The 2019 edition of IoT Solutions World Congress in Barcelona (IoTSWC 2019) takes place from 29th to 31st October. According to the organizers the number of exhibitors should grow by 15 percent in comparison with last year, making IoTSWC again an event to attend.
The focus is on the digitalization of industries with the industrial Internet taking center stage. As you might know organizer Fira de Barcelona has a partnership with the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), so Industry 4.0 and digital transformation of sectors such as transport, manufacturing, healthcare, energy, utilities, construction, infrastructure, retail, and agriculture will again get the necessary attention.
Additionally, the convergence of technologies – not just IT and OT – is an important element at IoT Solutions World Congress since various converging technologies accelerate digital transformation across these industries. As IDC calls them: innovation accelerators, on top of good old big data (analytics), cloud, mobile and social business.
IoT solutions indeed are just part of a broader picture whereby, depending on the business goal and use case, technology categories such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, blockchain, robotics and so many other technologies enable to, in the end, fully leverage the data a connected industry approach enables to gather, analyze and leverage for decisions, (semi-)automated actions and new business models.
Digitalizing industries at IoTSWC 2019 – the converged and realistic way
Although most Industrial Internet cases are still more about automation and internal goals that business model transformation aspect does deserve to be reminded.
With everything in the end revolving around how you use, present and leverage data in a way that makes sense the good old mantra of information management professionals plays here as well: the right information at the right time for the right decisions and any variation that uses the word ‘right’.
With increasing demands in terms of speed (and real-time possibilities) you can of course also expect the necessary attention for edge computing (and the likes) at IoT Solutions World Congress. Add the mobility aspect and fact that those licenses will have to pay themselves back sooner or later and you have another topic that will get quite some attention at IoT Solutions World Congress 2019: 5G; how else could it be (although, in reality, you’ll encounter quite some other wireless IoT technologies for a few more years)?
On the level of technologies in industrial Internet applications and the ways data are leveraged for more complex applications, there are, among others VR/AR, 3D-printing and of course digital twins.
So, digitalizing industries – the converged way – is what it will all be about at IoTSWC 2019, even if especially IoT, AI and blockchain are highlighted.
The sessions of IoTSWC 2019 are divided into nine thematic areas: IoT enabling technologies, connected transport, manufacturing, energy and utilities, healthcare, buildings and infrastructure, open industry, artificial intelligence and blockchain.
IoT Solutions World Congress 2019 expects over 400 exhibitors with over 400 speakers hosting the congress, all discussing the benefits of digitalization based on their experiences, while analyzing the challenges and new implications opening in this era of smart connectivity, the organizers promise. Most participating companies this year comes from Spain, the USA, China, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Focus on start-ups at IoT Solutions World Congress with IoT Solutions.Font
The Industrial IoT landscape is one of ecosystems and partnerships between industry leaders, integrators, partners and obviously innovative start-ups.
Under the name IoT Solutions.Font, IoT Solutions World Congress 2019 gives extra visibility to start-ups that developed innovative – and proven – products and services based on IoT, AI and blockchain with a potential for internationalization.
In collaboration with Conector Startup Accelerator, around 20 of these start-ups have been selected to not just exhibit at the trade fair but to also take place in a start-up competition whereby the winner will gain direct access to a Connector acceleration program. The various start-ups can also present their solutions in network activities with investors, sponsors and visitors.
The start-ups that have been selected are already notified by now and a list should appear soon on the event website.
Notable speakers and presentations at IoT Solutions World Congress 2019
In the meantime, the full program of IoT Solutions World Congress 2019 is available as well.
You can expect presentations and/or cases with representatives from companies such as Carrefour, Uber, Airbus, Hugo Boss, SNCF Réseau, Maersk GTD, Merck and Daimler Motors.
And obviously there are the technology company representatives and analysts whereby the IoTSWC 2019 organizers highlight Joe Barkai whom you might know from his book “The Outcome Economy: How the Industrial Internet of Things is Transforming Every Business“. Barkai’s topic in Barcelona: “The Age of Artificial Intelligence: What will the world look like in 10 years?” A good question indeed.
The organizers also highlight some presentations that show how presenting companies will focus on how IoT, AI and blockchain helped them realize benefits or on the evolutions within their sectors.
- Uber will explain how it used IoT to help minimize costs when deploying fleets of electric vehicles;
- Daimler Motors will tackle the IoT revolution in the automotive industry;
- Carrefour talks about its experiences as a pioneer in deploying blockchain technology to learn about the traceability of the food it sells in its establishments;
- Airbus will take a deeper diver into a blockchain- based project to track programmed drone routes and guarantee airspace safety;
- French public railway company SNCF will present the results it obtained after applying predictive maintenance via IoT on its 30,000 km of track, 15,000 trains and 3,000 stations;
- Hugo Boss will explain how AI and automatic learning change their production systems, market access and retail sales opportunities.
- Sainsbury’s will talk about how it applies IoT systems to control the temperature of food in its retail facilities;
- Brussels Airport will present its strategies for making passenger travel “smart” and “seamless” from their arrival at the airport, boarding the plane, crossing the border, collecting luggage to arriving home;
- The cities of Kuwait and Doha will share their experiences regarding the implementation of a real-time IoT monitoring network to monitor air quality and protect citizens.
Testbeds at IoTSWC 2019
In the testbed area at IoTSWC 2019, finally around a dozen industrial internet applications will be on display.
The testbeds at the event:
- An application by GFT IT Consulting S.L. that measures the driver’s behavior to update the cost of insurance policies;
- Drones, sensors and blockchain that monitor the water quality of the Volga River by Libelium, in collaboration with its distributor in Russia, Smart IoT Distributions, Airalab and Togliatti State University;
- An autonomous electric car equipped with a cybersecurity system that blocks attacks that jeopardize the reliability or privacy of the vehicle from TÜV SÜD, developed by LHP Engineering Services, Xilinx, National Instruments and Aicas GmbH;
- A solution to check gas distribution networks, reducing energy losses and preventing fraud (Nedgia, a gas distributor belonging to Naturgy, in partnership with MAHLE Thermoelektronic GmbH and ALLWIZE Communications);
- A platform that combines IoT, artificial intelligence and 5G to provide predictive medical care and handle emergencies affecting the elderly and chronically ill by i2CAT, together with ConnecThink and Monolitic;
- A system to inspect and repair wind farm turbines using drones, AI and the cloud by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy with Microsoft Azure, Covizmo DK APS, GamaSmart and Clobotics;
- An assembly assistance system which accurately guides the employees of a factory through the different steps to be performed by Bosch Rexroth S.L.U;
- An application to enable farmers to view the status of their holdings in real time and facilitate their decision-making (the Smarteye Project, an initiative resulting in the collaboration between Ibercaja, Integra, Microsoft and, again, Libelium);
- Software based on artificial intelligence for submersible pumps used in oil wells (ZYFRA, in partnership with Slavneft).
Earlier the organizers of IoT Solutions World Congress 2019 said that Fiware Foundation, together with the IDSA, Prostep, Capvidia, SAS, IBM, Orbitor and Fraunhofer developed an experimental environment to evaluate the benefits of the new generation of digital twins in the manufacturing process, the monitoring of products through IoT and 3D printing services for spare parts, whereby they are capable of exchanging data with real environments through blockchain to provide support and improve specific production processes in manufacturing plants.
The applications have been selected by a committee of experts coordinated by the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), with representatives from the IoT Council, Ametic, Cenesis, Machine Design and ABII.
By way of a reminder and part of the reasons why IoT, AI and blockhain are often mentioned together (which doesn’t mean that they don’t converge in more than one way of course): IoT Solutions World Congress comes with two co-located events: Blockchain Solutions World and AI & Cognitive Systems Forum.
