Italy Innovazioni S.p.A. (EPA: MLITN) announces that it has met with representatives of Third Reality, Inc. and Jiangsu Huitong Group Co., Ltd.
The meetings took place in Shanghai and Zhenjiang, People’s Republic of China, and focused on furthering an interest initially expressed by Third Reality, Inc. than the possibility of exploiting for the U.S. and Chinese markets the intellectual property of Hide, the retractable smart socket from Italy Innovazioni that has sold one million units in Europe and whose U.S. version was successfully presented at the 2019 edition of CES in Las Vegas.
Third Reality, Inc. is a Sino-American company that designs and manufactures solutions in voice-activated home automation of lights and switches while also operating as an ODM for Alexa Voice Service e Google Assistant; Jiangsu Huitong Group Co., Ltd. is manufacturer and ODM for leading home electronics brands including Philips, Amazon, Sharp, Toshiba, Hitach, and Telefónica, which is the manufacturing partner identified for technical capability, quality standards, and industry experience.
The meeting between Third Reality and Hide followed a presentation given by Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service team, which identified the Italian outlet as a cue for the completion and extension of Third Reality’s product range in smart home and voice control.
Giorgio Rende, CEO of Italy Innovazioni S.p.A., said, “We are confident that the Chinese and American markets can be central to Hide’s development; we welcome the interest of our partners and will make ourselves available to make this opportunity successful.”
Xuezhang Dong, CEO of Third Reality, Inc., stated: “The retractable socket with smart device integration perfectly fulfills market demands such as design, innovation and functionality; combining our most advanced technology in voice control with the application possibilities offered by a product like Hide opens up interesting scenarios worth investigating.”
The two companies Italy Innovazioni S.p.A. and Third Reality, Inc. agreed to work on a roadmap with the goal of forming a Joint venture in which both companies participate with the aim of pooling not only intellectual property assets, but also their respective technical and business expertise for the Commercial launch in the U.S. and China of Hide, including versions containing Alexa technology developed by Third Reality. The roadmap will continue for 2019.