On a flight Madrid-Berlin gives time to think a lot about IoT. To think about how to improve the traveler's experience, to discover how much is missing to see autonomous cars on our roads, when the desired data sharing between public and private transport services will occur, and in many other ideas that some would call visionary or futuristic.
Berlin is a city that still breathes twentieth century and Germany faithful to its traditions is conservative in terms of innovation. Their admired industrial companies move slowly when adopting new technologies. In their favor, once they decide to move, they move all at once and cause a significant change in the industry. And that is what I perceived at the Industry of Things 2019 event.
In Berlin, companies know what Industrial IoT (IIoT) is, and IIoT solution providers’ efforts focus on how to implement IIoT. The level of adoption in the DACH and Nordic regions is bigger than other European regions but still remains low (especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)).
The first thing to highlight in this event is that here “AI has not devoured IoT”. Organizers do not try to fill auditoriums and beat attendee figures records with other parallel events of AI, Blockchain, AR / VR 5G, DevOps, etc. Here we all have come to talk and listen to the Industry of Things.
It has been edifying to be able to listen to clients like Rolls Royce or Trump telling their experiences and giving recommendations to succeed in IIoT projects and also to IIoT vendors such as SAG Cumulocity, HPE, AWS, Siemens or Huawei sharing their news and vision. All of them are clear that IIoT must be part of a new paradigm of business systems integration.
The most realistic phrase I heard came from the HP speaker "Don't look for disruptive companies like Uber in the Industrial Internet of Things market." Here the new business models will take time to appear. Conversations with other exhibitors and visitors agreed with this phrase.
One aspect that does not seem to evolve is the proportionality of men and women who work or at least attend Industrial IoT events. I hope that the training and market potential will attract more women to this industry in the future.
It is hard to believe that if many intelligent people think of the benefit that would bring their companies and the industry to share data, why CEOs and CFOs and the Boards continue to kill any share data / open data initiative. Walled garden should not be a medium-term objective. In this we all agreed too.
Fortunately for the industrial market in Germany and Europe, China continues to adopt these technologies at a similar slow pace. Although China may be more advanced in Digitalization (e-Payment for example) in the industrial IoT they are as conservative as we are. It is a comfort but also a window opportunity to put ourselves the batteries.
Another aspect to highlight in this event were the Round Tables. I went through several of these tables and the participation, ideas and conclusions were very instructive. It is very good to listen to the main actors (companies) talking about their challenges, needs, solutions and desires. One of the main conclusions of these round tables was that German CEOs have very clear their priorities with IIoT: ROI, Performance and Quality.
Nor were some start-ups and enthusiastic entrepreneurs missing in Berlin. You can't see everyone, but I had time to change impressions with CloudRail, Juconn, TechMass , Ekkono and WolkAbout. And of courses there were some IIoT Platform vendors like AWS, SAG Cumulocity, Device Insight , Relayr or Waylay. As I have said many times it is not necessary to analyze 400 platforms, for each type of local, regional or global enterprise there is a maximum 3-4 platform superheroes vendors to select.
Congratulations to all nominees: modjoul, Stora Enso, Ham-Let, Honeywell and winners (Fette Compacting took the trophy home with their Virtual Reality Line Clearance Training in the category Best Implementation of IIoT Technology on the shop floor, and BAM GmbH up2parts – the revolution of digital manufacturing won in the category Best IIoT Product or Service) in the first Industry of Things World Award exciting ceremony.
I also made room to talk about IoT connectivity with Lumenradio, SigFox, Multefire organization. The last session, however, to discuss the impact and need for 5G in IoT was shallow.
And to finally my summary, it was great hear people talking about IoT LifeCycle Management. Dear friends, contacts, followers and readers: IoT is real and is here to stay. Some companies have already passed the hell of the Proof of Concept. Remind that IoT is not just ideas, development and pilots. IoT is also thinking about Operations and Maintenance.
