Internet of Things World Congress 2016

Barcelona, for the second year, has been the host of the Internet of Thing World Congress (IoT WC), the world leading IoT industry event that gathers in one place the most influential international companies showing their latest solutions and products on the field of the connected devices.

During the three days of the Congress, more than 8.000 worldwide attendants witnessed the latest work of more than 170 international companies immersing in the technology of the IoT, the internetworking of smart devices generators of data. Besides, new discussions and topics came to the table with the participation of more than 160 influential IoT thought leaders that explained their vision of how IoT is affecting several industries nowadays. Areas such as manufacturing, healthcare, energy & utilities, transportation & logistics, innovation, technology, among others, are proof of this influence and were the protagonist fields of the Congress this year.

As an example of the topics of discussion during the event, we can mention the Microsoft Keynote about the remote monitoring of patients through IoT for the control of a specific disease or how this, combined with cloud analytics, can represent a digital transformation in hospital centers. For instance, a patient with diabetes can be controlled from distance, the disease can be tracked and the person prevented from a major health danger, which are benefits that we never imagined before.

IoT a disruptive technology

The boundaries of today’s systems are stretching thanks to the interaction with “smart objects”, which is giving the world the opportunity to connect in ways that we could never consider possible in the past.

The Internet of Things, as a technological phenomenon, integrates physical objects into the information network, which generates massive amounts of data, billions of internet-connected ‘things’ that are being converted into services. IoT is feeding the Big Data and as consequence, data analytics is becoming a must in order to improve the user experience and the service itself.

In relation to this, Sudha Jamthe – member of the Barcelona Technology School Strategic Advisory Board, IoT author and Stanford professor in the field– indicates in her book “The Internet of Things Business Primer” that the boundary between human and machine is blurred already. Initiatives as the Bio Payments, an embedded chip into a human body that stores data in order to do payments with the wave of a hand,  wearables that are able to read your body vitals in case of emergency, or the connected cars that notify other pilots of your behaviour on the road, are just some examples of how the devices are forming active part in our daily life to make it easier and even safer.

Barcelona an evolving IoT Ecosystem

Barcelona is taking direct part of the world’s digital transformation and is already a smart city of reference in the international scene. The city holds the Mobile World Congress, is the European city where more Big Data projects are being generated and now it is also becoming a reference in terms of Internet of Things.

Barcelona wants to take advantage of this potential, seeking collaboration with companies and initiatives of social and technological innovation. In this way, the City Council backs and encourages entrepreneurship projects, local companies and research organizations with the aim of promoting sustainable actions that meet the needs of the citizens, improving their quality of life.

As an example of this, Cisco Systems, one of the global leaders in network operations, has decided to establish its new Innovation Center in an iconic structure of the digital district of the city (22@), a project related to the Internet of Things and the Smart Cities. Barcelona Technology School is happy to welcome Cisco in its neighborhood.

The agreement between Barcelona and Cisco reinforces the strategic alliance to make the city a global benchmark in smart cities for the wellbeing and quality of life for residents, making Barcelona a hub of creativity, innovation and talents.

Barcelona Technology School students in the IoT World Congress:

As part of the immersion in the digital Ecosystem of Barcelona, students of Master in Digital Solutions Development have had the opportunity to attend the IoT World Congress event, in which they saw how companies from different sectors are integrating IoT solutions into their businesses activities. Divided into four groups, the students focused on areas of Logistics, Healthcare, Manufacturing and Energy. They were able to meet experts from the most important companies of the industry, such as SAP and Schneider, and to communicate their ideas and thoughts with them. After the visit, all students would realize both an individual and a group project about the area they had chosen.

“The event was very interesting. A lot of companies trying to showcase their creative solutions to different industries and a lot of hardware providers displaying the latest technologies and security features. IoT is becoming the largest drive of innovation for companies that struggle with optimization and management of all kinds of systems. Connecting everything around us to make life easier and more efficient”

“Internet has allowed real-time communication and collection and analyze of massive amounts of data that not only help with real-time solutions but also with predictive behaviors. Digital solutions make this possible and give factories the opportunity to implement smart manufacturing more and more”

“The Internet of Things – IoT – is moving forward among different Industries in the world, like Energy, Logistic, Manufacturing and Healthcare. Is bringing a new focus on how we can collect more specific data, how we can understand that data and on how we can use the final outputs to improve or streamline a product, service or process. So that means “improving our lifes”. In my opinion, IoT is going to help us a lot to achieve different goals and improve in many sectors. For example, the Digitalization of the Healthcare Industry is having currently a great impact by meaning of IoT and would bring much more for patients and services”

We could say that this second edition of the IoT World Congress owes its success to the inherent evolution of this booming phenomenon in today’s life and today’s businesses. Roger Bou, IoT Solutions World Congress director, states that the progress of the sector was perceived this year as he said that it has evolved from a prototyping stage to complete developed solutions. This clearly gives us an idea of what to expect of a sector that is growing by leaps and bounds and how more new solutions will surprise us in the incoming editions of the Congress.