Arrow Electronics Empowers Hong Kong Startups to Accelerate Commercialization of Smart Sports Gadget

Arrow Open Lab makes engineering support more accessible to bring innovative products to life

Global technology solutions provider Arrow Electronics today announced its IoT and engineering services collaboration with Hong Kong-based technology startup Platysens to accelerate the commercialization of smart and connected sports devices. Powered by sensing and IoT technologies, smart sports gadgets can bridge the physical and digital world by collecting a wealth of information about performance metrics and providing real-time actionable insights for sports enthusiasts, athletes, and trainers to strive for continuous improvement.

The global sports technology market is expected to grow at CAGR 20.4% by 2027, according to a recent research.1 Founded by sports enthusiasts in 2014, Platysens is a startup focused on sports sensors and analysis. "Today the world of sports has been increasingly shaped by technology integration," said CY Wong, founder of Platysens, "We see there is a unfulfilled demand in the market for robust smart wearables to provide swimmers with accurate and real-time data and analysis. Thanks to the engineering guidance and support by Arrow, we are able to rapidly integrate IoT and sensing technology and shorten our new product introduction cycle."

Benefited from the free engineering consultative services available at Arrow's Open Lab located in Hong Kong Science Park, Platysens is able to rapidly combine algorithm, IoT, and sensing technology to accelerate its new smart product development schedule. With the engineering support and consultative service provided by Arrow engineers at its Open Lab, Platysens put together a working prototype for its new product SEAL, which is expected to be launched by end of the year. This smart gadget is designed to capture the motion and force of the swimmer exerted by different parts of the body over time. Powered by STMicroelectronics MEMS, force sensor, and Nordic Semiconductor Bluetooth low-energy system-on-a-chip, the device transforms physical strokes and force movement into digital data, delivering real-time and accurate actionable insights for swimmers and trainers to understand efficiency and maximize performance.

"We are consistently seeking ways to make it easier for innovators and engineers to create, make and manage the technology of tomorrow," said Jacky Wan, Arrow's vice president of engineering for APAC. "We are excited to be a trusted technology partner to Platysens and many other technology startups and companies in the region, guiding them through the journey, starting from ideation to proof of concept, design, testing, and mass production."

Platysens was also an Incu-Tech program graduate of Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) in 2017. "HKSTP offers world-class infrastructure and services to help tech companies and startups accelerate their innovation journey to commercial success. Many of our startups are young engineers and entrepreneurs with great ideas. The collaboration between Arrow and Platysens is a great example of two companies with different expertise coming together within our ecosystem," said Ir. Peter Yeung, Head of Electronics & ICT Clusters of HKSTP.

Demonstrating Arrow's commitment to making best-in-class design tools, resources, and engineering expertise accessible to innovators and engineers, Arrow's Open Lab has assisted hundreds of technology companies and startups from the region in their idea-to-prototype-to-product innovation journey.

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About Arrow Electronics

Arrow Electronics (NYSE:ARW) guides innovation forward for over 175,000 leading technology manufacturers and service providers. With 2019 sales of $29 billion, Arrow develops technology solutions that improve business and daily life.

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Source: Arrow Electronics