Amazon’s voice technology ‘Alexa’ forms the backbone of the firm’s Echo platform, but Alexa is also finding its way into a string of third party innovations.

Amazon has launched a $100 million strong fund to fuel voice technology innovation, with the intention of ensuring it becomes the key tool used in home lighting control.

Named the Alexa Fund after the voice that assists users on the company’s Amazon Echo platform, the venture capital stream aims to fundamentally improve the way that people use voice technology, including to control lighting.

The Alexa Fund will offer financial help to independent developers and device-makers who wish to advance voice technology, be that through creating new Alexa capabilities, or by expanding the boundaries of voice technology through development and research.

As part of the Fund, Amazon has launched the Alexa Accelerator, which aims to encourage start-ups to bring their voice technology aspirations into a concrete reality.

Companies are chosen after a rigorous selection process and are then invited to take part in a 13-week program in Seattle, where they get the opportunity to work with leading technologists and product leaders from Amazon and Techstars.

The Alexa Fund has already helped a number of start-ups, including Musaic, a voice activated, wireless HiFi system that allows users to integrate smart lighting to react to a particular playlist or song.

The Fund has also invested $35 million in the smart thermostat system Echobee, £5.6 million in the Alexa powered video intercom Nucleus and has made a further million-dollar investment in Rachio, a smart sprinkler system.

The Alexa Fund has been labelled as a ‘stealth takeover’ of the smart home market by Amazon and it is possible that future smart lighting apps and devices may be developed with Amazon money.

At major technology shows, such as the Consumer Electronics Show in the United States, Amazon were not obviously present. However, Alexa technology could be found in numerous third party devices from lighting systems, to home security cameras and cars.

Nevertheless, despite Amazon’s surreptitious attempts to conquer the smart lighting market, the company does face stringent opposition from the likes of Apple’s Homeworks, Google’s upcoming Brillo and Samsung’s SmartThings.

But for now, Amazon is the logical choice for third party Internet of Things start-ups looking for investment and that doesn’t look likely to change any time soon.

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The Echo is a smart-speaker that responds to the name ‘Alexa’.

Philips Hue will also be compatible with the Echo, meaning you will be able to adjust the strength of your light fixtures using your own voice.

The Amazon Echo will feature a voice control capability that will allow you to turn off your lights and adjust your central heating with the sound of your voice. The Echo is a smart-speaker that responds to the name ‘Alexa’.

Amazon has announced a partnership with Hive, the smart-home platform developed by British Gas. The Echo will be compatible with Hive Lights and and Hive Active Heating.

Philips Hue will also be compatible with the Echo, meaning you will be able to adjust the strength of your light fixtures using your own voice.

As well as the Echo, Amazon are also launching the cheaper second generation Echo Dot mini-speaker, which features an even more nimble ‘Alexa’, which can trigger pre-set home lighting scenes. This means that you will also be able to voice-activate colour changing as well as dimming your lighting.

So, if you have created a sunny lighting scene in your bedroom that involves orange and red hues that adjusts in brightness as the sun sets, you could activate this by simply saying, ‘Alexa, turn on scene sunny day’ and she will happily oblige, (that is if you want to ascribe a sex to a gadget designed by a multi-billion dollar corporation out to get you to spend more money.)

You will not be able to ask ‘Alexa’ to change the colour of individual light sources if you are using the Hue, but you will be in with a chance if you own Hue’s competitor Lifx, which is compatible with Amazon’s speaker.

Hue is able to communicate with ‘Alexa’s’ arch-enemy ‘Siri’ though to change the colour of individual light sources.

The Amazon Echo will be available to buy from the 16th of September 2016.

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