IoT World Congress 2017 seen by the BTS students

As part of the introductory week of the academic year of the Barcelona Technology School the students of both, Master in Digital Solutions Development and Master in Big Data Solutions, had the opportunity to attend the IoT World Congress, the largest and most innovative event in the field.

They were part of the more than 13000 attendees that walked through the Barcelona Fira to witness the latest IoT solutions in industries such as Manufacturing, Healthcare, Energy, Connected Transport, Infrastructure, Retail, Agriculture, Hospitality and many more.

Two of our Master’s students, Sereen and Cristiana, share following their experience and thoughts about their first immersion within the digital ecosystem in Barcelona, in a Congress this magnitude.

Sereen Masri:

The first week of the master’s program, we attended the IOT Solutions (Internet of Things) World Congress in Barcelona. This was a great experience, I have never really been to a huge tech conference and to be honest, I never really understood the concept of the “Internet of things.” However, in my first Digital Business class we learned about the concept of disruption in the digital industry and how technology will basically infiltrate every industry. In this class, I finally understood the “internet of things,” which is basically bringing “life” to any ordinary “thing” through technical connectivity. The concept of Smart Cities and Smart Homes is really where this industry will flourish, in my opinion. My dad has connected the control of the Central AC in our home through a device he purchased and then connected to the products app on his iPhone. He can now control the temperature, fan and activation/de-activation of the AC through the app on his phone, from anywhere. This Is just one example of the many disruptive transformations in the Internet of Things industry.

The Internet of Things is really the center of the future in the digital industry. It will have a huge impact on the economy and society as a whole. As I previously mentioned, the impact of this industry on “Smart Cities,” will be huge, in my opinion at least. Connecting the way we currently live and operate day-to-day is positively disrupting the world. It will help improve the state of the environment by better utilizing natural resources, sustainable energy, etc. Through the connection of solar panels, wind mills, and many other renewable resources to technology our environment will slowly begin to improve. This will provide more opportunities to predict natural disasters before they occur or even to reduce the cause of natural disasters hence, creating a more sustainable environment for future generations.

The IOT World Congress was a place where hundreds of companies, came to showcase their current disruptive products in the industry. I saw some crazy concepts that will really change the way our society currently operates. A smart city, where everything is connected to many databases that will analyze collected data to increase efficiency across a multitude of industries. From smart farming which can help farmers indicate the best growth and harvest condition of crops, to detecting the vibrational frequency on a train track that will indicate when maintenance is needed.

Needless to say, it was all very eye-opening for me and some of my classmates. We have the opportunity to watch technology transform the world; one “thing” at a time. I think in just my first week of the course I have been introduced to so many technical concepts and opportunities that I would never have considered. Digital transformation is the way of the future, the possibilities are endless.

Cristiana Davis:

BTS is committed on introducing us in the Digital Environment as much as possible. Not only inside the classroom with the theory, but out there, where everything is really happening. That’s why they took us to the IoT event in Barcelona, witch really opened my mind.

The day started with our teacher taking us all to breakfast, which was a good moment to get to know our colleagues as well and see that we had a lot in common, despite coming from very different countries.

After some talking was time to go to the event. And for me, it was mind-blowing. Sometimes you think you know about something and when you go to an event like that you realize how wrong you were. There’s just so much more.

It was great to see so many companies doing so many different things and having our teacher of Digital Business with us was very helpful to understand the whole complexity of what was being shown. Expressions like Block Chain, AI, Internet of Things, Machine Learning, Big Data and many more, all started to make sense and connect somehow in my brain.

We were able to see some fantastic ideas and to talk to people from all over the world. We got a lot of new connections and even were able to start talking about internships, even though it was our first week of class. There are just so many positions in the digital environment, it’s insane.

It was good to see that Barcelona is indeed a digital city and I realize now that I made the right choice coming here, because the digital field has so many possibilities and BTS is preparing me to understand all of them and make the right decisions in my life.

I’m sure it will be a great year.