What is FIWARE?

FIWARE (http://FIWARE.org) is an open alternative to existing proprietary Internet platforms as those provided by Amazon or Google that enables an easy development of deployment of Future Internet applications.

In FIWARE, APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) specifications are public and royalty-free, supported by open source reference implementations.  Thanks to that, alternative FIWARE instance providers can emerge faster in the market.

Due to its open nature, application providers will be able to choose who will be provide and operate the environment where their applications will be hosted and, even more important, the data to be used by their applications will be also hosted.  The same way, open data providers will be able to choose who will provide and operate the environment where open data will be made available together with the tools that help to process data in real time and perform big data analysis. In both cases, decisions can be driven not just based in economic terms but trust and the ability to port applications and data to alternative providers without the burden application providers have to face when trying to port their applications from a proprietary environment where they have got locked in.  Thus, for example, Smart Cities will be capable to choose who will be the provider of the environment where they will deploy applications dealing with an efficient management of city services.  They will also be able to publish their open data in that environment where third parties developing applications that rely on the data can also deploy their applications.

What is FI-Lab?

However, FIWARE’s potential doesn’t rely only on the technology and the free-to-choose options it brings.  A great and powerful open innovation ecosystem is being developed around FIWARE technologies, again not tied to any particular provider, enabling application developers (particularly entrepreneurs) to meet potential users/customers, data providers or even investors and vice versa.  This open innovation ecosystem gravitates around FI-Lab (http://lab.FIWARE.org) a concrete working FIWARE instance offered to developers for free so that they can experiment and deploy showcase using FIWARE technologies and exploiting published open data

The following figure summarizes some of the benefits that will help to engage major stakeholders as part of the envisioned open innovation ecosystem.

Going further into more details, FIWARE provides advanced Cloud hosting capabilities based on the widely adopted OpenStack platform.   Besides this capabilities, FIWARE provides a rich library of the so-called “Generic Enablers” offering a number of added-value capabilities offered “as a Service”.   These Generic Enablers make it rather easy to develop applications in multiple sectors. Connection to the Internet of Things, storage, real-time processing and publication of data and content, analysis of data (Big Data) at large scale, applications and contents co-creation or  development of advanced user interfaces, providing augmented reality functions, are examples of tasks that become much easier to implement using FIWARE.  This way, application providers will get rid of the complexity inherent to supporting these capacities. They will be able to focus their resources in development of those value-added functions that are specific to their applications, where the differential innovation resides.

The following figure summarizes the major FIWARE technical chapters:

Why FIWARE and what is the FI-PPP (Future Internet Private Public Partnership)?

Few things have impacted so much in our lives and the way companies make business as the Internet and the Web has done.  The first huge impact (revolutionary wave) came because, enabled by the Web, Internet became the “Information Superhighway” that made knowledge and contents accessible as never before.  Internet became a new channel that companies adopted to manage a more effective relationship with their customer as well as other companies (this disruption was well-know as the so-called e-business transformation).  A second revolution came with the advent of the Web 2.0 phenomena and the rapid development of Social Networks.  New ways of communication have emerged leveraging on the full potential of individuals and their social networks. They have became the center of Internet, not just the information. Visibility, meritocracy and recognition had never been so open to opportunities that everyone can benefit.

A new digital revolution will come and it promises to impact the daily life of people and businesses radically. This third revolution relies on a simple yet rather powerful concept: the Internet will become the “Next Computer”.  This computer will bring capabilities beyond those of mere hosting of applications and data/content on the Cloud.   Actually, it will bring capabilities enabling applications to connect easily with the Internet of Things (including not just sensors and actuators but more sophisticated devices such as robots, or to capture, process and publish media content or data about context in real-time, extract knowledge through analysis of BigData analysis, or provide a richer user experience based on Augmented Reality functions, among other possibilities. Such “computer” will be always available, seamless accessible from any device.

Applications targeted to the mass market (i.e., twitter or Instagram) are examples of the first applications that are deployed on this “next computer” the Internet has transformed into.  However, this revolutionary wave promises to radically impact the “how-to” in multiple sectors of the economy such as those linked to the Smart Cities, the Factories of the Future, the Logistics, the Agrifood sector or the Health sector, to mention some examples.

Aiming to react to this revolunatiory transformation that is coming, the European Commission (EC) and the major ICT players in Europe launched the FI-PPP (Future Internet Public-Private Partnership) program in 2011.  This program is targeted to ensure that Europe is in the best position to capture the opportunities that will arise as a result of the new digital revolution that will affect all sectors of the economy.  The strategy of the program is to develop a cloud platform (FIWARE) that can be offered as an open alternative to those proprietary ones provided by existing incumbent players on the Internet.  Somehow, this is derived from lessons learned in the past because many of us would agree that the Web and the Internet hadn’t been as they are today if open technologies such as Linux, Apache, MySQL or PHP hadn’t emerge as alternatives to existing proprietary platforms. Similarly, open alternatives should exist in order to make the Future Internet something that brings equal opportunities to everyone and is not driven by just a few players. In addition, the program addresses the creation of an open innovation ecosystem around FIWARE technologies that bring value to entrepreneurs as part of its strategy (FI-Lab).

 An ambitious plan open to other regions

The investment associated with this public-private partnership has reached dimensions never seen before in the ICT sector in Europe, involving a joint investment of more than  €400 Million euros.

FIWARE has reached enough level of maturity as it has started to be used by developers who have provided a rather positive feedback (check interviews to winners of the first hackathons as well as recent challenges launched by FIWARE).  The first commercial offerings will arrive later this year (coming from Telefónica as well as other FIWARE partners). On the other hand, FI-Lab was launched by European Commissioner Neelie Kroes on September 3th, 2013 in the Campus Party Europe celebrated in London.

It is worth highlighting that the FI-PPP was launched in Europe but it is open to other regions that share the same vision and goals.  This way, developers will benefit from the existence of a single set of standard APIs supported by reliable providers in each region. 

Funding and support for innovative applications developed by SMEs and entrepreneurs

2014 is a key year for the development and implementation of the FIWARE platform in projects developed by SMEs and entrepreneurs. Throughout the year, FIWARE will aim to promote the innovation and development of the Future Internet in Europe through the funding of companies and entrepreneurs, the expansion of FI-LAB, the development of Smart Cities and the launch of new challenges for the best applications:

• The European Union will finance companies and entrepreneurs who develop applications based on FIWARE technologies with 100 million euros.  The initiative will benefit more than 1,000 companies that will be selected through an open call process.  Each of the selected SMEs may receive funding in the order of €50,000 to €150,000.

• FI-Lab, the FIWARE's cloud innovation laboratory, will expand its capacity by means of adding other datacenter nodes (in addition to the first ones located in Spain)  This way, during 2014-2015, new datacenters will be opened in countries such as Italy, Greece and the Czech Republic.

• One of the most relevant domains for the application of FIWARE technologies is the one associated with Smart Cities. FIWARE will provide technologies that enable the leverage on Open Data that cities publish.  FI-Lab is providing the opportunity of going one step beyond the mere publication of open data: the provision of technologies that ease exploitation of data from applications. 

• FIWARE will release two new challenges that will reward the best applications developed using this platform with more than €340,000. On the one hand, it will award those applications that help to promote initiatives that benefit society in areas of education, health or inclusion. On the other, FIWARE will also award the excellence of different open-themed applications that make use of FIWARE technologies.