Defining the future and building clarity seems audacious or at least adventurous in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world coping with crises of all sorts. And yet, the speakers of the third day at the IOTSWC23 made it clear that the future is now and that actions should be taken when needed, meaning “very shortly”.
Accordingly, they emphasized that for leveraging emerging technologies, reinventing businesses and paving the way for sustainability and efficiency “we need to be aware that we’re all on the same boat”. Not just for security reasons and because “cybersecurity is a shared responsibility,” as Eduvigis Ortiz, Founder and President at Women4 Cyber Spain, put first thing in the morning, but because “no one can do this transformation alone,” said Yasser Alsaied, VP of IoT at AWS.
“It’s extremely important to succeed in any vertical to leave the ego out and collaborate with partners,” he added while showcasing examples of AWS projects for predictive maintenance allowing us to make better decisions.
However, it’s not all about avoiding or reducing downtimes and machine standstills. “The factory of the future will be human-centred, resilient and sustainable,” stated Seonhi Ro, Manufacturing Industry 4.0 Specialist at Ford, who talked about Industry 5.0. For a good reason. As she acknowledged, the Industry 4.0 drivers fell short of taking into account both the limitations of the planetary resources and the needs of people.
So, the planning and execution with real-time track and trace, self-monitoring and self-adaptive logistics, optimized production and a robust product life cycle management enabled by AI, Digital Twins and Blockchain are not only oriented to better productivity but to develop a more human-centred and sustainable business. The KNX Startup Forum for companies in the Home and Building Automation industry, at nearly the end of the day, also fostered this approach.
At this point, you might be thinking that these lines are beating about the bush or even that we’re back to square one. But, in the end, it all makes sense: On the first day we said that digital transformation is about Doing well by doing good, on the second day we wondered Why is so hard to walk the talk, and on the last day we’re recognizing that in business you’d better be Never one to shirk a challenge. Formulating hypotheses and confirming them as part of the debate. Challenge taken. More than 15,600 attendees confirmed it. Now, they all have food for thought till the next IOT Solutions World Congress, to be held in May 2024.
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Article by: Anna Solana