VIA, we are enhancing our Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC) platform to address this challenge. TAC Permissions is a new feature that allows energy companies’ customers to determine who has access to their personal data and how it is used. Permissions are stored in TAC’s blockchain, making them immutable and auditable by consumers, corporate compliance departments, and government agencies. VIA’s solution helps to alleviate the tension between:

  • Customers’ needs to protect their data
  • Energy companies’ and algorithm providers’ needs to access data to develop and implement valuable services such as improved energy efficiency and reliability.

Smart meters are just one example of the many digitalization technologies that energy companies are using to transform their operations. The industry as a whole is more data-dependent than ever before. In parallel, consumers are more aware than ever of the consequences associated with misuse of their personal data. Legislation like GDPR requires companies to know and comply with customers’ preferences about using personal data. VIA is proud to offer TAC Permissions as a solution for ensuring that customers’ wishes are respected while AI initiatives yield new ways to improve service and efficiency.

Colin Gounden Shares Expertise on Panel at Elemental Excelerator’s Interactive Event

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VIA’s CEO Colin Gounden was handpicked to speak on a panel, moderated by California Energy Commissioner, Carla Peterman, at Elemental Excelerator’s (EEx) Interactive Event held in San Francisco last week. The panel, titled “Energy’s Digital Grid”, touched on the ways data is changing electrical grid operations in terms of predictability and visibility.

Over 200 people were in attendance, including some of the world’s largest utilities, as Colin talked about the ways VIA is applying artificial intelligence and blockchain technology to reduce risks associated with the aging electrical infrastructure. EEx captured a memorable quote from Colin, which was shared to Twitter:

For more information on VIA’s involvement in the EEx program, visit their website.

Iberdrola Innoday Recap: “We rely on power for everything”

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In late May, VIA was invited to Iberdrola’s Innoday at its international campus in Madrid, Spain. The invite-only event was attended by over 600 people, with 25 companies showcasing the latest technology innovations to hit the energy industry. There were a number of technologies like drones for wind turbine inspection and AI solutions for the electrical grid being exhibited at the event.

CEO Colin Gounden attended Innoday and was the only participant to both be invited to speak on stage and give an exclusive video interview with Iberdrola. In the interview, Colin talked about the current state of the energy industry, how it will change over time, and the critical role VIA will play in the future of the energy. Check out the full video interview below, featured on Iberdrola’s website:

 

Colin Gounden Presents at FERC Technical Conference

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Colin Gounden, CEO of VIA, gave a presentation last week at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) conference, “Increasing Market and Planning Efficiency and Enhancing Resilience through Improved Software.” This is the second time Colin has been selected to present at this invitation-only conference.

During his presentation, titled “AI for forecasting and resiliency in energy” Colin discussed the issues that limit AI learning to improve grid resiliency. These include too little data / signal, too much data, physically distributed data, and information privacy. His presentation focused on how VIA’s application, Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC), addresses these four common AI training data issues.

The three-day conference culminated with a final session with multiple speakers focused on the importance of data access and data sharing. There was widespread consensus from participants that improved access to energy data and modeling frameworks would allow faster and better analytical solutions. In particular, widening the scope for expert collaboration would have a dramatic impact on the quality of technical solutions that could improve grid resiliency and day ahead forecasting.

View the presentation slides:

For a copy of Colin’s presentation, please visit the FERC event page.

Six Values in Six Months: A Co-op Reflects

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My name is Meg Foley. I have worked as the marketing execution co-op at VIA’s Davis Square headquarters since January. And this is the story of how that became the most rewarding experience of my life (so far!).

That’s me!

In my two years at Northeastern University, I have already made major progress towards some of my life goals, like traveling the world, earning a college degree, and getting real-life work experience (and I still have three more years to go!). I studied abroad in Dublin my first semester, went to classes in Boston for the next two semesters, and worked at a startup in Davis Square for the past six months.

These experiences have all made me who I am today and my time at VIA is no exception. I gained essential professional experience, and each lesson stemmed from VIA’s company values.

Respect a good challenge and challenge with respect

We believe in facing challenges head-on with passion and excitement. We’ve created an environment where team members feel psychologically safe to raise alternative ideas and share their personal concerns, helping us reach better outcomes in the end.

The team loves to step out for ice cream on a hot day! And after a particularly warm day in February, J.P. Licks even featured one of our ice cream photos on their social media.

As the marketing execution co-op, one of my primary responsibilities was maintaining our Zoho CRM (a database that helps us manage all our relationships with our ever-expanding network). But more than just maintain this system, I made it my mission to make it even more efficient and effective. One component of that meant making data reports, like our sales pipeline, more visually appealing. To do this, I worked closely with VIA COO, Kate Ravanis, to hash out the goals and strategy for how this would work.

For me, the biggest challenge was putting my Excel knowledge to work and being patient with changing formats and preferences. Through many versions and rounds of feedback with VIA’s executive team, I eventually found a way to incorporate everyone’s input and all the essential details. Now that visual report is a part of the team’s biweekly demo, and this challenging project led to a new staple piece of internal communications!

Learning never goes out of style

Learning is all about feedback and trying new things. Each person, at every position in the company, has frequent feedback sessions with their manager to set goals and priorities, reflect on accomplishments, and discuss areas for improvement and additional support.

Somerville team at our brand launch (this was a huge deal to be a part of)

One of my friends, who is also on a co-op at another organization, was shocked to hear how often I speak with my supervisor on the marketing team. “I wish I could get any feedback at all!” he said. I was proud to have such an open line of communication, which has been so important and useful for my personal growth.

This open communication also meant I was able to speak up about projects I wanted to pursue, like becoming the VIA Culture Coordinator, and skills I wanted to develop, like written communication, so I was really able to shape my role at VIA to better fit me. With each new responsibility I took on, I created a comprehensive process guide so future co-ops can continue building on projects I started, like our new Instagram account. I hope these guides allow for many future smooth transitions from one co-op to another, and that it’s one way I can continue contributing to VIA’s learning-focused environment.

Be each other’s biggest fan

Everyone deserves a high five once in a while! The more we support each other, the more we encourage wide ranging contributions from diverse backgrounds to solve problems.

The marketing team treated me to a fun brunch on my birthday.

Every person on the team is recognized and celebrated for any number of reasons: professional accomplishments, personal victories, or even birthdays.

In fact, on my birthday I was taken to a lovely brunch by my marketing team. This is a fond memory I’ll treasure forever. Celebrating the individual, like we did on my birthday, is central to VIA’s culture. As the Culture Coordinator, I was proud to be a part of creating even more structure around what we celebrate and how, like birthdays (of course), work anniversaries, and fun holidays like Pi Day and Star Wars Day.

Ready, set, RESILIENCE!

We are solving problems that others have considered unsolvable. Difficult problems require patience and grit. Individuals require resilience to approach a major challenge and overcome all the smaller challenges along the way.

During my co-op, VIA achieved a lot of exciting milestones. One that stands out in particular was winning the MITX Best Technology Innovation Concept Award. We were thrilled to learn we were finalists, but in order to qualify for the next round of review, someone from VIA would need to present a demo of our blockchain-based Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC).

Due to the very busy travel schedules of our client and business development teams, the only person available on the night of the demo was a member of our marketing team. She needed to learn (in just one weekend) the inner workings of TAC and how to demo it, and prepare for any number of questions that might come up with the judges (I was happy to help her prepare by asking the most challenging questions I could think of, and many of those were actually asked on the night of!). Without her determination and ability to deal with high stakes situations, traits that come naturally to everyone on the VIA team, this feat couldn’t have been accomplished.

Love in = Love out

We believe that if you love what you do, it will show in the quality and productivity of your work. Twice a year we get together for a company-wide offsite where team members’ contributions are recognized and new ideas are discussed.

The team has grown from then to now, we have 20 employees as of June 2018.

We had an amazing company offsite this April. This experience was one of the times I felt most immersed in VIA’s love in=love out culture. For example, during the offsite we had an ongoing activity: a fun fact scavenger hunt. Everyone received a list of fun facts with blank spaces next to them, and our goal was to match the anonymous fun fact to the right person. You would not believe how much we committed to this scavenger hunt! I had so much fun getting to know everyone on the team through this activity, while enjoying some friendly competition (people even formed alliances to pool their answers!). It just goes to show that when people really love what they do, it shows, even in small moments of downtime during an all company meeting.

Stay curious

Technology today is moving at a super fast pace. Curious people who constantly explore new approaches and think outside the box help find the best possible solutions.

Some of the marketing team at a recruiting event at Northeastern.

AI and blockchain technology are two of the hottest buzzwords in the tech world (and beyond) right now. But, explaining what they mean exactly is not so simple. The marketing team stays curious about how we can better make writing about what we do more accessible, and our CEO Colin Gounden does a great job of sharing creative anecdotes and analogies to help us.

One example of that is his Van Halen story: the band’s 1982 world tour contract explicitly stated there shouldn’t be any brown M&Ms backstage. Colin explains how this seemingly bizarre request actually illustrates how Ethereum’s smart contracting functionality works. People’s eyes light up every time he explains this (a real A-ha! moment). Marketing was even able to use this to write one of our latest blogs: “Rock Science: How Van Halen Invented Smart Contracts”.

Goodbye and thank you!

That’s my team (on St.Patrick’s Day) rocking green.

I will miss VIA. It was an adventure, one I couldn’t have trekked without the team here in Somerville (shout out to Marketing!). It must seem cliché at this point, but there is not a single thing I would change about my co-op. Being at a company that cares about the individual as much as the company is rare, and I think the strong set of values is to thank for that.

Germany’s com! professional Features VIA’s Trusted Analytics Chain

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The German-based IT magazine com! professional, which covers the latest in cloud solutions and data security for IT decision makers, recently featured VIA’s Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC) in an article published in its June issue. The article, titled “This is How Blockchain and AI Play Together”,* explores how startups across the world are using these cutting edge technologies in combination to develop more effective solutions for a variety of industries.

VIA has seen growing interest in its blockchain-based TAC across the US and in more than 10 countries in Europe and in Asia, and was grateful for the opportunity to reach even broader audiences through this publication. In his interview for the piece, CEO Colin Gounden spoke to the significant role blockchain plays in supporting VIA’s AI solutions, particularly as it relates to establishing secure access to highly sensitive, and oftentimes sparse power company data.

The article was originally published in German, and we have translated a portion of his interview below:

“If they do not have enough data, they will not be able to make correct predictions,” says Colin Gounden, the CEO of VIA Science. According to Gounden, this task can be quite difficult in individual cases – either because many companies do not have enough data or they do not want to share the data for security reasons.

That’s why VIA Science now relies on blockchain technology to let AI algorithms learn from data masses that are stored in different places, without that data moving between the places and having to be brought together. […] “This approaches allows us to ensure data integrity and data security and confidentiality.”

*NOTE: The original article was published in German, and we have translated that to English to the best of our abilities. We have stayed true to the initial intent of the article and apologize for any mis-translations. Here is the original article.

VIA Accepted into Top European Accelerator Program, Accelerace

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Somerville, MA – June 12, 2018 – VIA, a leader in solving energy industry problems using artificial intelligence and blockchain, has been accepted into Accelerace, one of Europe’s top seed accelerators, as part of their Cleantech program.

“I was excited to be in Denmark a couple weeks ago to kick-off our participation in the Accelerace program. Accelerace is a well-respected and very well-connected clean energy program that is already helping us expand our presence with energy companies throughout Europe,” said Jeremy Taylor, Chief Scientific Officer at VIA.

Accelerace is a Danish accelerator that offers five unique programs tailored to the needs of startups. VIA will participate in the Cleantech program for six to eight months. Through this program, Accelerace will provide assistance in establishing a corporate presence in Denmark, introductions to leading European utilities (such as Enel), and mentorship from experienced Danish entrepreneurs, cleantech executives, and industry experts.

“The European energy industry is going through one of the biggest transformations in history. We are rapidly moving from fossil fuels and nuclear to renewable energy sources. At the same time, the recent implementation of GDPR in Europe is requiring both privacy and transparency of personal information,” said Jes Nordentoft, Business Accelerator and Investor at Accelerace. He continued “VIA’s new blockchain application, Trusted Analytics Chain, is the only solution we’ve seen to help the industry securely collaborate on critical analytics problems. This is exactly what the energy industry needs during this transformative time.”

About VIA
VIA helps energy companies across the globe realize the value of their data through AI and blockchain. Since 2016, the company has worked with the world’s largest utilities and government agencies on AI initiatives like predictive maintenance and contingency planning. VIA has developed a blockchain-based application, Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC) to help energy companies reduce the burden of preparing and sharing their data. TAC (patent pending) is the bridge that securely connects power company data, distributed across many locations, to potential AI solutions. Headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, VIA has been featured in Wired and Inc. Magazine for its leadership in technology innovation. For more information, please visit www.solvewithvia.com.

About Accelerace
Accelerace is one of the world’s top 10 seed accelerators. Since 2008 Accelerace has spotted, trained and invested in more than 500 of the most promising Danish and international startups and growth companies. 88% of the companies are still on the market today. As part of the national Scale-up Denmark initiative Accelerace is scaling up startups within tech, foodtech, cleantech, life sciences & biotech and medtech & health care technologies through guidance and mentoring from skilled serial entrepreneurs, camps and network. Accelerace has invested in more than 69 promising startups, who have been through the Accelerace program and have started partnerships with Maersk, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Arla, Foss, NRGI, Business Lolland-Falster, Bang & Olufsen, SE, Endesa & Enel. Accelerace is also organizing the Nordic NOME (Nordic Mentor Network for Entrepreneurship) mentor network for life science startups.

VIA’s Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC) Featured in Digitex Futures Article on AI and Blockchain

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VIA’s blockchain-based Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC) was featured in the recent Digitex Futures article: “When AI and Blockchain Team Up”. The article discusses how AI and blockchain, while both disruptive technologies in their own right, can work better together than separately in some cases. CEO Colin Gounden was proud to share VIA’s perspective on how a combination of these technologies could transform the energy industry:

“Every power generation, transmission, and distribution company in the world wants to improve the reliability and efficiency of their network operations…However, these companies are concerned about the security and privacy of their data and so, are hesitant to adopt new AI applications. Additionally, many companies are concerned they don’t have enough data or clean data to make rigorous analytics and AI possible. VIA’s blockchain-based Trusted Analytics Chain ensures client data remains on premise and completely anonymous.”

Read the full article here.

VIA Wins MITX Best Technology Innovation Concept Award

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Somerville, MA – May 29, 2018 – The Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange (MITX), the premier organization representing the digital marketing and technology community, last week announced the winners of the 22nd Annual MITX Awards, celebrating New England’s thriving tech innovation ecosystem. VIA accepted the award for Best Technology Innovation Concept.

The award recognizes VIA’s blockchain-based application, Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC), which currently has a patent pending. VIA developed TAC with its energy clients in mind: the application establishes secure access to highly sensitive data, which is one of the biggest challenges to widespread AI implementation across the energy industry.

Using blockchain technology and distributed learning, TAC ensures clients’ data remains on premise and completely anonymous, allowing multiple companies to anonymously pool sparse data to improve analytical outcomes. Additionally, TAC is able to securely allow AI experts to learn from many different, distributed data that has never before been available in the energy industry.

“The celebration is an annual exchange of ideas and connections with hundreds of the best and brightest minds showcasing the latest innovative technology and work shaping the future of customer experience,” said Amy Quigley, president of MITX. “There was some very tough competition this year, but it was a fun-filled evening with all who participated!”

Hundreds of organizations participated and were judged by an esteemed committee of industry experts on their submission’s value proposition, unique innovation, and results. Marketing Operations Leader Laura Montorio accepted this honor on VIA’s behalf at the ceremony hosted at Royale Boston.

VIA MITX Technology Innovation Concept

Every winner was allowed a five-word acceptance. Ours? “Guys, let’s take a selfie!”

VIA MITX Technology Innovation Concept

The event was MITX’s 22nd annual award ceremony, hosted at Royale Boston.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About VIA
VIA helps energy companies across the globe realize the value of their data through AI and blockchain. Since 2016, the company has worked with the world’s largest utilities and government agencies on AI initiatives like predictive maintenance and contingency planning. VIA has developed a blockchain-based application, Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC) to help energy companies reduce the burden of preparing and sharing their data. TAC (patent pending) is the bridge that securely connects power company data, distributed across many locations, to potential AI solutions. Headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, VIA has been featured in Wired and Inc. Magazine for its leadership in technology innovation. For more information, please visit www.solvewithvia.com.

About MITX
Inspire. Connect. Provoke.
At MITX, we’re building valuable connections between the people and ideas behind technology and its impact on the future of customer experience, all to create a community that’s finding tomorrow’s solutions together. Celebrating 22 years of connecting tech and innovation professionals in New England, MITX is a dynamic community of more than 20,000 thought leaders and collaborators. MITX is headquartered in Boston, MA. For more information, visit http://www.mitx.org/.

Rock Science: How Van Halen Invented Smart Contracts

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Since their debut in the late 1970s, Van Halen has become one of the best-selling bands of all time, selling over 56 million albums in the US alone. Their music defined a genre (and a generation), and inspired countless musicians to follow in their footsteps. But, their impact reaches much further than the music world. In fact, you could argue Van Halen’s reach extends even into the blockchain boom we’re seeing today. How so? Well, Van Halen sort of invented the smart contract. Let me explain.

By Colin Gounden

You may be familiar with one particular bit of lore from Van Halen’s long and storied career: the band’s brown M&M clause. In their 1982 world tour contract rider, which clocked in at an impressive 53 pages, Van Halen specified that in the bowl of M&Ms in their dressing room, there should be “ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES.” Now, the rider also demands herring in sour cream and four cases of Schlitz Malt Liquor beer, so it’s easy to chalk up all this to diva-like antics. However, in his autobiography Crazy from the Heat, former frontman David Lee Roth shares insight into the genius behind this oddly specific request:

“Van Halen was the first band to take huge productions into tertiary, third-level markets. We’d pull up with nine eighteen-wheeler trucks, full of gear, where the standard was three trucks, max. And there were many, many technical errors — whether it was the girders couldn’t support the weight, or the flooring would sink in, or the doors weren’t big enough to move the gear through.”

Roth goes on to explain that because their equipment needed to be handled with such specific care in order to ensure the safety of band and audience members alike:

“[…] as a little test, in the technical aspect of the rider, it would say “Article 148: There will be fifteen amperage voltage sockets at twenty-foot spaces, evenly, providing nineteen amperes . . .” This kind of thing. And article number 126, in the middle of nowhere, was: “There will be no brown M&M’s in the backstage area, upon pain of forfeiture of the show, with full compensation.” So, when I would walk backstage, if I saw a brown M&M in that bowl . . . well, line-check the entire production. Guaranteed you’re going to arrive at a technical error. They didn’t read the contract. Guaranteed you’d run into a problem. Sometimes it would threaten to just destroy the whole show. Something like, literally, life-threatening.”

Not divas at all, Van Halen used this M&M clause as a way to test that their equipment, their band members, and their audience were safe. And their if/then logic (if there are brown M&Ms in the bowl, then the contract wasn’t read carefully) is similar to how the smart contracting functionality of blockchain platform Ethereum works as well.

Similar to traditional contracts, Ethereum smart contracts set specific rules around how users can interact with each other and exchange items of value (e.g., money, information, or property, like band equipment). What makes smart contracts different than their traditional counterparts is their ability to code these rules into a secure blockchain and automatically enforce them. So, transactions on Ethereum can only happen if the specific parameters within the smart contract are met. For example, if Van Halen’s contract rider existed on Ethereum, the band could rest assured knowing that their equipment had only been handled by those who had followed the exact parameters of their contract.

Let’s face it: we’re not all rockstars like Van Halen and blockchain isn’t exactly a consumer technology (at least, not yet), so who does smart contracting benefit? Well, for starters: high-stakes industries like energy that historically haven’t been able to implement AI initiatives because of data security concerns. AI needs lots of data to make predictions, so for companies with highly confidential data, like utilities, lack of secure access to data has been a major blocker for AI. Smart contracting has the potential to spark a massive AI revolution in the industry, and that’s a really big deal.

Let’s say Utility A wants to predict when their transformers might fail. To do this, they would need to provide AI Solution Provider B with data like the exact latitude and longitude of every transformer they operate. This kind of information is incredibly sensitive (and oftentimes, a matter of national security), so without a secure way to share it, utilities could not provide the data necessary for a solution provider to build a customized AI algorithm. However, Ethereum could provide a platform for blockchain-based applications that set specific restrictions around how data can be accessed. In that case, Utility A could set the rule: AI Solution Provider B can access Data C for Purpose D, thus protecting their data from malicious actors or requests.

The potential impact of AI in energy is extraordinary. From predictive maintenance to resiliency planning to grid modernization, AI can improve the reliability and efficiency of operations and service of utilities across the world. And while adopting new technology like blockchain can be daunting for any industry, think of Van Halen’s question from one of their most recent hits: When was the last time you did something for the first time?

Colin Gounden Speaks at the 9th Asian Leadership Conference in Seoul, Korea

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Colin Gounden was invited to speak at the 9th Asian Leadership Conference (ALC) in Seoul, Korea earlier this week. During the session titled “Blockchain in our Lives” Colin discussed VIA’s blockchain application, Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC) and the benefits its smart contract functionality in particular, can have for the energy industry. The session also featured five other executives involved in the blockchain space, including Mike Kayamori, CEO of Quoine, Asia’s largest ever ICO.

ALC is an annual international conference hosted by The Chosunilbo, one of the largest newspapers in Korea. The theme of this year’s conference was “Globalization in Crisis: Navigating the World with New Opportunities” which featured speakers from all over the world, including former Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney and Gerhard Schröder, former Chancellor of Germany, among others.

 

Colin Gounden speaking at ALC 2018.

Colin Gounden Speaks at EUCI Blockchain Technology for the Energy Sector Event in Houston

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Colin Gounden was a featured speaker at EUCI’s latest event “Blockchain Technology for the Energy Sector” on May 9th in Houston, TX. The event focused on the fundamentals of blockchain technology and the opportunities it presents to the energy industry.

Colin’s session, titled “Realizing the Value of Utility Data Through Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence,” highlighted the ways blockchain, and more specifically VIA’s Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC), can provide utilities with more rigorous AI solutions (like predictive maintenance and contingency planning) and streamline compliance filings with regulatory agencies. For more information about Colin’s presentation or VIA’s blockchain solution, email us at info@solvewithvia.com.

VIA Joins NVIDIA Inception Program

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Somerville, MA – May 10, 2018 – VIA, a leader in solving energy industry problems using artificial intelligence and blockchain, is thrilled to announce that it has joined the NVIDIA Inception program, which is designed to nurture startups revolutionizing industries with advancements in AI and data sciences. This will support VIA’s AI solution and further develop its blockchain application through the use of GPUs.

“VIA is excited to be a part of the NVIDIA Inception Program. Simply put, AI would not be where it is today if it were not for the acceleration provided by GPUs. Blockchain applications, such as VIA’s Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC), will also require the type of computing power NVIDIA GPUs deliver and we are enthusiastic about adopting this technology in our development process,” said Jeremy Taylor, Chief Scientific Officer at VIA.

NVIDIA’s Inception program is a virtual accelerator program that helps startups during critical stages of product development, prototyping, and deployment. Every Inception member gets a custom set of ongoing benefits, from hardware grants and marketing support to training with deep learning experts.

About VIA
VIA helps energy companies across the globe realize the value of their data through AI and blockchain. Since 2016, the company has worked with the world’s largest utilities and government agencies on AI initiatives like predictive maintenance and contingency planning. VIA has developed a blockchain-based application, Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC) to help energy companies reduce the burden of preparing and sharing their data. TAC (patent pending) is the bridge that securely connects power company data, distributed across many locations, to potential AI solutions. Headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, VIA has been featured in Wired and Inc. Magazine for its leadership in technology innovation. For more information, please visit www.solvewithvia.com.

Colin Gounden on FutureTech Podcast: AI, Blockchain, and Global Energy Infrastructure

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VIA CEO, Colin Gounden, recently joined FutureTech (now Finding Genius) podcast host, Juliet Lemar, for a conversation about how VIA uses artificial intelligence and blockchain solutions to support the energy industry’s $100 billion a year efforts to maintain, upgrade, and improve energy infrastructure.

The US electric grid is one of the most complex man-made systems ever created. And at over 100 years old, its age has become a major liability for a nation dependent on electricity. Colin said, “When the internet goes out, it’s like going back to 1979. But if electricity goes out, it’s like going back to 1879.” Aging energy infrastructure carries an extremely high risk of failure that can result in power outages. VIA works specifically with electric utilities to help them predict and prioritize this risk.

“We’re at a moment in time when there’s a lot of pent up demand for improving and investing in infrastructure. Utilities can’t update all their equipment at once, so they want to know ‘Where do I start? How do I decide which transformer or transmission tower to replace first?’” Colin elaborated. Using VIA’s AI and blockchain solutions utilities are able to prioritize this risk, making the process of maintaining and upgrading infrastructure more efficient, safe, and cost-effective. Listen to the full podcast here.