KONE announces an open competition to connect almost anything to an elevator

KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, is launching an open competition, KONE DX Experiments, to identify innovative new ideas on what to connect to KONE DX Class elevators. The mind, a wheelchair, a drone, a smartwatch – what would you connect?

After launching the world’s first digital elevator series, KONE DX Class elevators are now being delivered in many markets around the world. Together with the KONE digital platform and secure, open application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow almost anything to be connected to the elevator, KONE’s customers can tailor and plug in additional digital services and solutions throughout the entire lifetime of a building.

KONE now announces a global competition to explore fun, surprising and useful ideas around what can be connected to KONE DX Class elevators. From January 21, KONE DX Experiments will be open for anyone. The winning idea will lead to some real-life experiments being conducted.

“The idea behind DX Experiments is to get more people involved in making people flow easier and making smart buildings more adaptable. It is also about making cities more sustainable and future-proof,” says Maciej Kranz, EVP and CTO, KONE. “We would like to encourage our customers, startups, partners, students, architects, developers, builders and tenants to share their ideas and join this open innovation initiative.”

To demonstrate what can be achieved, KONE has already shown what can happen if an elevator can be mind-controlled.

“The sky is the limit! What app, what service, what value would you create? We have only seen the tip of the iceberg of what is possible. From sustainable technologies to transport, from smart buildings to other apps and services, we want to know what you would want to connect, if you could,” says Tomio Pihkala, EVP, New Equipment Business, KONE.

The final day for submitting ideas to the KONE DX Experiments contest is February 19. Details of entry, and terms and conditions can be found here.