Wisewells is a company that produces beacons. A beacon is a short-distance wireless communication device that uses low-power Bluetooth technology. While Bluetooth transmits data bilaterally, these beacons send data in only one direction, eliminating the complexities involved in using Bluetooth. Due to their low power consumptions, beacons are also well-suited for use in IoT devices.

Founded in 2013, Wisewells was selected to be an incubation company at the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation in October 2014. It is currently focusing on services that provide everyday convenience, including beacons for taxi safety and festival information beacons.

The “safe taxi beacon” service automatically transmits information about the taxi (such as the license plate number) and the taxi driver to the passenger’s smartphone through a beacon installed inside the taxi. This information can also be shared with the passenger’s friends. This service is particularly useful for women and senior citizens and is currently being used in 25,000 taxis, including taxis using the Java Taxi mobile application. The “festival information beacon” service transmits data on a particular festival, including the location, itinerary and event content. It was used at the Cheolma Korean Beef Bulgogi Festival held in Gijang-gun, Busan, last October. As these beacons are low-power devices, a single watch-type battery can power one for approximately five years.

Wisewells is currently developing an integrated bicycle management service. This service will feature beacons attached to the seats or handlebars of a bicycles, allowing lost bicycles to be found, bicycles’ previous stops to be identified, and proof of secondhand transactions to be collected. Wisewells has announced that, for its bicycle service, it will be releasing the world’s smallest locator beacon. The bicycle service and the new beacon will be launched sometime in the first half of 2016. The brand name of the beacon will be “miclo,” created by combining the terms “micro” and “locator.”

Wisewells CEO Lee Yoo-hyuk stated, “Thanks to the support of the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation and based on Wisewell’s vision to become a global IoT company, we are planning to enter several developed markets starting next year, including the US, Japan, and Europe.”

By Hwang Jeong-seop  (jshwang@heraldcorp.com)