Arrow Electronics Helps Tech Startups Boost Their Engineering Capability

Arrow Open Lab to offer free engineering consultations to help develop 5G-ready and AI-powered edge devices

June 9, 2020, Hong Kong – Global technology-solutions provider Arrow Electronics, Inc. today announced it will offer free consultations to local technology startups and the innovation community at its Arrow Open Lab located at Hong Kong Science Park.  The initiative is part of Arrow’s commitment to supporting technology enterprises, startups, and the academic community to create, make and manage 5G-ready and AI-powered edge and endpoint devices for commercialization or R&D development.  Millions of AI-powered IoT edge or endpoint devices being deployed on 5G networks will profoundly change the way we live, do business and interact with each other and the environment^[1].

“We established our first Open Lab in Hong Kong as part of our long-term commitment to give local technology companies as well as the university community access to world-class engineering expertise and resources,” said Simon Yu, president of Arrow’s Asia-Pacific components business.  “I am delighted to welcome technology innovators, developers, and academia to our free engineering consultations at Arrow Open Lab so they can gain the necessary advice and resources to commercialize their innovative ideas into business opportunities in the 5G and AI era.”

The free consultations aim to help technology companies configure the electronic system architecture design of their edge endpoints/devices for delivering optimal results across 5G networks and AI technology.  Arrow’s engineers and technical experts will provide insights and recommendations across the development roadmap including:

• Selecting the system architecture with the most desirable and power-efficient computing for running AI algorithm (CPU vs FPGA vs GPU vs ASIC)
• Integrating a massive network of AI-powered sensors to yield actionable data insights
• Understanding 5G-specific protocol performance validation and standard and regulation compliance
• Formulating end-to-end security strategy with bi-directional network and node authentication to ensure secured access of data

To help the local engineering and innovation community navigate their path to adopting emerging technologies, Arrow has co-organized a webinar from June 9-11, 2020 in conjunction with Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), to discuss opportunities and challenges associated with the convergency of 5G, AI, IoT technologies (Link).

“HKSTP works with many partners to enable the I&T ecosystem.  We thank Arrow, being one of the incredible partners, for its long-term support for accelerating the innovative journey of technology companies and universities in Hong Kong with us. The Arrow Open Lab has a track record of helping high-growth companies leverage the power of AIoT and 5G. Now, with free consultations available, it is exciting to see Arrow’s expertise being delivered to a wider audience, helping startups at Science Park and beyond to expand the possibilities of innovation,” said Ir Peter Yeung, head of Electronics/ICT Clusters & Smart City Platform of HKSTP.

Arrow’s engineers at Open Lab worked closely with CUHK’s Embedded AI and IoT Lab team to launch the first healthcare monitoring proof-of-concept design incorporating Analog Devices’ 3D time-of-flight technology.  This demonstrates a successful commercial application of AI and deep-learning technologies.

Arrow Open Lab has assisted hundreds of technology companies and startups from the region in their idea-to-prototype-to-product innovation journey.  The free consultation will be open to registered members, and available at the Arrow Open Lab until the end of this year.  Contact openlab.hk@arrowasia.com or visit this site for more information.

Main picture: Arrow Electronics, HKSTP and CUHK Institute of Network Coding TO co-host “Sensor & 5G Technology Revolution” webinar